How Ambient Notes gave Dr. Smith her weekends back

Spend more time with patients, and less time on documentation, with Ambient Notes

In 2009, with the passing of the HITECH Act and the forced digitization of the patient record, the healthcare industry leaned into the promise that technology could serve up consistent, accurate, longitudinal data without overburdening healthcare workers. In the almost decade and a half since, physicians and clinical staff have shouldered much of that effort, from painstakingly documenting visits to sifting through mountains of data to understand and reconcile the patient record.

Looking at trends of physician burnout, it's clear that the vision of a robust, efficient, digital record that consistently takes manual work off of the plates of physicians hasn't been fully realized.

As the technology available has matured, the healthcare industry has begun embracing AI in new and exciting ways to address this challenge. Ambient Notes is a new solution embedded in athenaOne Mobile® that simplifies clinical note documentation, using AI-driven ambient listening to record patient visits and summarize the visit note for placement in the patient encounter. Leveraging Ambient Notes can save clinicians valuable time, empowering them to dedicate more time to patient care.

At HIMSS 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada, athenahealth’s VP of Product Management, Chad Dodd, discussed Ambient Notes with Dr. Janelle Smith, an internal medicine primary care provider with Springfield Clinic in Springfield, IL. As one of our beta testers, Dr. Smith says the tool has been “transformative” to her practice—and for her patient relationships as well.

From working weekends to wrapping up documentation same-day

Dr. Smith had the opportunity to beta test Ambient Notes as a member of the IT Committee of Springfield Clinic. She joined this committee not because of her technical prowess but because, in her own words, she's "the average end user," so she knew her perspective would help round out the more tech savvy physicians at the clinic.

As a self-proclaimed "rigid perfectionist," Dr. Smith says that notes have always been meticulously detailed, which means they also took her longer to complete.

Before Ambient Notes, she would close an average of 0-10% of her notes same-day. She was spending an average of 4-6 hours per weekend completing documentation after a 50-hour work week. With three children under six and one on the way, and a husband who works a full-time job, her schedule has very little wiggle room.

“I have my weekends back since January 6, which is when I started [using Ambient Notes]. I have not gone into the clinic on a single weekend to finish my documentation, and that has been absolutely incredible for my personal life."

Janelle Smith, D.O., Springfield Clinic

Now, she says she's closer to 90-100% same-day completion, depending on how chaotic her day is. As she told Chad Dodd, "I have my weekends back since January 6, which is when I started. I have not gone into the clinic on a single weekend to finish my documentation, and that has been absolutely incredible for my personal life."

Higher accuracy with minimal effort

Not only are Dr. Smith's notes done quicker using Ambient Notes, she reports that they're also more accurate. When you're listening to a patient, trying to stay present, and also trying to maintain detailed notes, it can be difficult to capture every nuance. Dr. Smith said her notes before Ambient Notes were like robust “Cliff Notes” of the conversation, but by the time the weekend rolled around, some details would get lost in the mix.

Ambient Notes, however, picks up every relevant detail, such as duration of symptoms and where and when patients travelled. She says, "I'm getting a lot more hard numbers and getting a lot more detail in there than I think I probably would have been able to remember at the end." She still reviews every note manually, to confirm that the AI has captured everything, and finds that the draft notes are "incredibly accurate."

With more efficient and accurate documentation, Dr. Smith has also seen more comprehensive and accurate billing. She shares an example of a patient who requested information about dental implants, and in that conversation with the patient, chronic conditions including diabetes, osteoporosis, and bisphosphonate would impact their decision. Given the patient's history, that conversation would have happened exactly the way it did with or without Ambient Notes; however, since the documentation was able to capture the full breadth of the conversation, whereas Dr. Smith's manual note might have only included mention of the dental implants, that impacted the code that conversation was billed for.

Dr. Smith said, "Even though, yes, there is a cost associated with [Ambient Notes] 100%, I recoup it within at least two to three patients because I am able to bill accurately."

It all comes back to the patient

Outside of the dramatic time savings and the improved accuracy in her notes, Dr. Smith loves engaging with her patients more during the visit. She previously felt like she was talking to a screen during a patient visit in order to capture everything, and she didn't like missing out on that face-to-face time with patients.

Since she has been using Ambient Notes, she feels she can be more present with her patients during the visit. Her passion for the humanity in practicing medicine is palpable when she speaks about the freedom she now has in the visit: "I love my patients, they're incredible. They have incredible stories, they have incredible lives. I love hearing about their grandchildren, I love hearing about their day-to-day lives. I love hearing about their latest pickleball game and how they actually broke that ankle."

Dr. Smith's patients seem to feel a similar appreciation for that face time. She said over 95% of her patients consented to the recording, and many of them were even excited that it meant they would spend more time talking and less time with Dr. Smith typing.

How much time can you save with Ambient Notes?

We're committed to staying on the cutting edge of innovation to empower clinicians like Dr. Smith to practice care in the most personalized and compassionate way possible, and to go home at the end of the day without more work hanging over their heads.

Get in touch to learn more about Ambient Notes – we'd love to help you transform your clinical efficiency.