Clinical documentation is very important for managing patient care. It keeps track of all important details from a patient’s visit, like medical history, diagnoses, treatment plans, and follow-up steps. Good documentation helps doctors take better care of their patients and also meets legal, insurance, and quality standards.
But doctors and healthcare workers now spend a lot of time on paperwork instead of caring for patients. In the U.S., studies show that clinicians spend about half or more of their work time on these tasks. This heavy paperwork load can cause burnout, which means feeling emotionally tired, disconnected, and less satisfied with the job. Burnout is now a serious problem harming both workers and patients.
AI tools like those from Ambience Healthcare, used at places such as Cleveland Clinic, record doctor-patient talks automatically during appointments. Then, the AI makes detailed notes from these recordings. Doctors check and edit these notes before adding them to the patient’s electronic health record (EHR). This AI does not do diagnoses or treatments but helps by creating accurate notes in real time.
At Cleveland Clinic, which is a large health system with many hospitals and clinics, this AI was tested in over 80 specialties during 2024. Doctors using the system said the notes were better and that they could spend more meaningful time with their patients.
When patient notes are not accurate, it can cause mistakes in care, wrong billing, and legal issues. AI helps by listening carefully and turning spoken words into clear, detailed clinical notes. This lowers errors and missing information.
Providers at Cleveland Clinic found the AI notes much more complete and detailed. The AI can understand complex medical terms and helps create better patient records. Because the notes are made quickly and ready for review, doctors can fix errors right away. This keeps records correct and makes billing easier and more accurate.
Big health systems like Cleveland Clinic care for patients with many different specialists and teams. Good communication between these groups is important to keep patients safe and healthy. Medical notes are how information is shared across these teams.
AI-generated notes are clear and detailed. They can be easily accessed by different specialists, which helps teams work together better. This is very useful when patients have many health issues or need complex care.
Dr. Beri Ridgeway at Cleveland Clinic said the AI tool helped teams communicate better. The notes reduced chances of missing or mixed-up information. This helps patients get safer care and makes the doctors’ work a bit easier when they hand off patient information.
Burnout is a big problem in healthcare in the U.S. Many doctors and nurses say paperwork leaves them less time for patient care and causes stress. There are fewer healthcare workers now, and burnout makes this worse by causing more people to leave or take time off.
AI tools that do documentation automatically can reduce this burden. At Cleveland Clinic, the Chief Digital Officer said that AI lets providers spend more time with patients and less on paperwork.
Doctors who used the AI during the pilot program felt less burned out. They liked being able to focus on talking with patients instead of typing notes. By saving time on notes, the AI helps lower stress and keeps more healthcare workers in their jobs.
For those running health practices, AI documentation brings several benefits that improve workflow, compliance, and costs.
Many health systems struggle with paperwork taking up clinical time. AI tools can change how work flows by automating documentation. This can help in many ways:
Hospitals and clinics using ambient AI can improve both patient safety and their own workflows. Companies like Ambience Healthcare keep improving the technology with support from investors. Big health systems like UCSF Health and St. Luke’s also use these tools.
Cleveland Clinic’s use of Ambience Healthcare’s AI platform shows how health systems can test and use AI documentation. The Clinic has many doctors, nurses, and facilities across states and countries, making it a good place to study this technology.
In 2023, Cleveland Clinic handled millions of outpatient visits, hundreds of thousands of hospital stays, and many surgeries. To keep everything running well, good documentation is necessary. The AI was rolled out gradually, letting doctors try it voluntarily while patients were informed and could decline AI involvement.
The Clinic’s experience shows that AI technology can reduce paperwork and help doctors focus more on patients.
AI-generated clinical documentation can help fix some big problems in U.S. healthcare. It makes notes more accurate, improves teamwork among specialists, and lowers burnout for healthcare workers. These tools help health systems, providers, and patients. Practice administrators and IT leaders can use AI to make workflows better and meet new healthcare demands. The example of Cleveland Clinic shows that using AI carefully can bring advantages without harming patient privacy or clinical decisions.
The AI platform primarily aims to reduce clinician administrative workload and burnout by automating clinical documentation tasks, allowing providers more time for personal interaction, and improving patient care and safety.
The AI records patient appointments and automatically generates comprehensive medical notes, which are then reviewed and approved by providers before being added to patient records, enhancing documentation accuracy and efficiency.
No, the AI does not diagnose or treat any medical conditions. Providers must review and confirm the AI-generated notes for accuracy before finalizing documentation.
Clinicians enjoyed more face-to-face time with patients, less administrative burden, more detailed notes that improved cross-specialty care coordination, and experienced reduced burnout.
No, providers in ambulatory settings can opt to try the software but are not required to use it, and patients are informed before AI use and can choose to opt out.
The pilot program was evaluated across more than 80 specialties and subspecialties throughout 2024 to rigorously test the AI’s performance and applicability.
It promises higher levels of patient safety and quality care, improved experiences for patients and caregivers, and reduced administrative burdens for providers, enabling deeper patient engagement.
Cleveland Clinic operates a multispecialty system with over 6,690 beds, 23 hospitals, 276 outpatient facilities across multiple locations worldwide, handling millions of outpatient encounters and hundreds of thousands of inpatient admissions annually.
Ambience Healthcare has significant backing from major investors such as Kleiner Perkins, OpenAI Startup Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, and others, indicating strong support from both the healthcare and technology sectors.
The rollout will be phased, offering ambulatory providers access to tools to reduce documentation workload, enhance note accuracy, and improve overall patient-provider interactions without mandating immediate adoption.
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