At the Community Health Centres of Northumberland (CHCN), we’re committed to providing the best possible care and continually improving our services. To support this, we’re now using a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool called AI Scribe—software that helps create clinical notes during your visit. This allows us to focus more on you and less on documentation.
What is an AI Scribe?
An AI scribe is software that creates a draft summary of your visit based on your conversation with your care provider. Your care provider may ask you ahead of time for your permission to use AI scribe during your visit. If you agree, your care provider will begin using the AI scribe at the start of your visit.
Based on the conversation with your care provider, the AI scribe software will create a note summarizing the conversation. This note will be reviewed by your provider for completeness and accuracy and edited as needed by your provider before being added to your electronic medical record.
The AI scribe does not make decisions about your care—it only summarizes your conversation and the observations your provider has made.
Privacy
AI scribe vendors must comply with Ontario’s privacy laws and other legal requirements to safeguard your personal health information. No personal health information is used to train or improve the AI scribe software. The AI scribe software uses encryption to protect your personal health information.
Once your care provider approves the final clinical note, it is transferred to your electronic medical record. We have required that any draft notes or transcripts created by the AI scribe be securely deleted once the final clinical note has been reviewed and added to your electronic health record by your provider.
CHCN uses an AI scribe product called Tali. Tali is a qualified vendor as part of the Ontario AI Scribe Program and meets the requirements for clinical functions, privacy, and secure data storage. You can learn more about the privacy and security of Tali AI by visiting https://omdpracticehub.com/ and https://tali.ai/security-privacy.
Risks Associated with AI Scribes
While safeguards are in place to protect your personal health information and comply with Ontario’s privacy laws, there are always some risks. These include possible inaccuracies in documentation, including how information is captured or processed, biases, or misuse of data despite safeguards. Your personal health information is protected under Ontario’s privacy laws (PHIPA), and our clinic is committed to maintaining the confidentiality of your information.
Your Consent
Your provider will ask for your verbal consent to use AI scribe. If you consent, this agreement will remain in effect until you revoke it. The use of the AI scribe during your visit is completely voluntary. You are not required to agree to the use of an AI scribe. You can decline or change your mind at any time by informing your healthcare provider, with no impact on your care. If you have any questions or concerns, please speak with your provider.
