Canada Health Infoway to cover first-year fees for 10,000 AI scribe users in primary care starting in May

Up to 10,000 primary care providers eager to bring AI script technology into their practice will have the first-year licensing fee covered by Canada Health Infoway. Even more appealing though, providers will be able to choose from a list of pre-qualified AI script products that have been vetted by Canada Health Infoway and its provincial and territorial partners through an exhaustive request for pre-qualification (RFPQ) process.“AI scribes have been in the healthcare space for the last few years and the technology has matured from the standpoint of functionality,” said Infoway’s Abhi Kalra, executive vice-president, connected care. “It has reached the point where most large to medium-sized vendors have a stable product available, but there is no clear guidance available for primary care providers around what makes a good AI scribe.“Lack of clear guidance poses a risk because it’s physicians and nurse practitioners who are often looking at solutions themselves. In some cases, they are looking at free products that are available in the market. They may end up with a product that locks them in, and they may not know where and how the data is stored.“As part of our pan-Canadian role, we realize it’s our responsibility to guide and support physicians and nurse practitioners who are procuring AI scribes.”Read: P.E.I.’s one-EMR strategy: a bold solution to Canada’s interoperability challengeThe RFPQ was released Feb. 20 and the deadline for responses is March 19, following which there will be a four-week evaluation period and virtual demonstrations of short-listed vendors the week of April 7. Infoway expects primary care providers to be able to choose from a list of pre-qualified vendors in May. Providers will sign a contract directly with the vendor, and licensing fees will be paid directly by Infoway.“The goal is to make it easy for providers to start using and benefitting from the software,” said Kalra.Eligibility does not depend on whether a primary care clinician is a new or existing user of a prequalified vendor tool. However, program access and execution may vary by jurisdiction, as Infoway continues to collaborate with provinces and territories to support implementation approaches that reflect regional priorities and clinical practice requirements.The RFPQ notes that the Infoway AI scribe program aims to “enhance patient/provider engagement, improve care co-ordination, optimize clinical workflows, save time, reduce provider burnout and lay the foundations for enhanced data quality and standards-based interoperability.”Vendors that meet the prequalification process and are selected will be published on the Infoway website and will include information about whether the vendor is Canadian or American. It will also identify the highlights of the product and where the data is stored. At least two of the pre-qualified vendors will have a solution currently available with a French interface and be able to provide technical and deployment support in French.Providers eligible for the offer of free licensing for the first year include family doctors, nurse practitioners, registered nurses in remote communities and pediatricians providing longitudinal care in the community. The program is prioritizing primary care providers, recognizing that this sector is underserved and disproportionally burdened with administrative tasks, including documentation.Among the mandatory requirements are adherence to privacy and security standards, open integration, single sign-on capability and data storage in Canada.Infoway wants to make sure that EMR companies with their own AI scribes don’t have an undue advantage, so any independent AI scribe vendor should be able to seamlessly integrate its product with any EMR.“An independent AI scribe vendor has to make the API available and all the EMR company has to do is acknowledge, trust and accept that API to allow providers to access it through their EMR,” said Kalra. “We also make it clear that every AI scribe product should be able to create a standardized SOAP note and store it in the EMR.”The pre-qualification process requires vendors to respond to a lengthy list of questions and requests for information that will be reviewed by an evaluation team and scored using a point system.For example, points will be awarded for responses explaining how vendor products accurately transcribe complex medical terminology, abbreviations and conversations of providers and patients speaking with accents. Points are also awarded for how an AI scribe filters out background noise and irrelevant neighbouring conversations, how it handles virtual consultations and how it addresses the risk of hallucinations.Vendors are required to provide Infoway with financial statements and references to ascertain their viability and reputation.While not mandatory for this first phase of pre-qualification, Infoway has informed vendors that the goal for the maturation of the technology is integration into the clinical workflow. This will ensure that referrals, medication orders and lab requisitions discussed during an encounter and captured by the SOAP note automatically trigger the necessary workflow.Vendors will be required to provide Infoway with data on time spent using their products while providers will be asked to estimate how much time they save using them. This will provide Infoway with an evaluation of the program at the end of a year.A refresh of the evaluation process going forward is envisioned to provide new entrants to the AI scribe market with an opportunity to qualify.Kalra estimates that up to 10% to 12% of Canada’s 48,199 primary care providers are currently using AI scribes in their practice. That translates into between 4,800 and 5,760 early adopters, some of whom are using products that may be free or not able to comply with Infoway’s pre-qualification requirements.The addition of 10,000 more providers using and benefitting from AI scribes will accelerate the adoption of the technology and ensure the selection of products that have been thoroughly evaluated. Correction: An earlier version of this article had incorrect information.

Canada Health Infoway to cover first-year fees for 10,000 AI scribe users in primary care starting in May

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