What Ontario Learned From Evaluating AI Scribes

Ontario’s approach to evaluating AI scribes offers something healthcare leaders rarely get in emerging technology: grounded, real-world insight.

Rather than relying on vendor claims or theoretical efficiency gains, OntarioMD evaluated AI scribes in live Ontario care settings to understand what actually changes when these tools are introduced into day-to-day clinical work.

The result is a clearer picture of where AI scribes help, where they fall short, and what leaders should pay attention to as adoption accelerates across the province.

What OntarioMD set out to evaluate

OntarioMD’s evaluation focused on practical outcomes, not novelty.

Instead of asking whether AI scribes can work, the evaluation examined how they affect clinicians during and after patient encounters. The emphasis was on real workflows, real documentation pressure, and real clinical environments.

This distinction matters. Productivity gains only matter if they translate into better working days and more sustainable care delivery.

Key findings from the OntarioMD evaluation

Across participating settings, several consistent outcomes emerged.

1. Significant reduction in documentation time during visits

OntarioMD’s evaluation found an average ~70% reduction in documentation time during patient encounters.

This is not simply a time-saving metric. Documentation time during the visit directly affects cognitive load, attention, and the quality of clinician patient interaction.

When documentation is reduced in real time, clinicians are not mentally multitasking between care and charting.

2. Reduced after-hours charting

One of the most meaningful outcomes was what happened after the clinic day ended.

Clinicians reported fewer unfinished notes and less reliance on evenings and weekends to complete documentation. This shift matters because after-hours charting is a major contributor to burnout and workforce attrition.

Reducing documentation during the visit creates a downstream effect that extends beyond the encounter itself.

3. Improved clinician experience and cognitive load

The evaluation highlighted improvements in clinician experience, particularly related to cognitive burden.

Less mental tracking of what needs to be documented allowed clinicians to focus more fully on the patient in front of them. Over time, this has implications for job satisfaction, attention, and sustainability in high-demand care environments.

Reinforcement from Canada Health Infoway

Early findings from Canada Health Infoway’s AI Scribe Program reinforce OntarioMD’s conclusions.

Reported outcomes include:

• 94% of clinicians reporting time savings
• 89% reporting reduced administrative workload
• 85% reporting lower cognitive burden
• 93% feeling more present with patients

These results point to a consistent pattern. When documentation burden is reduced during care delivery, benefits extend beyond efficiency into experience and presence.

Learn more about using Talli through the Infoway AI Scribe Program

What Ontario’s evaluation tells us about adoption

Ontario’s evaluation helps clarify an important shift in how AI scribes should be assessed.

The question is no longer whether AI scribes can generate time savings. The evidence shows they can. The more important question is whether those savings translate into meaningful improvements in clinician experience and care delivery.

OntarioMD’s findings suggest that outcomes depend heavily on how AI scribes are implemented and integrated into real workflows.

Key considerations for healthcare leaders

Based on Ontario’s evaluation, several system-level considerations stand out.

Fit matters more than features

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Time savings only materialise when AI scribes fit naturally into existing clinical workflows. Poor fit introduces friction that offsets potential gains.

Quality matters as much as speed

If notes require extensive editing or correction, clinicians lose the benefit of reduced documentation time. Quality and customisation are essential for sustained use.

Support determines sustainability

Onboarding and real-world support influence whether adoption succeeds beyond early pilots. Without guided implementation, even strong tools struggle to scale.

Ontario’s evaluation reinforces that AI scribes are not a plug-and-play solution. They are part of a broader workflow and change-management conversation.

What this means for Ontario’s care system

Ontario’s healthcare system is under pressure from growing demand, limited capacity, and clinician burnout. Documentation burden sits at the intersection of all three.

The OntarioMD evaluation shows that AI scribes can play a meaningful role in addressing this pressure when they are selected and implemented thoughtfully.

More importantly, it provides leaders with a framework for asking better questions. Not just whether a tool works, but whether it supports sustainable, human-centred care.

What to look for when evaluating AI scribes in Ontario care settings

Ontario’s evaluations make one thing clear: not all AI scribes deliver the same outcomes in real clinical environments. Time savings alone are not enough. The difference lies in how well a solution supports day-to-day workflows, documentation quality, and long-term adoption.

Based on what OntarioMD and Canada Health Infoway surfaced, several evaluation criteria should carry real weight.

1. Deep integration into existing systems

AI scribes only reduce burden when they fit naturally into the tools clinicians already use.

Strong integration minimises context switching, reduces manual copying, and helps ensure documentation stays accurate and complete. Poor integration, on the other hand, can shift administrative work rather than remove it.

When evaluating AI scribes, leaders should ask whether the tool integrates cleanly into existing EMRs and workflows, or whether it adds another layer clinicians need to manage.

2. Note quality, customisation, and clinician control

Documentation is not interchangeable across specialties, settings, or organisations.

High-performing AI scribes must support:

• Custom templates and note structures
• Specialty-specific workflows
• Clinician control over how information is captured and formatted

If clinicians spend time correcting or restructuring notes, the value of reduced documentation time quickly erodes. Ontario’s evaluation reinforces that usability and note quality are as critical as raw efficiency gains.

3. Support for forms and structured documentation

A significant portion of administrative burden comes from structured documentation outside the core clinical note. Forms, referrals, and repetitive data entry compound workload over time.

Solutions that address structured documentation alongside scribing help recover more capacity and reduce downstream administrative strain. Evaluating this capability is essential for organisations aiming for meaningful, system-level impact.

4. Onboarding and real-world implementation support

Ontario’s care environments are diverse, and successful adoption depends on more than technology alone.

Guided onboarding, workflow-aligned training, and ongoing support play a decisive role in whether AI scribes deliver sustained value beyond early pilots. Without proper implementation support, even strong tools struggle to scale across teams and organisations.

Onboarding should be treated as a core part of the solution, not an afterthought.

Where Tali fits into Ontario’s evaluation landscape

Tali is one of the AI scribes evaluated through OntarioMD and an approved provider through Canada Health Infoway.

The findings from these evaluations align closely with how Tali has been designed and deployed across Ontario: with a focus on deep integrations, high-quality and customisable documentation, support for structured workflows, and hands-on onboarding that reflects real clinical practice.

As AI scribing adoption grows across the province, Ontario’s evidence offers a clear direction. The solutions that matter most will be those that integrate well, respect the complexity of clinical documentation, and support clinicians not just during the visit, but across the entire workflow.

Evaluating AI scribes through this lens helps ensure technology adoption strengthens care delivery rather than adding new forms of burden.

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