Before the pandemic, many healthcare providers in the U.S. had limited telehealth options. The COVID-19 crisis made telehealth use grow very fast. Industry reports predict telemedicine will grow by almost 700% by 2025. Younger patients prefer digital services and may change providers if digital care is poor. This higher demand for virtual care puts pressure on healthcare systems to work better.
Telehealth is convenient and easy to access. But it also creates challenges, especially with clinical documentation. Providers must finish detailed electronic health records (EHR) during and after video visits, calls, messages, and remote monitoring. This work takes time and can cause doctors to feel burned out, a common problem in many U.S. health systems.
The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG) tried using AI scribes for a year to see how much time they could save. AI scribes saved about 15,791 hours of doctor time during over 2.5 million telehealth visits with more than 7,200 doctors. That is like getting back almost 1,800 full eight-hour workdays. Doctors felt better about their work and connected more with patients because they spent less time on paperwork.
AI-driven digital scribes are software tools that use artificial intelligence and natural language processing (NLP). They listen to or write down telehealth talks as they happen. These tools create draft clinical notes, fill in important fields in EHRs, and help with orders, coding, and billing.
Unlike other clinical tools, AI scribes don’t make medical decisions. They just do the data entry tasks that are automatic but needed. Doctors can change these notes before finishing them to keep them correct and legal.
At TPMG, AI scribes worked quietly in the background, recording patient and doctor talks to cut down on taking notes by hand. Doctors using AI scribes said:
The AI scribes also cut down on “pajama time,” which is paperwork done after work hours, helping doctors have better work-life balance.
Documentation takes a big part in causing doctor burnout in U.S. healthcare. Tools like the Maslach Burnout Inventory measure this exhaustion linked to paperwork. AI scribes help by automating repeated charting tasks.
Studies show frequent users of AI scribes save the most time. Those who use these tools all the time gain over twice the time saved compared to occasional users. This means regular use gives healthcare groups better value.
Less administrative work lets providers focus on patient care, which matches the goals of modern healthcare. AI scribes also improve how accurate and complete clinical records are, cutting mistakes that slow down billing and payments.
AI automation in telehealth goes beyond digital scribes. It includes work before, during, and after visits. Smart automation helps with scheduling, registration, reminders, form filling, eligibility checks, and billing.
Automated steps send patients appointment confirmations by SMS or email with video visit instructions. This cuts no-shows and helps patients follow through. Virtual registration and pre-visit forms reduce delays usually seen at check-in. This smooth process improves patient experience and lowers front-office work.
During visits, AI scribes take notes automatically and support order entries. This gives providers more time for medical decisions and talking with patients. After visits, automated reminders, surveys, and payment notices help connect the telehealth experience.
For example, Notable is an AI platform that connects many telehealth tasks, handles over 135 Medicare telehealth services with up-to-date billing codes, and helps make sure payments are correct.
In the U.S., paying the same amount for telehealth and in-person visits is very important to keep telemedicine going. CMS and other payers have expanded telehealth payment rules. AI platforms help providers handle billing changes by watching for updates and sending claims automatically. This reduces denials and lowers administrative costs.
To use AI scribes and telehealth automation well, medical groups must focus on fitting them into workflows, data privacy, and following rules. The University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) and the Center for Telehealth and Emerging Technologies have created helpful steps to guide AI scribe use.
Key steps include:
Hospitals and medical offices in the U.S. must focus on these steps to make AI scribe programs work well clinically, legally, and financially.
Even though AI scribes offer many benefits, some challenges exist. Some providers find it hard to fit AI notes into their current EHR templates. Others think fixing AI notes can take too much time.
Solving these problems means vendors should make tools easy to use and flexible for different workflows. Regular feedback from clinicians, updates to the AI, and checks by humans help make AI documents more trustworthy.
Experts like Dr. Saurabh Chandra from UMMC say that involving IT, compliance, and clinical users early in picking and adding AI scribes can stop expensive problems and make change easier.
Apart from making work easier, AI scribes help patient safety and satisfaction. They make sure clinical notes are full and correct, which supports ongoing care and lowers risks from missing information.
Doctors can spend more time talking directly with patients, an important part of good care. At TPMG, 39% of patients noticed doctors talked with them more when AI scribes were used.
These positive changes in doctor-patient relationships are key for keeping a good reputation and patients, especially in places where telehealth options and quality affect choices.
For medical practice leaders and managers in the U.S., using AI scribes and workflow automation is an important way to adjust to telehealth changes. These tools help reduce paperwork, lower provider burnout, and manage billing better—all while keeping or improving care quality.
As telehealth use grows, adding AI tools will help healthcare groups work more efficiently, handle more patients, and stay strong in a changing healthcare field.
Intelligent automation streamlines telehealth scheduling by automating workflows such as appointment confirmations, virtual registration, reminders, and follow-ups. It unifies the patient experience from scheduling to payment, reducing manual workload and improving efficiency.
The pandemic accelerated telehealth adoption significantly due to social distancing, demonstrating the need for virtual care. It normalized telemedicine as a critical care delivery method, with lasting growth expected beyond emergency measures.
Telehealth includes video, phone, asynchronous communication, and Remote Patient Monitoring. These diverse technologies bring complexity in implementation, operationalization, scaling, and integrating services like documentation and EHR updates.
AI agents act as digital scribes by automating tasks like finding patient records, creating notes, and submitting orders within the EHR, allowing providers to focus on clinical care rather than documentation.
Payment parity ensures providers receive reimbursement equivalent to in-person visits, supporting sustainable telehealth offerings. Without proper reimbursement, telehealth services risk discontinuation despite patient demand.
Automation platforms continuously monitor payer guidelines, update procedure codes, modifiers, and claims accurately, reducing claim denials and ensuring optimal payment based on current policies.
Integrated automated workflows improve patient engagement, reduce no-shows, streamline registration and consent, facilitate documentation, and enable prompt payment collection, enhancing the virtual care experience.
Notable automates appointment confirmations, virtual pre-registration, reminders with video instructions, pre-visit forms, provider documentation, post-visit check-ins, payment notifications, and follow-up scheduling reminders.
As telemedicine usage grows, health systems must enhance digital experiences to meet patient expectations, avoid losing patients due to poor digital interfaces, and to capitalize on telehealth’s long-term integration into care delivery.
By deploying AI agents to handle administrative tasks like scheduling, documentation, and billing, organizations can manage increased patient loads efficiently without proportional increases in staffing costs.
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.
