While AI-enabled scribes have produced modest decreases in time spent in EHRs and documentation time, they did not significantly cut down the amount of time spent in the EHR outside of work hours, according to a study published April 1 in JAMA.
The multi-site, longitudinal study was conducted at five academic healthcare institutions that introduced AI scribes to their ambulatory clinicians between June 2023 and August 2025. The sample included 8,581 clinicians and 1,809 AI scribe adopters.
Here are five takeaways from the study:
1. AI scribe adoption was associated with decreases in total EHR and documentation time of 13.4 and 16 minutes, respectively.
2. Changes associated with AI scribe adoption were the greatest for primary care specialists, advanced practice clinicians, female clinicians and clinicians who used AI scribes in 50% or more of visits.
3. Time saved by AI scribes equated to .49 additional weekly patient visits, or about one additional patient every two weeks.
4. EHR time outside work hours did not change significantly.
While the time savings are modest, it is likely because there is so much work to do related to patient care that when clinicians were saving time on documentation, they were likely reallocating that to other patient care tasks — messages, chart review, corresponding with other team members, etc.,” Lisa Rotenstein, MD, a physician and researcher at the University of California San Francisco told MedPage Today in an April 1 article covering the study.
5. In an accompanying commentary piece, Vincent Liu, MD, of the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Pleasanton, Calif., and co-researchers wrote that the study confirms AI’s ability to reduce documentation time. However it remains to be seen if that time is “reinvested in ways that measurably improve outcomes and equity for patients” as well as how it impacts clinical practice.
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