If your practice is looking for an AI medical scribe, the search for the right product can be daunting. Many products on the market tout the best features, but many of those same tools either fall short of their promises or hide their products behind ultra-expensive licensing.
Here are the must-have features the best AI medical scribes of 2025 support, along with things to consider as you conduct your research.
What Is An AI Medical Scribe?
An AI scribe is a digital tool that uses artificial intelligence to live transcribe, summarize, and document a physician-patient visit. The goal here is to reduce the tedious administrative work that weighs on doctors, nurse practitioners, and PAs by automating the note-taking and saving time with each patient visit.
This allows physicians and clinicians to focus more on the patient in the visit and less on multitasking with note-taking. AI medical scribes use the latest speech recognition and natural language processing technology to draft concise notes that doctors can sign off on, instead of writing them themselves.
How AI Scribes Work
The workflow of an AI scribe is straightforward and can be broken down into four simple steps.
- Live transcription: The AI listens to the conversation between the patient and doctor during their visit.
- Transcript processing: The AI then processes the recorded conversation, parsing important medical information and symptoms, while filtering out irrelevant small talk.
- Documentation: The AI generated a succinct summary of the visit based on the processed conversation, creating a well-structured medical note using a predetermined template.
- Clinician review: At the end of the day, it’s still the clinician’s responsibility to review and clear the summary for accuracy. Every scribe note, whether AI or human, requires that same oversight and approval.
The Top 5 Features The Best AI Medical Scribes Support
1. Deep Customization And Recording Control
No two specialties are the same, and neither are their preferred note templates. The best AI scribes will support multiple note templates, including custom ones. This way, clinicians can trust that the scribe note will reflect their individual style and specialty needs.
The scribe will also support pausing and resuming note-taking as needed, and users can create their own prompts. This makes pre-charting and recording more streamlined and interruption-free.
2. Real-Time Note Generation
The top scribe tools on the market will also support live note-taking. They’ll always catch relevant information, no matter how subtle, while leaving the small talk about someone’s daughter’s birthday out of the note. Any slight mention of a medication change or symptom, of course, will never fly under the radar.
3. Desktop And Mobile Format
Clinicians are always on the go, and the best AI scribes go with them easily. These AI scribes are available on mobile apps and desktops, meaning going from room to room or between hospital beds is seamless. It should also support virtual care appointments.
4. Telehealth Integration
Speaking of virtual care, the biggest AI scribes on the market are available as integrations with your go-to telehealth or virtual care platform. The notetaker is embedded right into the telehealth interface, so there’s no need to toggle between extra tabs or worry about setup. A completely digital appointment experience, with the best scribes, should be completely smooth.
5. Security And Privacy
Most importantly, the top AI scribes should be HIPAA-compliant, and users should be covered by a Business Associate Agreement (BAA). Once the recording is securely processed after the visit, it should be automatically discarded, while the note remains properly stored.
Notes should also be private to the users who generate them. The doctor-patient relationship is everything, and the best AI scribes will keep users in the driver’s seat with their own documentation.
6. Accessible Pricing
Alright, so maybe it’s not exactly a feature, but the top AI scribes out there shouldn’t break the bank. Some can run clinics and hospitals hundreds per seat per month, but the right products will be accessible to everyone, from the tiny clinics to the most bustling city hospitals.
Where Many AI Scribes Fall Short
We’re not here to name names, but we will say that some of the flashiest AI scribes on the market aren’t as seamless as they appear. Here are some of the most common shortcomings of these products so that you can shop smarter.
The Transcription Isn’t Accurate
Many AI scribe products fail to capture complex or new medical terminology. Specialty languages, multiple speakers, accents, and overlapping dialogue mean your end note requires more physician review than it’s worth.
Some scribes mishear who says what, physical exam findings, and they can also mix up medication names. In the worst cases, they can also “hallucinate” details, meaning including content that hasn’t actually been spoken. This leads to inaccurate, convoluted notes and frustrated clinicians reviewing them.
They’re Not Truly Secure
Some AI scribes raise privacy and security concerns, particularly by failing to discard original recordings. That’s why it’s important to ask when shopping around whether the AI scribe is truly HIPAA-compliant.
Patient privacy is a top priority everywhere, and if staff and patients find that their sensitive information is at risk of being compromised, it could damage the clinic's reputation.
They Aren’t Customizable
Many AI scribes are built solely with general practices in mind. This means the product is rendered ineffective for specialists and other unique physician workflows. Even at a general practice, doctors may be accustomed to their own approach, preferred phrasing, and follow-up style. In these cases, onboarding and adapting to the AI scribe isn’t worth the hassle.
How Doximity Scribe Checks Everything On Your Must-Have List
At Doximity, we pride ourselves on providing quality, accessible products to medical professionals. Doximity Scribe is secure and perfectly suited for physicians, nurse practitioners, and PAs everywhere. The best part? It’s completely free.
Doximity Scribe checks off all the must-have features on this list, including live note-taking, deep customization, desktop and mobile compatibility, and integration with our popular telehealth platform, Doximity Dialer. It’s easy to implement and seamless to use, and over 80% of U.S. doctors are already verified Doximity users today.
Get Doximity For Free Today
Aside from Doximity Scribe and Doximity Dialer, Doximity offers DoxGPT, which provides quick, reliable support for common medical questions, prompts, admin writing, and clinical correspondence.
Getting started with Doximity Scribe is as simple as signing up.
Try it today, and streamline clinician operations in no time.