Primary care clinicians harnessing the power of AI scribe technology to reduce burnout and enhance patient care

The Department of Family and Community Medicine’s (DFCM) Office of Health System Partnerships, together with health system partners, have been awarded the Health Care Unburdened Grant to support the implementation and evaluation of AutoScribe, a Canadian AI scribe technology for transcribing patient-clinician conversations in real time and enhancing medical record documentation.

Funding for this multi-partner initiative to implement AI scribe technology was made possible by the Canadian Medical Association, MD Financial Management Inc. and Scotiabank as part of the Health Care Unburdened Grant.

“In family medicine, the patient-physician relationship is crucial. The need to take notes on a device or look at a screen during appointments can be a barrier to meaningful connections,” says Dr. Rajesh Girdhari, a family doctor at Unity Health Toronto, St. Michael's Hospital, and Digital Health Lead in DFCM’s Office of Health System Partnerships. “Our goal is to investigate and accelerate the use of AI scribe technology in primary care to benefit family doctors, patients and the health system.”

Although meaningful connections are key, family physicians spend an average of 45% of their clinical hours logging data into a computer. This impacts not only the quality of clinician-patient interactions but also contributes to an increase in clinician burnout, career dissatisfaction and ultimately the shortage of primary care clinicians.

"The biggest benefit of the AI scribe for me is that it has increased the quality of the patient-physician encounter,” says Dr. Marco Lo, a family physician and member of the East Toronto Family Practice Network. “Without the stress of documentation, or deferring charting to after-hours, I can focus entirely on the patient and what they are telling me. Then, I can fully focus on generating a plan and discussing next steps. This has created a better experience for my patients, and for me as a clinician.” 

This two-year initiative is led by DFCM’s Office of Health System Partnerships in collaboration with East Toronto Health Partners, East Toronto Family Practice Network, North York Toronto Health Partners, North York Toronto Primary Care Network, Scarborough Ontario Health Team, Scarborough Family Physicians Network, KW4 Ontario Health Team, eHealth Centre of Excellence and Mutuo Health Solutions.

While there is huge interest in AI scribes among primary care clinicians, there has been limited uptake because of system variation, privacy concerns, compatibility issues and lack of change management support. This multi-partner initiative hopes to change that by not just building the tool but also helping to adapt and implement it across a wide variety of practice models and sizes.

In the coming months, the project team will be recruiting primary care clinicians in Ontario to help explore and accelerate the adoption of AI scribe technology across healthcare settings to benefit clinicians, patients and the Ontario health system.

The Canadian Medical Association, MD Financial Management Inc. and Scotiabank proudly support this program, one of several initiatives that comprise their $115 million commitment to supporting the medical profession and advancing health in Canada.