Can I Opt Out of Having My Doctor Take Notes With AI?

Family doctor Eric Boose is using an artificial intelligence tool to return to what he calls “old-fashioned medicine”: talking with patients face to face, without having to type on a computer at the same time.

“I can really sit there and engage and focus on them and listen to them,” said Boose, who practices at the Cleveland Clinic.

About two years ago, he started using an AI note-taking app during patient visits. The tool listens to him as he speaks with patients, then automatically generates a summary of the visit based on the conversation. The summary is usually ready within seconds of the meeting ending.

“It’s about taking care of all that tedious work of mapping and taking notes during the tour,” he said. “It just frees up a lot more time for me to get there, and I can go home to my family sooner.” »

Nearly a third of medical practices use AI scribes and others are working to add the tool, with the goal of reducing administrative work.

If your practitioner suggests using an AI scribe at your next appointment, here are three things to keep in mind:

1. Clinicians must ask your permission.

At the start of an appointment, your doctor might ask you something like, “Would it be okay if I use an AI scribe to help me take notes during this appointment?” A common practice is to accept verbal, not written, consent from patients before turning on the tool. However, the legal requirements for obtaining permission to record a conversation with a patient vary by state.

Boose said you can ask to pause the AI ​​scribe at any time, especially to discuss something sensitive. And if you refuse completely, your practitioner will likely go back to taking notes manually on a computer.

2. AI scribes also make mistakes, so check their work.

Like other AI tools, medical scribes can “hallucinate” or spontaneously add errors to a record. AI scribes can also omit important information or miss contextual clues within a conversation.

Clinicians are expected to review and edit AI-generated visit summaries before adding them to a patient’s record. As a patient, it is a good practice to read your visit summary carefully and contact your healthcare provider if you notice any errors.

3. Yes, the AI ​​company could use your data, with limits.

Companies and health systems that offer AI scribe tools have access to medical data and are subject to federal standards for how they use and store patient data under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, more commonly known as HIPAA.

They can use your appointment data to improve their software without telling you, said Darius Tahir, who reports on health technology for KFF Health News. “If the information is “anonymized,” which may mean that it is devoid of identifiers [and] By making sure it can’t be traced back to people personally, then it’s freer to be used in many ways,” he said. “There are a lot fewer regulatory requirements.”

If you want to know how your data is used, ask your doctor or the medical system for more information. But you may not get a clear answer, Tahir said.

People and politics

The U.S. healthcare system will likely continue to integrate AI technology into patient care. The Trump administration strongly supports the development and use of AI, particularly in healthcare. In early 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order reducing existing AI regulations to help the United States “retain global leadership in artificial intelligence.” In December, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released an AI strategy stating that the department supports “the integration of AI to modernize healthcare and public health infrastructure to improve health at individual and population levels.”

Emily Siner of Nashville Public Radio contributed to this report.

HealthQ is a health series from journalists Cara Anthony and Blake Farmer, accessible guides to an inaccessible health care system. This is a collaboration between Nashville Public Radio and KFF Health News.