Rethinking scribes: Improving patient experience with clinical documentation AI and care coordinators

by Justin Mardjuki, CEO

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In the fast-paced environment of the ER, every minute counts and space is at a premium. Clinicians juggle documentation, treatment, and care coordination, leaving little room for human connection and proactive patient management. By integrating AI-powered documentation technology and transitioning existing human scribes to patient coordination roles, emergency departments can generate substantial improvements in operational efficiency and patient experience, while alleviating clinician burnout and enhancing documentation defensibility.

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The Administrative Burden in the ER: How Did We Get Here?

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Scribes began gaining traction in the early 2000s, driven primarily by the increasing complexity of clinical documentation requirements. The adoption of EHRs spurred by regulatory changes such as the HITECH Act of 2009was intended to streamline healthcare data management. However, it unintentionally burdened clinicians with significant administrative work. Studies showed that ER clinicians were dedicating up to 2 hours of documentation for every hour spent with patients, leading to delays, frustration, and burnout.

By the mid-2010s, scribe programs had expanded rapidly across the U.S., particularly in emergency departments, where patient volumes and documentation demands are especially high. The appeal was clear: while scribe programs did not necessarily translate to improved clinical efficiency, scribes reduced administrative fatigue and improved clinician morale. However, over time, the limitations of human scribes became apparent:

• Passive documentation role: Scribes primarily transcribed encounters but couldn’t actively impact care.
• Human errors: Even experienced scribes introduced occasional inaccuracies.
• Cost and scalability: Training and managing scribes at scale remained resource-intensive, with specific states like California driving scribe costs up by increasing minimum wage requirements for healthcare workers (SB 525, effective June 1, 2024)
  

This growing need for a more efficient and scalable solution has paved the way for AI-powered clinical documentation automation, which eliminates documentation burden and free human scribes to take on more proactive care coordination roles.

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Clinical Documentation AI: Eliminating the Documentation Burden

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Clinical documentation automation solutions like Sayvant are transforming clinical workflows by automating up to 90% of manual documentation. These solutions generate real-time, structured, and defensible clinical notes that seamlessly integrate into Electronic Health Records (EHRs), ensuring data accuracy and reducing the time clinicians spend tied to their screens.

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Key advantages of clinical documentation automation include:

• Real-Time Efficiency: AI tools capture and summarize clinician-patient interactions instantly, saving 2+ hours per shift.
• Accuracy and Reliability: With advanced speech-to-text algorithms trained on over 50 languages and dialects, and chart outputs tightly aligned to RCM, Quality, and Risk requirements, clinical documentation automation solutions ensure high-quality charts with minimal errors.
• Improved Medical Malpractice Defensibility: AI-driven documentation improves defensibility scores by ensuring that clinical decisions, actions, and reasoning are clearly recorded. Studies show this reduces legal vulnerability and strengthens providers’ ability to defend care outcomes.

With the burden of manual documentation removed, clinicians regain valuable time to focus on what truly matters—patient care. This shift reduces cognitive load, minimizes decision fatigue, and contributes to better clinician satisfaction.

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Transitioning Scribes to Care Coordination: Improving Patient Experience and Throughput

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Some sites that have launched clinical documentation automation solutions have chosen to fully eliminate their scribe programs and improve their bottom line. 

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Others have found success transitioning human scribes to more proactive care coordination roles, such as Provider Team Coordinators. This reallocation of talent transforms scribes into integral team members focused on optimizing workflows and enhancing patient experience and throughput.

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Here’s how care coordination-focused scribes can contribute to sites’ patient experience goals:

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1. Improved Patient Experience:

PTCs (Provider Team Coordinators) serve as frontline advocates, bridging gaps in care. For example, a recently implemented PTC program resulted in a 50% increase in the, “Overall Quality of Care,” metric. By coordinating communication between providers, nursing, lab, imaging, and consults, PTCs ensure patients feel attended to and cared for.

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2. Proactive Care Management:

• PTCs guide patients through their care journey and coordinate team-based care delivery.
• They proactively identify bottlenecks—delayed labs, imaging backlogs, or missed consults—and address them in real time.
• By addressing patient questions on the spot, PTCs reduce anxiety and confusion, ultimately improving satisfaction.
• Enhanced Coordination Across Teams: PTCs streamline workflows by facilitating communication between providers, nurses, and support staff. This coordination reduces delays, prevents missed follow-ups, and keeps ER operations running smoothly.

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Vituity Case Study: Improving Throughput and Care Coordination with Integrated Care Programs

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One physician group that has effectively adopted this model is Vituity, where clinical documentation AI has been paired with the reallocation of scribes into Provider Team Coordinators. This transition not only increased efficiency but also improved patient satisfaction scores across the board.

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Logan Gollogy, Manager of Integrated Care Solutions at Vituity, highlights the success of this initiative: “Our decision to integrate clinical documentation AI and retool our human scribes as PTCs (Provider Team Coordinators) was transformative. By allowing technology to take care of documentation, our clinicians were freed to focus on patient care while PTCs ensured seamless communication and coordination. We saw a 40% reduction in discharge delays, and patient satisfaction scores climbed significantly.”

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The combination of clinical documentation automation technology and proactive PTCs delivers transformative results for emergency departments:

• 40% Reduction in Discharge Delays: With AI streamlining documentation and PTCs managing workflows, ER teams eliminate delays caused by communication gaps or incomplete documentation.
• Higher Clinician Satisfaction: By reducing administrative tasks, clinicians report greater job satisfaction, improved well-being, and fewer burnout symptoms.
• Increased Patient Satisfaction: Real-time responsiveness from PTCs results in fewer complaints, improved survey scores, and a stronger sense of trust between patients and their care teams.

In an era when patient experience scores directly impact hospital reimbursements, this dual strategy not only improves care quality but also drives financial stability.

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Why Now? A Future-Focused Approach to Patient Care

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As physician groups face mounting pressures—rising patient volumes, staffing shortages, and burnout—adopting AI solutions coupled with human-led patient coordination is no longer optional. It is a necessity.

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By leveraging clinical documentation AI to automate charting and empowering human scribes to act as Provider Team Coordinators, emergency departments can:

1. Refocus Clinicians: Providers can devote more time to diagnosing, treating, and connecting with patients.
2. Optimize Workflows: PTCs ensure every touchpoint—labs, imaging, consults—is coordinated seamlessly.
3. Enhance Patient Trust: Real-time support and proactive care management build stronger, lasting patient relationships.‍

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To learn more about transitioning scribe programs from documentation to care coordination, reach out to us at hello@sayvant.com.