Using an AI scribe only saves clinicians an average of 13 minutes per day, U.S. study finds

A recent observational study suggests AI scribes fail to help clinicians reduce their overtime work, while only offering modest time savings, depending on the specialty.The study, published in JAMA earlier this month, looked at data from more than 8,000 clinicians (mostly comprising of attending physicians) across five U.S.-based healthcare institutions between June 2023 and August 2025. The researchers analyzed log data from the clinicians’ EMRs, calculating the total time being spent on using the EMR, how much time specifically was devoted to documentation and how much work was being done outside of the hours or days they were scheduled to work.Among their findings, the researchers observed that using an AI scribe was only associated with 13.4 fewer minutes of total usage of the EMR, per eight scheduled patient hours. AI scribe usage was also associated with 16 fewer minutes on documentation time. However, there was no significant change to the number of hours spent working outside of work hours.Additionally, the researchers observed a slight increase in productivity, as clinicians who were using AI scribes were able to see an average of 0.5 additional patient visits per week.“Previous studies link ambient documentation to a significant decrease in burnout, but the underlying drivers of this reduction have been unclear,” senior author Dr. Rebecca G. Mishuris said in a news release. “The modest reductions in documentation time we observed are unlikely to fully account for changes in burnout, underscoring the need to understand how these tools change how clinicians approach care delivery while using them.”However, certain types of clinicians saw more time savings than the average. For instance, female clinicians who adopted AI scribes spent 19 fewer minutes in their EMR and 19.9 fewer minutes on documentation. Primary care physicians were found to have saved an average of 25 minutes in EMR time and 26.9 minutes on documentation, while advanced practice providers (which include nurse practitioners and physician assistants) saw times savings of 39.3 minutes in the EMR and 27.6 minutes on documentation.On the other hand, physicians in surgical specialties only saved an average of 2.8 minutes in the EMR and seven minutes on documentation, while other medical specialists saved 9.9 minutes in the EMR and 12.5 minutes on documentation.In addition, clinicians who used AI scribes for more than 50% of their notes saw far greater time savings. The “high intensity” cohort of clinicians saved an average of 21.3 minutes of EMR time and 27.3 minutes of documentation time. For clinicians who did not use their AI scribes as much, the time savings were more modest (9.1 minutes in the EMR, 9.8 minutes on documentation).

Using an AI scribe only saves clinicians an average of 13 minutes per day, U.S. study finds

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