Doctors in Altadena and Sierra Madre will see Los Angeles County health alerts pop up inside an AI search tool they already use for clinical questions. Doctors practicing inside Pasadena? They're on their own.
The LA County Department of Public Health announced July 23 a partnership with OpenEvidence, an AI-powered clinical decision support platform, to surface county disease alerts, outbreak notices and links to local public health resources when physicians search the tool for related topics. The collaboration covers physicians within the county health department's jurisdiction.
Pasadena sits outside that jurisdiction. The city is one of only three in California with its own independent health department, a status it has held since 1892. The LA County Department of Public Health has no authority inside city limits, according to the LA County Healthcare Coalition. Long Beach is the only other city in the county with the same carve-out.
Neither the county's announcement nor OpenEvidence's press release addresses how the platform will handle a physician whose practice address falls within Pasadena's separate jurisdiction. It is unclear whether a Pasadena-based doctor searching OpenEvidence would see LA County alerts, Pasadena-specific guidance, or nothing at all.
What the tool does
OpenEvidence, headquartered in Miami, says it is the most widely used clinical decision support platform among U.S. clinicians. More than 40% of U.S. physicians use the tool, CEO Daniel Nadler told CNBC in January 2026, and NBC News reported in May that the figure had grown to nearly two-thirds. The company raised $250 million in January, doubling its valuation to $12 billion.
"Physicians often need local public health guidance at the same moment they are working through a clinical challenge," LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in the July 23 announcement. "A search about measles, TB, or any other reportable condition should not end only with general information but connect to the next step."
The partnership builds on a similar arrangement OpenEvidence has with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, as reported by the LA Times.
Pasadena's gap
The Pasadena Public Health Department, led by Director Manuel Carmona, does maintain informal channels with the county. The department republishes LA County health advisories on its own website for local providers. A recent example: the county's World Cup 2026 mass-gathering advisory appeared on Pasadena's public health page.
But that manual process is exactly the kind of extra step the OpenEvidence partnership eliminates for county-jurisdiction doctors. Whether Pasadena's health department plans to pursue a similar AI integration, or has another strategy for reaching local physicians in real time, remains unanswered. Carmona and Health Officer Dr. Parveen Kaur did not comment for this story.
The timing adds pressure. Pasadena's health department is bracing for a $2.9 million budget cut as nine grants expire, a 13.8% reduction that will shrink its budget to roughly $15.7 million, according to Pasadena Now. Carmona has warned the cuts threaten disease-response capacity.
LA County and OpenEvidence said they plan to evaluate the partnership and refine future messages, though no timeline was given.
