As healthcare providers increasingly adopt artificial intelligence tools, researchers, physicians and health tech companies are moving quickly to assess the verifiable impact of these technologies.
Early studies looking at the use of AI tools, such as ambient scribes, among physicians are showing promising results. The use of AI scribes leads to lower burnout and lighter cognitive load for users, plus measurable cuts in documentation time, according to recent studies.
Primary care doctors are also reporting that AI features embedded in the electronic health record (EHR) are helping them provide higher-quality care, according to a new survey from Elation Health.
Elation Health offers EHR and billing solutions for primary care doctors, and this year the company rolled out several AI features, natively built into the EHR. The products can identify and proactively reach out to patients due for specific services, analyze population health data and explore it using natural language, and deliver clinical suggestions to doctors from the patient’s chart.
Surveyed in early November, 76% of clinicians believe AI features are helping them provide better care, with 61% saying it is reducing stress or burnout, and 61% finding it is saving significant time, giving them back over two hours per day in a typical primary care schedule, according to the survey of 69 physicians.
“The steady stream of AI-powered enhancements has been incredible. It feels like the entire platform is becoming smarter and more intuitive,” Kimberly Nalda, M.D., of Rekindle Health, who uses Elation Health's EHR, said.
Elation Health was interested in surveying primary care clinicians to understand the real-world impact from recent AI releases, Ashley Rogers, Elation's chief product officer, told Fierce Healthcare.
"Elation measured outcomes that matter at the point of care: providing better care, reducing stress, burnout, and cognitive burden, increasing joy in work, and documenting more efficiently—paired with explicit time savings per visit," Rogers said. "This approach ensures that Elation prioritizes AI that measurably reduces burden and gives physicians time back with patients, not just features that don’t translate to real primary care practice."
EHR vendors and health tech companies are rapidly building out AI features for clinicians.
Elation is focused on developing "clinical‑first, AI‑native capabilities" directly into its EHR for primary care, "so support appears exactly where clinicians work — in the note, in medication reconciliation, and in common charting tasks," Rogers said.
Elation developed features such as Note Assist and Actions, Medication Reconciliation, Wordsmith, Clinical Insights and Forms.
"This embedded approach reflects how primary care actually operates: longitudinal patient relationships, broad clinical scope, and a heavy documentation load that demands low‑friction, trustworthy tools. Elation’s north star is reducing cognitive burden and administrative work in the background so physicians can stay fully present with patients—fewer clicks, less context switching, smarter defaults, and assistance that’s fast, reliable, and clinical‑grade," she said.
Clinicians who participated in Elation's survey pointed out three core areas where AI is driving the biggest efficiency impacts. Half of clinicians reported Note Assist with Actions as one of the features driving the greatest impact on efficiency. That tool streamlines ambient capture and turns decisions into structured orders, tasks and patient instructions, reducing post-visit documentation burden, according to the company.
Primary care doctors also pointed to the company's Medication Reconciliation tool as the simplified workflow surfaces active medications, smartly flags outdated ones and lets clinicians update or discontinue medications instantly, reducing clicks, improving accuracy, and saving time, the survey found.
And clinicians frequently highlighted enhanced forms and scheduling as a meaningful driver of efficiency in daily workflows as well. These features simplify visit prep and follow-up through one-click rescheduling, fast paper-to-electronic form conversion, and seamless import of discrete data, Elation Health executives said.
Some studies looking at AI scribes have found that these technologies improve clinician wellbeing but don't necessarily save time.
Another recent study published in npj Digital Medicine found that AI-generated drafts for patient messages save time, but message open time increased, which may indicate that cognitive burden might have actually increased.
Elation Health's survey assessed the impact of a broad, integrated set of AI‑native features within the EHR, Rogers said, noting that the survey results reinforce that "embedding AI where primary care spends the most time delivers impact beyond documentation alone."
"Unlike scribe‑only studies that mainly assess burnout relief, our survey measured both clinician‑reported experience—reduced stress and cognitive burden, better care—and quantified time savings, offering a more complete view of AI’s value in primary care," she said. "This broader scope and explicit feature‑level measurement differentiate the findings and show how AI can reduce burden and save time across documentation, medication safety and task closure."
Across surveys conducted in 2024 and 2025, 80% of clinicians using Elation’s AI-powered platform reported saving time—averaging 12 minutes per visit, often returning around two hours per day in a typical primary care schedule. In select surveys, 67% of clinicians also reported experiencing more joy in their work, surveys found.
“Primary care thrives when clinicians have time and clarity. With our Clinical-First AI, we’re building an intelligent, AI-native experience that automates administrative tasks and delivers seamless, proactive, context-aware assistance, giving clinicians time back to focus on patient care,” Rogers said.