STAT+: Why the crowded market for ambient AI medical scribes might be ripe for consolidation

Ambient AI medical scribes are about the easiest — and hottest — way into health care for AI-based startups. Just take a look at this graphic that lists 35 companies who are (or at one point were) trying to use ambient voice for translating the audio of doctors’ visits into written notes. 

The area is both well within the capabilities of AI tools and also — theoretically — doesn’t directly affect patient care. Ahead of a meeting on digital health tools later this week, FDA officials appeared to acknowledge risks to patients that could be instigated by errors in automatically generated medical notes, but the tools fall through cracks in health tech regulation and appear unlikely to be burdened by regulations anytime soon.

While the number of health systems looking into contracting with an AI scribe company is growing, analysts anticipate that the bubble will eventually burst and the field will contract. Cracks are already showing: Last fall, Robin Healthcare, an AI-aided charting and reimbursement platform, quietly went under. Earlier this year, longtime ambient medical scribe company Augmedix — the only publicly traded company in this area — went private when it was acquired by Commure.

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