Two health systems move AI scribes from pilot to rollout. The results so far are their own.

From the archive. First announced by Cleveland Clinic, February 2025. Where it stands now: Scaled up, as of October 2026, ASCO AI in Oncology, Oct. 22, 2026. Why I saved this: Cleveland Clinic tested five scribe products with more than 300 clinicians over six months before choosing one. What I want to see next is outside results, because so far the numbers are the health systems' own.

March 2025 — Two large health systems have decided ambient AI scribes, which record a visit and draft the clinical note, are ready to scale. Here's what changed after the pilots, what it cost, and what went wrong.

Cost and outcome (as of March 2025)

Cleveland Clinic pilot: five scribe products tested over six months; more than 300 clinicians, per Fierce Healthcare. (Fierce Healthcare)
Ambience in the pilot: used in 80% of visits; after-hours charting down 49.6%, per the clinic. (Fierce Healthcare)
UW Health users: 20 in June 2024, about 100 by the end of 2024, a planned 400 by mid-2025. (UW Health)
New Abridge licenses at UW Health: 300. (WisBusiness)
Contract costs: not disclosed by either system.

Cleveland Clinic's bake-off

On Feb. 19, Cleveland Clinic announced it would roll out Ambience Healthcare's platform to its US ambulatory providers in phases over the next several months. Fierce Healthcare reported an exclusive, five-year partnership, chosen after a six-month pilot that tested five major scribes, each for three months, with more than 300 clinicians across 20 specialty areas. The clinic's own release said the 2024 pilot covered more than 80 specialties and subspecialties.

"We realized that the underlying technology of some of them was significantly better than the others, and that was a surprise," Beth Meese, the clinic's executive director of digital health, told Fierce.

The clinic released results only for Ambience. Across 25,000 encounters, providers used its notes in 80% of visits, and 67% reported reduced cognitive burden. The clinic reported a 49.6% decrease in after-hours charting and a 25% decrease in note creation time, plus a 7% increase in same-day chart closure and a 32% increase in face time with patients. Adoption ranged from 99% among nephrology providers to 55% among urologists. Meese's slides said the 80% figure was two to three times higher than for other scribes tested, based on anecdotal evidence. When cardiologists' use was low, Ambience upgraded features for them, and their utilization rose from 50% to 71%.

Meese said she had expected the products to be interchangeable: "I really thought that these products were going to be commodity [sic]... the output itself was surprisingly different across some of the different vendors."

Use won't be mandatory. "Providers in ambulatory settings will have the ability to try the software but will not be required to use this tool," the clinic said, and patients can opt out.

UW Health's expansion

On Mar. 20, UW Health in Madison, Wisconsin said it would quadruple users of its ambient listening tool in the first half of 2025. Its pilot began in June 2024 with 20 self-selected clinic providers; by the end of 2024 it had about 100 users across more than 20 specialties. A spokesperson told WisBusiness it bought 300 more licenses from Abridge.

"Early measures show that this is already making a positive difference," said Dr. Joel Gordon, UW Health's chief medical information officer. He told WisBusiness the tool still errs: "And does it make mistakes? Yeah, absolutely. The note is my responsibility to review." He described UW Health's approach as "aggressive" but "not being haphazard," because it is studying how providers vary in their use.

What went wrong

The data is self-reported. Both systems' results come from their own pilots, not published studies.
Cleveland's pilot size varies by source. Fierce says 20 specialty areas; the clinic's release says more than 80.
The comparison is anecdotal. The 80% advantage over other scribes rests on anecdotal evidence, per the clinic's slides.
What we don't know yet: what the contracts cost, whether pilot gains hold at scale, and how many patients opt out.

Our follow-up question for Cleveland Clinic and UW Health

Will you publish adoption and after-hours charting data once the tools reach every eligible provider?

Sources

Cleveland Clinic, “Cleveland Clinic Announces Rollout of Ambience Healthcare's AI Platform,” Feb. 19, 2025. newsroom.clevelandclinic.org
Fierce Healthcare, “ViVE 2025: Cleveland Clinic rolls out Ambience's AI for doctors after testing scribe technologies,” Feb. 19, 2025. fiercehealthcare.com
UW Health, “UW Health expanding AI use to improve patient visit experience,” Mar. 20, 2025. uwhealth.org
WisBusiness, “UW Health rolling out AI tool to hundreds more providers in coming months,” Mar. 24, 2025. wisbusiness.com
ASCO AI in Oncology, “Measuring Ambient AI Adoption at Scale,” Oct. 22, 2026. ascoai.org

Disclosure: [not in copy] Editor placeholder