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What patients want to know about AI ambient scribing

UC Davis Health found patients want to know when AI ambient scribing is being used, that the tool is secure and that their information is transcribed accurately.

Sara Heath
By
Published: 17 Dec 2025

When UC Davis Health decided to implement AI ambient scribing tools to streamline EHR documentation, its leadership was focused on one key question: what do their patients need to know about this new technology?

In a survey of its patient population, the health system learned that patients need transparency into AI use, including how ambient scribes work and whether or not they are secure, the organization said.

Ambient scribing directly impacts the patient experience, despite being a clinician-facing technology. Using voice recognition technology, ambient scribes listen during a clinical encounter, record the patient-provider interaction and then summarizes and documents the visit.

The technology has been linked to decreases in provider burden, as it removes a significant amount of documentation tasks. It's also been lauded as a key tool for enhancing the patient-provider relationship, allowing providers to focus on the patient and not their computer screens.

Those benefits made ambient scribing an attractive tool for UC Davis Health. Still, the health system said it wanted to take a patient-centered approach to implementation and used the survey results to ensure they addressed any patient concerns about the technology.

The system documented their findings in a recent Journal of Medical Internet Research study.

"We weren't sure how patients would respond to these AI transcriptions," Gary Leiserowitz, Obstetrics and Gynecology chair and lead author on the paper, said in a press release. "There was little information from other institutions, so we worked with our patient experience colleagues to understand how patients might feel about it."

The system surveyed nearly 1,900 patients to determine patient perceptions of provider documentation habits without ambient scribing, how the system should disclose AI use to patients and any lingering concerns patients have about the technology.

Patients warm to the idea of ambient scribing

Overall, patients understood the need for an AI scribe and were enthusiastic about its potential to restore the patient-provider relationship.

Although around three-quarters of respondents said they feel heard during their clinical encounters, a quarter agreed their providers were more focused on notetaking than on them.

"A lot of people feel medical documentation is a necessary evil, but hate it when their doctors are sitting in front of the computer, trying to record everything they're talking about,” Leiserowitz explained. "They feel like that connection is lost."

Around half (48%) of patient respondents said an AI scribe would be a good solution to this problem, while 33% were neutral about AI scribes and 19% held some concerns.

What patients need to know about AI scribing tools

The patient survey revealed that UC Davis Health would need to lean into patient education about the new IT system to ensure a good healthcare experience. Specifically, patients showed concerns about the following areas:

  • Medical note accuracy (39%).
  • Privacy and security (13%).
  • The prospect of being recorded (13%).

These concerns helped dictate AI scribe vendor selection, according to Leiserowitz.

"Security was a big deal so, when we were vetting vendors, we made sure they only use domestic servers," he said. "And while the AI notes go into the EMR, the recording itself disappears within 10 days."

Additionally, the health system requires clinicians to check and edit every note before they are digitally filed into the EHR. UC Davis Health also allows patients to review and advise their clinicians on possible edits to notes.

Finally, the system allows patients to opt out of AI being used during their visit.

But it's not enough to set up AI scribing policies; health systems must also communicate these protocols to patients.

Patient education can happen when patients are notified that AI is being used during their encounter. According to the survey, most patients want to know about the use of AI scribes upon booking an appointment, when arriving at the doctor's office or during check-in. More than half (57%) wanted to be alerted face-to-face, while 45% said email suffices.

"This often comes down to the quality of the relationship between the doctor and the patient," Leiserowitz concluded. "If the patient trusts us and understands why we're using it, they tend to accept it. That's why education is such a critical factor. It helps patients get comfortable with the technology."

Sara Heath has reported news related to patient engagement and health equity since 2015.

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