Cometh the AI scribe: Addressing Canadian MD admin burden

In 2023, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) took data from Nova Scotia and estimated that Canadian physicians spent 48.8 million hours per year on administrative tasks with physicians estimating that 38% (18.5 million hours) of this was unnecessary.The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and CFIB have just released survey data from a poll of more than 1,900 physicians showing that Canadian doctors currently spend 42.7 million hours annually on admin tasks of which 47% (19.8 million hours) was deemed to be unnecessary.While the numbers may remain depressingly similar for doctors and especially the CMA which has made addressing the admin burden and subsequent frustration and burnout a strategic priority, a new factor has entered the equation—AI scribes (tools which can automatically record and summarize interactions between doctors and patients).While the existence of AI scribes was not even a factor a couple of years ago, a well-executed and successful trial of the technology in Ontario, national rollout of AI scribes supported by Canada Health Infoway and wholesale adoption of the technology in the U.S., has catapulted AI scribes to being top of mind in any health IT discussions in Canada today.The true cost and time savings to be realized from using an AI scribe remains a topic of lively debate. But the latest CMA/CFIB study shows the technology has been adopted rapidly by at least a part of the Canadian physician community.The study found that nationally 28% of physicians say they are using an AI scribe but another 42% said they were interested in using one. (Interestingly 8% of those polled said they had used one in the past—indicating some issues that may have existed with the first iterations of the tool.)The early adopters of AI scribes and other AI tools in clinical care seem to like them a lot. The survey found that 74% of those who use them rely on these and other AI tools use them daily and 18% use them weekly.Enthusiasm was also evident in the small (55) group of medical students included in the survey. Half (50%) said they saw AI tools such as AI scribes as a high-priority solution for administrative burden and 79% say they would be interested in using an AI scribe tool in their future practice.Authors of the CMA/CFIB report note:“AI solutions . . . directly target the most time-consuming tasks identified earlier, including documentation, form completion and inter-setting communication. By automating these repetitive and manual functions, AI reduces redundant data entry and enhances consistency across records. Beyond improving efficiency, AI adoption can ease the mental fatigue and frustration associated with excessive paperwork.”The authors add that to be used successfully, “AI implementation must be deliberate and well supported. Integration with electronic medical records must be secure and seamless, privacy protections must be robust, and training must be accessible and practical.”However, use of AI is still not top-of-mind for physicians when it comes to successfully dealing with administrative burden. Only 45% of those surveyed saw adopting use of AI scribes and other AI technologies as a top-level solution for reducing administrative burden —far below options such as eliminating the requirement of physicians to perform some admin tasks (72%) or making patient care records interoperable (71%).The report authors concluded by stating: “Emerging tools like AI offer additional promise, with early adopters already reporting substantial time savings. However, the survey results also shed light on barriers to AI adoption, such as cost, workflow integration and concerns about privacy and accuracy, which highlight areas that must be addressed to ensure safe, ethical and responsible use of AI in healthcare.It is also worth noting that despite the potential time savings that might emerge from various approaches to solving the physician admin burden issue one cannot count on addressing this issue solving the many accessibility issues currently facing the Canadian healthcare system. Almost three-quarters (71%) of physicians polled in the survey indicated they would allocate any time that was freed up to dealing with work-life balance—in other words looking after their own wellbeing rather than ploughing more effort back into the system.Pat Rich is a Canadian health journalist and former editor of the Medical Post. This item originally appeared on his blog site.

Cometh the AI scribe: Addressing Canadian MD admin burden

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