AI Scribes Are Not Productivity Tools (Yet)

AbstractArtificial intelligence (AI) scribes have been heralded as a potential solution to the documentation burden in health care, which is a major contributor to physician burnout. In two landmark randomized controlled trials, published in this issue of NEJM AI, Afshar et al. and Lukac et al. collectively evaluate three AI scribe products in clinical practice. Afshar et al. examined coprimary outcomes of work exhaustion/interpersonal disengagement and professional fulfillment and found a significant reduction in the former and a nonsignificant change in the latter. In a secondary analysis, in Afshar et al.'s best-case scenario with high rates of patient consent and physician uptake, AI scribing reduced documentation time by about 22 minutes per day, on par with virtual human scribes. In the more typical case, observed by Lukac et al., AI scribes saved less than a minute per visit, consistent with prior observational studies. With their current functionality, AI scribes show early promise for improved productivity by reducing documentation time. However, the next generation of AI scribe products will support tasks downstream of the clinical visit, including medical orders, insurance prior authorizations, and billing. As the scope of AI scribe products expands, future studies are likely to find meaningful increases in productivity, which will be critical to improving patients' access to care.