Ambient AI scribes have had near-universal provider satisfaction at Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health, with 95% of clinicians reporting reduced mental fatigue and 90% citing improved job satisfaction, the health system’s digital chief told Becker’s.
Thanks to the technology, one Sanford physician has also gotten himself off the “naughty list” for always having overdue documentation, said Dave Newman, MD, chief medical officer of virtual care at Sanford Health. At Becker’s CEO + CFO Roundtable in November, Dr. Newman quipped that clinicians would “riot” if the health system discontinued AI scribes.
“I joked about having a riot. Now, I think I would have a riot if we took away the ambient experience,” he said Dec. 5 on the Becker’s Healthcare Podcast.
At the same time, he wonders when it will be irresponsible for physicians to not use AI. “When I go to my accountant, I would be really, really skeptical if they were using the abacus to do my taxes,” he said. “I’m going to be skeptical if my doctors aren’t using AI, if it’s the best available tool.”
The 56-hospital system has also begun to find success with agentic AI, with connections on outbound campaigns rising from 40% to 56% and 16% of patients engaged in full 20-minute conversations with AI.
“The thing that surprised us the most was the satisfaction … we are scoring over 8 out of 10 on patient satisfaction, which we never thought we would do,” Dr. Newman noted.
As is true across the industry, AI governance is critical. Sanford’s model tracks safety, accuracy, security, scalability and fiscal responsibility, with real-time dashboards in development to monitor performance and drift over time. Clinicians sit on operational boards and vice versa. Going forward, awareness is key.
“I literally had a doctor come up to me and say, ‘Hey, I’ve got this AI blood loss app. How do I use it?’ … But he had never heard of governance,” Dr. Newman recalled. “So it’s up to us to communicate the strategy with everybody.”
AI is just one of the digital innovations positioning Sanford for success, even as it serves more rural patients than any other health system. In November 2024, the organization opened a 60,000-square-foot virtual care center as part of a $350 million donation from its billionaire namesake.
Virtual care saves Sanford patients an average of 176 miles of travel per visit, not to mention what they’d have to spend on lodging and food, Dr. Newman said.
In addition, the health system has been offering virtual reality goggles to surgeons to rehearse procedures in advance.
“My mind was absolutely blown the first time that I saw the orthopedic surgery AI VR,” Dr. Newman said. “They can hit a button and the skin will be removed … hit another button and the muscles will be removed.”
Sanford also works to teach the clinicians of tomorrow (and today) how to more effectively use technology. “I’ve got a college kid, I’ve got high school kids, they’re amazing at using AI. They’re great at designing their own prompts,” Dr. Newman said. “Doctors need to get good at prompts to be better at doing medicine. This is something that we have to be educating on.”
