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Primary care physicians have been observed spending nearly 2 hours on EHR tasks per hour of direct patient care, underscoring how documentation burdens drive burnout. For many clinicians, this means 'pajama time'—sleep-deprived evenings spent catching up on notes and weekends sacrificed to the EHR.
AI medical scribes solve this by utilizing Ambient Clinical Intelligence (ACI). These tools securely listen to patient encounters, use Natural Language Processing (NLP) to extract clinical intent, and generate structured SOAP notes that integrate into your existing documentation habits.
However, not every tool performs well in real clinical workflows. Some tools demand a long setup and training. Others generate drafts that require excessive cleanup, and many come with price tags that only large health systems can afford.
In this piece, we explore the AI medical scribes that actually deliver - comparing accuracy, ease of use, EHR workflow fit, and cost, so that you can choose the right tool for your practice with confidence.
AI medical scribes have moved from experimental tools to practical, everyday solutions for reducing documentation burden and clinician burnout. In 2026, the leading platforms differentiate themselves not just by transcription quality, but by workflow flexibility, security posture, and how seamlessly they fit into real clinical practice. The tools below represent the most reliable and widely adopted options clinicians are turning to today.
Twofold is a clinician‑built AI medical scribe designed to generate accurate, structured notes while upholding strong security standards. It works for both in‑person and telehealth sessions and supports therapists and physicians.
Key Features
Highly accurate, clinician‑trusted note generation
HIPAA and HITECH compliant, with rigorous security practices
Recordings are never stored - audio is processed in real time and deleted immediately after notes are generated
Works on mobile and desktop, allowing flexibility during office visits or telehealth
Learns each clinician’s writing style, producing notes that mirror their preferred tone and structure
Capture up to 2 hour sessions
Multiple documentation methods:
Ambient capture of the full visit
Dictated summaries
Uploading typed or handwritten notes
Additional documentation workflows and note formats (varies by plan and configuration)
Best For: Clinicians who want a straightforward “finish notes fast” workflow with multiple input options (ambient capture, dictation, upload) and clear security statements - especially across therapy, primary care, internal medicine, psychiatry, pediatrics, and related settings.
Augmedix is a known name in clinical documentation services; their AI offerings - Augmedix Go and Augmedix Assist are typically positioned around streamlining note creation during patient encounters, often in larger, operationally complex environments.
Key Features
Ambient AI documentation during the patient encounter
Optional human-supported documentation workflows (depending on product)
Integrates with major EHRs such as Epic, Cerner, and athenahealth
Supports multiple specialties, including emergency medicine, primary care, and orthopedics
Designed for enterprise‑level reliability
Best For: Hospitals, large clinics, and health systems that need an operationally supported documentation program and are comfortable with enterprise onboarding and pricing.
Abridge is often discussed in the context of conversational AI for clinical documentation, especially for systems that want structured notes from encounter dialogue.
Key Features
Captures conversations and produces structured clinical notes
Designed to handle medical terminology and clinical conversations in note generation
Integrates with enterprise EHR workflows
Fast review‑and‑sign interface
Best For: Physicians in busy practices, specialists, and large hospital networks seeking reliable note generation with in‑depth clinical accuracy.
Scribeberry is a lightweight, flexible AI medical scribe platform that focuses on simplicity and template‑based note creation.
Key Features
Supports dictation and typed prompts
SOAP notes, psychotherapy and specialty note templates
Works on desktop and mobile
Easy customization for workflows
Best For: Small practices or clinicians looking for a straightforward, low‑cost documentation support.
PatientNotes is frequently grouped with tools that convert encounter information into structured documentation. While often used for quick summaries, PatientNotes offers full ambient capture through its mobile and web apps. This allows clinicians to passively record entire consultations or choose to dictate a mix of reflections and live audio, making it a flexible tool for both in-room and field-based medicine.
Key Features
Supports structured clinical documentation using templates and guided formats
Custom templates and specialty note formats
Provides privacy and compliance information for handling clinical documentation
Designed to streamline quick documentation tasks
Best For: Providers who seek efficient summary‑based AI notes and customization but don’t require full conversation capture.
Choosing an AI medical scribe is less about “which model is smartest” and more about workflow fit, reliability, and safeguards. Here are the core criteria to evaluate:
Notes must reflect clinical reality: symptoms, duration, relevant negatives, assessment logic, and plan details. Look for tools that reliably capture medical terminology and maintain context across the encounter (e.g., distinguishing patient history from current complaint).
If you’re documenting protected health information, you’ll want a tool that supports HIPAA-aligned handling of data. Practical signs include clear security statements, encryption in transit/at rest, and business associate agreement (BAA) availability where applicable.
The fastest tools generate a draft within seconds or minutes after the visit, making it feasible to finish documentation while the encounter is still fresh.
Not every practice wants an ambient recording every time. Many clinicians prefer a quick recap after the encounter or uploading rough notes, and letting the AI expand them into a full, structured note.
Most clinicians still need to copy/paste into an EHR/EMR, while some tools offer deeper integration. Either can work; what matters is reducing friction in your daily workflow.
Individual practitioners may want a predictable monthly plan; groups may need volume pricing, centralized admin controls, and org-wide BAAs.
The best scribes adapt to what you want - your section headings, tone, phrasing, and specialty-specific elements, so drafts require less editing over time.
With diverse patient populations, the best AI scribes can now listen in one language (e.g., Spanish or Mandarin) and generate the clinical note in English, or handle 'Spanglish' conversations without losing medical context.
Selecting the right AI medical scribe depends on your workflow, specialty, and the amount of documentation work to be done. A practical way to decide is to map the tools to your everyday constraints:
1. Start with Your Encounter Type
Mostly telehealth? Focus on stable capture, fast turnaround, and easy review on a desktop.
Mostly in-person? Prioritize mobile usability and decent audio processing when in real rooms.
2. Pick Your Preferred Input Style
If you want minimal effort during the visit, choose ambient capture.
If you don’t want continuous capture, choose dictated summary and/or upload notes workflows (Twofold explicitly supports both).
3. Decide How You’ll Finalize Notes
If you’re fine with copy/paste into any EHR, prioritize clean formatting and speed.
If you require deeper integration, shortlist vendors that support your environment and procurement process.
4. Security and Compliance Should Be Non-Negotiable
Seek precise answers regarding encryption, storage policies, model training processes and BAA when applicable.
Twofold, for example, explicitly states: no model training on your data and no stored audio, plus HIPAA/HITECH compliance statements
5. Run a Real-World Trial
Test on your most common visit types for 1–2 weeks.
Track time to first draft, time to finalize, number of corrections, and clinician satisfaction.
AI medical scribes have rapidly emerged as a “must-have” for modern clinical practice, enabling clinicians to reclaim time, prevent burnout, and deliver more accurate and consistent documentation. By automating the most time‑consuming aspects of charting, they free clinicians to spend more time with patients and less on paperwork.
As these solutions evolve, adding an AI medical scribe is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s a critical move toward improving the performance and usability of today’s manually-based workflows to one that is more automated, sustainable, and patient-centric. If you want to simplify your documentation and improve your practice with the assistance of an AI‑generated note, it's time to see what AI‑powered note writing will bring to your everyday clinical workflow.
