Cleveland Clinic has rolled out AI-powered scribes to help reduce physicians’ documentation workload, with 4,000 of its physicians already using the technology, Fast Company reported June 26.
The health system is using an AI scribe developed by Ambience. Rohit Chandra, PhD, Cleveland Clinic’s chief digital officer, told the publication the tool has significantly eased administrative tasks and improved physician-patient interactions.
“It’s made their jobs a ton easier,” Dr. Chandra said. “Patient interactions are a lot better because now patients actually engage with the doctor.”
Looking ahead, Dr. Chandra believes the technology could evolve to document medical exams with a deep understanding of each patient’s health history.
“We believe that with some work and attention, AI will become smart enough to understand the fullness of a patient’s health journey, as opposed to just a discrete encounter,” he said.
For instance, if a new condition arises during an exam, the AI could flag connections to previous symptoms or lab results. It may assist physicians in prescribing medications while guarding against harmful drug interactions. The system could also generate a “pre-read” summary—outlining a patient’s current complaint in the context of their history—for physicians to review before entering the exam room.
“I’m hoping that we can keep building on the success that we’ve had so far to literally drive the documentation burden to zero,” Dr. Chandra said. “If we do that well, we should eliminate a huge handicap that currently sits around our doctors, and we can bring the joy back to caregiving—that’s a literal quote from a doctor.”
