A recent study found that for clinicians who used an ambient AI scribe for 30 days, burnout dropped from about 52% to 39%, while time spent on documentation outside of working hours fell by nearly an hour a week.
The study was conducted between February and October 2024 and led by researchers at Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health, and the results were published Oct. 2 in JAMA Network Open. A total of 272 clinicians used an AI scribe for 30 days and completed surveys with respect to burnout, task load and note-related stress. The results were based on self-reported data rather than EHR time logs.
Cleveland Clinic is seeing similar results. Leopoldo Pozuelo, MD, center director of adult behavioral health at Cleveland Clinic, told Becker’s that AI scribes have changed the documentation game.
“It’s been transformative,” he said. “And I don’t use that word lightly.”
The AI scribe was rolled out at the institution — first in primary care and specialty care then behavioral health — with the aim of assisting providers in the daily documentation process, allowing them to focus on listening to patients, he said. Dr. Pozuelo said he has not seen a tool energize clinicians the way this one has.
“It’s liberating,” he said. “The fact that you can have an encounter with a patient and focus on that patient with all the cognitive skills that are required of us especially in the ambulatory setting … both in psychiatry and psychology … and it’s joyful.”
The tool addresses one of behavioral health’s essential elements: providers connecting with patients through direct eye contact and body language that can reveal nuances about their mental health. Dr. Pozuelo said no matter how fast an individual can type, the ability to listen without having to multitask equates to higher satisfaction from both parties.
Using the technology does not require that providers be technology experts.
“I have a 73-year-old master clinician psychiatrist who uses herself as a testament to how this technology is working,” Dr. Pozuelo said. “She’s a little bit technology phobic. … And she has gone out there in our department to say, ‘This has been transformative. If I can do it, anybody can do it.’”
At Cleveland Clinic, clinicians select the encounter in the EHR, obtain verbal consent, record the visit, then review and edit an instant draft on a secure portal before importing it into the note template.
Dr. Pozuelo also said this will be a make-or-break element when recruiting staff.
“It’s going to be the norm in practices everywhere,” he said “I would suspect that it’s also going to be non-negotiable when you’re hiring clinicians that they want to have access to an AI scribe.”
Dr. Pozuelo acknowledged that new technology is expensive, and he said he hopes the tool can become more accessible as time goes on.
In a space where some providers still have limited access to EHRs and funding lags, it can be difficult to invest in technology and, in some cases, force a health system to pay out-of-pocket costs. The price can be a determining factor for some, but this could help curb documentation burdens that are part of the bigger picture, he said.
“There’s the ROI in interventions such as this,” he said. “You retain that individual by reducing their burnout and increasing their satisfaction. I would not be surprised that this becomes the norm for documentation across the board.”
