AI Transforms Medical Documentation, Giving Doctors More Time With Patients

AI for Medical Documentation Frees Doctors from the Keyboard

Physicians have long faced the challenge of balancing patient care with the demands of electronic health records (EHRs), often spending more time typing than interacting face-to-face. In 2025, advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) are shifting this balance, allowing doctors to focus more on patients while AI handles the documentation.

Chad Dodd, vice president of product management at athenahealth, highlights that the latest health IT capabilities enable physicians to reclaim valuable time. "The technology we're providing allows doctors to spend more time with their patients," he says.

From Data Entry Burden to AI-Assisted Documentation

EHR systems promised to streamline patient data sharing and communication but instead added administrative burdens on doctors. The manual entry of data contributed significantly to physician burnout and dissatisfaction.

AI, especially large language models and generative AI, is changing this by automatically converting the physician-patient conversation into clinical notes. Dodd explains, "We can now create a summary and note from the conversation and insert it into the encounter without the physician having to type it."

Using Ambient Clinical Intelligence

One of the most impactful AI applications in healthcare is ambient clinical intelligence. This technology uses voice recognition and AI to transcribe conversations and generate clinical notes in real time. It can even handle bilingual interactions, translating patient-physician discussions fully into English for the records.

Physicians report significant improvements: reduced documentation time, higher same-day encounter close rates, and more time for personal life and patient care. According to athenahealth's 2025 Physician Sentiment Survey, fewer doctors view AI as overhyped or a complication, showing growing trust in the technology.

Still, many physicians (61%) worry about losing the human touch with AI integration. Maintaining patient connection remains a priority.

Addressing Concerns About AI for Medical Documentation

To ease these concerns, vendors like athenahealth are creating AI tools that fit the specific workflows of healthcare providers. For instance, athenaOne® targets community health centers, offering integrated workflows across medical, behavioral, OB, women's health, and dental services.

Dodd emphasizes a "partnership model" between vendors and users. Dedicated customer support helps busy providers implement and optimize AI tools without overwhelming them. Analytical insights identify physicians who need extra training or support, ensuring technology benefits are fully realized.

Health IT Delivers on Its Promise

What makes 2025 stand out is the convergence of mature AI capable of clinical implementation and the vast digitized medical data accumulated over the years. AI for medical documentation is expanding beyond notes to drafting orders, medication recommendations, and diagnoses in real time.

By connecting data from various sources—including hospitals, health systems, and other providers—AI can offer physicians comprehensive patient summaries and actionable insights. This reduces the time spent searching for information, simplifying clinical care.

"Physicians want help connecting the dots across all the digitized data," Dodd points out. AI delivers this by surfacing relevant information with direct links to original sources like lab results or imaging.

For healthcare professionals interested in learning more about AI applications in medical workflows, exploring specialized courses can be valuable. Resources like Complete AI Training's healthcare courses offer practical insights on AI tools designed for medical settings.