Ambulatory care centers in the U.S. see many patient visits each year. For example, Cleveland Clinic reported 13.7 million outpatient visits in 2023. Healthcare providers in these places face the hard task of balancing patient care with the paperwork required by electronic health record (EHR) systems. This paperwork often includes detailed note-taking, coding, billing, and compliance tasks.
These administrative tasks add to clinician burnout. Burnout means feeling very tired, detached from patients, and less effective at work. In the U.S., surveys showed that clinician burnout rates were still as high as 48% in 2024. Burnout hurts healthcare workers’ well-being and can also affect patient safety, teamwork, and keeping workers in the job.
Several AI-driven clinical documentation tools are being used or tested in large health systems. These tools aim to lower paperwork, reduce burnout, and improve patient care in ambulatory centers.
Cleveland Clinic has over 6,600 beds and more than 80,000 workers. They use Ambience Healthcare’s ambient AI platform. This AI records patient visits and creates detailed medical notes automatically. Clinicians then check and approve these notes. This system helps cut down on paperwork and lets providers spend more time with patients.
In a pilot program with more than 80 specialties, many benefits appeared. Clinicians said they spent more time with patients and felt less burned out. The detailed notes from AI helped with care coordination between specialties and improved the quality of documentation.
Rohit Chandra, Chief Digital Officer at Cleveland Clinic, said the AI helps clinicians focus fully on patients and saves time. Providers still check the AI notes carefully before adding them to patient records. This keeps patient safety and records accurate.
Northwell Health is a large health system in the U.S. Northeast with 28 hospitals and over 1,000 outpatient facilities. It serves more than three million patients each year with 20,000 doctors and 22,000 nurses. Northwell uses Abridge’s ambient AI platform to improve documentation at the point of care.
Abridge’s AI listens to medical conversations and turns them into useful and billable notes in real time. This reduces manual charting and paperwork so clinicians can focus on patients. The AI supports over 55 medical specialties and 28 languages, fitting many types of care and patient groups.
A study showed that using Abridge’s AI could lower clinician burnout by up to 67%. Northwell’s leaders said that less paperwork helps doctors feel better, protects key patient-clinician time, and improves care.
Microsoft’s Dragon Copilot is another AI assistant made to simplify documentation and automate clinical tasks. It mixes voice dictation from Dragon Medical One with ambient listening and generative AI from DAX Copilot. All this works within Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare.
Dragon Copilot makes notes in many languages, formats them as needed, prepares referral letters, and automates orders. Clinicians save about five minutes for each patient visit using it. Surveys show 70% of users reported less burnout, and 62% were less likely to quit their jobs after using this AI.
Patient experience also improved. About 93% of patients said communication and care were better when clinicians used Dragon Copilot.
One main benefit of these AI tools is that clinicians can pay more attention to patients. They do not have to stop to write notes or manage several EHR systems. This lets doctors keep eye contact, listen carefully, and explain things without breaking the flow to enter data.
AI notes often capture details better and more completely. This helps different specialists work together better. For instance, Cleveland Clinic clinicians found AI notes helped communication across specialties, which is important for managing complex care.
AI also helps by producing after-visit summaries automatically. These summaries help patients and caregivers understand care plans, medicines, and next steps. This can improve following treatment plans and reduce repeat hospital visits.
Using AI documentation tools in ambulatory care is growing, but not yet required in many places. Cleveland Clinic lets providers choose to try Ambience AI, so they can see if it helps in their practice.
Connecting with current EHR systems is very important. Abridge’s AI works very well with Epic Systems, the main EHR at many large health organizations like Northwell. This connection lets clinicians quickly check AI notes against original data, a feature called Linked Evidence.
Microsoft works with big EHR vendors to make sure Dragon Copilot fits smoothly in clinical work. The tool protects patient privacy and meets health data security rules, which is important for administrators.
AI is also helping with other administrative and clinical tasks in ambulatory care. It reduces the workload for teams such as receptionists, nurses, coders, and billing staff.
Some AI workflow automation examples are:
Workflow automation also improves clinician well-being by cutting down boring, repetitive non-clinical tasks that lead to burnout. As AI gets better, it will help at many steps in ambulatory care.
Studies and real-world use show that AI documentation and workflow automation lower burnout and improve work efficiency:
These results interest healthcare managers in large ambulatory practices. AI reduces manual paperwork and helps clinicians feel better while keeping documentation accurate and compliant.
Healthcare administrators and IT managers must plan carefully when picking and using AI documentation tools:
Ambulatory care in the U.S. faces growing patient needs, worker shortages, and complex paperwork. AI-driven documentation and workflow tools offer practical help. The experiences of Cleveland Clinic, Northwell Health, and Microsoft-powered solutions show these tools can lower clinician burnout, improve care coordination, and boost patient interaction.
Healthcare groups thinking about AI can learn from these examples and pick solutions that fit their size and specialties. This will help provide good care with less paperwork.
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.
Simbo is using AI agents to automate all phone related workflows. Connect now to know more.
Schedule AI Agents Demo Now© Since 2019, Simbo AI.
