Executive overview
The market for ambient AI scribing has decisively moved from standalone point solutions to integrated platform plays. In a move that validates the entire category, EHR giant Epic has unveiled a native AI scribe, “Art for Clinicians,” co-developed with Microsoft Dragon, alongside AI agents for revenue cycle management and patient support. At the same time, innovators are pushing the boundaries of what a scribe can do. OpenEvidence has introduced “Visits,” a feature that integrates evidence-based guidelines directly into the transcribed note, while Glass Health has expanded its offering to include clinical documentation features that combine EHR data with ambient dialogue.
The net effect is a fundamental shift in the competitive landscape. The race is no longer just about who can "write my note" the fastest. It's about who can intelligently automate the entire clinical workflow—from documentation and coding to denial appeals, order queues, and patient navigation. For UK health systems, this presents both a massive opportunity and a new set of complex procurement and governance challenges.
The market has tipped
Recent announcements have confirmed that ambient AI is now a core feature for major health tech platforms. At its 2025 User Group Meeting, Epic detailed over 160 active AI projects, with its native scribe for the Haiku and Canto mobile apps taking centre stage. This move puts significant pressure on standalone scribe solutions, even as Epic continues to partner with third-party tools like Abridge and Microsoft DAX.
The momentum is also fuelled by significant investment. Startups like Ambience Healthcare have raised large funding rounds with a public pitch that goes far beyond notes to automating coding and payment workflows—a clear bellwether for where the market is headed (Business Insider).
Company spotlights
Epic — “Art for Clinicians” and beyond
- What’s new: Epic is launching a native AI charting and scribe solution, deeply integrated into the clinical visit workflow. It uses Microsoft's Dragon Ambient AI for the core transcription. Early, limited use is targeted for next year (Fierce Healthcare).
- Why it matters: With over 40% of the hospital EHR market, Epic has the distribution to make ambient scribing a standard, expected feature. Crucially, its vision extends downstream with agents like “Penny” for revenue cycle management and “Emmie” for patient engagement, creating a powerful, interconnected ecosystem.
- Competitive angle: While Epic still lists third-party scribes in its Toolbox, the introduction of a native capability fundamentally shifts the negotiating power and raises the bar for integration.
OpenEvidence — “Visits” with evidence-in-the-note
- What’s new: The “Visits” feature from OpenEvidence not only transcribes the clinical encounter but also enriches the assessment and plan with up-to-date guidelines and evidence. This allows clinicians to query the transcript with patient context after the visit, effectively blending documentation with real-time clinical decision support.
- Recent momentum: Recent content deals with major publishers like the JAMA Network and a sizable new financing round underline the company's aggressive expansion from a Q&A tool into a comprehensive workflow platform (Fierce Healthcare, healthcareittoday.com).
Glass Health — from CDS to documentation
- What’s new: Glass Health now explicitly markets clinical documentation features for creating H&P, progress, and discharge notes. Its key innovation is the ability to combine structured EHR data with the ambient dialogue from the consultation, with the resulting assessment and plan including inline references.
- Why it matters: This illustrates the rapid convergence of Clinical Decision Support (CDS) and scribing. The goal is no longer two separate tools, but a single, intelligent flow that produces answers, plans, and the final document in one process.
The Competitive Landscape
While Epic's entry is a major event, the market for ambient scribing remains vibrant. Established leaders like Nuance DAX, Abridge, Ambience, Suki, and DeepScribe are all pushing beyond simple notes into the higher-value domains of automated coding, revenue cycle management, and clinical navigation. For the medium term, expect a hybrid market where both native EHR capabilities and best-in-class third-party solutions coexist (Fierce Healthcare, KLAS Research).
From “note” to “workflow”: what’s actually changing
- Documentation → actions: The new paradigm is not just about creating text; it's about teeing up actions. Epic’s demos show how orders and documentation accumulate in a reviewable “shopping cart” for the clinician to sign off at the end of the visit.
- Navigation agents: Vendors are launching EHR-aware agents that can pull the right screen or data for the clinician at the right time, reducing clicks and administrative friction.
- Evidence-first drafting: Tools from OpenEvidence and Glass Health are setting a new standard by embedding citations and guideline links directly into the note itself, making clinical documentation an act of evidence-based practice.
UK lens: governance & buyer expectations
For any NHS organisation in the UK, the adoption of these powerful tools must be grounded in a robust governance framework.
- NHS England’s April 2025 guidance on AI-enabled ambient scribing is the foundational document. It sets clear expectations for any deployment, covering the need for a full clinical safety case, a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA), and mandatory human verification of all outputs (NHS England).
- Professional cautions remain critical. The BMJ has reported on warnings for clinicians to stop using unregistered AI scribes. It is a professional and organisational responsibility to adopt only compliant, formally approved tools (BMJ).
What matters in procurement (copy-ready checklist)
- EHR fit: Is the tool native or a third-party add-on? How does it handle credentialing and what are its latency and recovery behaviours?
- Evidence & provenance: Are citations visible in the note? Are last-updated stamps shown? Can it surface national and local guidance?
- Downstream automation: How good is the coding suggestion quality? How accurate is the order "cart"?
- Governance: Is the tool aligned with NHS ambient-scribe guidance? What are the patient consent prompts and data deletion policies?
- Commercials: Is it per-seat or per-minute pricing? What does the support model look like? What is your exit strategy if a native EHR capability supersedes the add-on?
Metrics that aren’t vanity
- Safety/quality: The discrepancy rate between the AI transcript and the final, clinician-approved note; override/acceptance rates; incident and near-miss counts.
- Efficiency: Time-to-note completion; reduction in after-hours "pajama time"; coding turnaround times.
- Experience: Clinician Net Promoter Score (NPS); patient consent opt-in rate; perceived quality of the patient-clinician interaction.
- Equity/robustness: Performance stratified by different accents, clinical settings, and patient demographics.
Micro-workflows
- Clinic flow with Epic native scribe: Record the consultation in Haiku/Canto → "Art for Clinicians" drafts the note and queues up orders in a "cart" → The clinician reviews and signs off from the cart → The "Penny" RCM agent drafts a denial appeal if needed.
- Evidence-integrated visit: Capture the encounter in OpenEvidence Visits → The assessment and plan are automatically enriched with the latest guideline links → The clinician verifies the note and saves the sources.
- CDS + documentation combo: Query Glass Health for a differential and plan with inline references → Generate the H&P or progress note, which leverages both the ambient dialogue and structured data from the EHR.
Risks & How to Mitigate Them
- Hallucination/omission risk: Mitigate by requiring source display and mandatory human verification. Never allow auto-signing of notes or orders.
- Privacy/consent: Mitigate with explicit, scripted patient consent at the start of every encounter and the use of approved, registered products only.
- Strategic lock-in: Mitigate by planning for the coexistence of both native and third-party scribes. Measure the performance of all tools rigorously before consolidating to a single vendor.
FAQ
- Is Epic really building its own scribe?
- Yes. Epic has announced a native AI charting/scribe called "Art for Clinicians," which uses Microsoft Dragon for transcription. It is targeting limited use for early next year.
- Did OpenEvidence launch a scribe?
- Yes, it launched “Visits,” a feature that transcribes clinical encounters and enriches the generated notes with current evidence and guideline links.
- Does Glass Health do scribing?
- Its product pages describe advanced clinical documentation features (H&P, progress notes) that can combine structured EHR data with ambient dialogue from the consultation.
- Where can I find UK guidance on AI scribes?
- The definitive source is NHS England’s April 2025 guidance on AI-enabled ambient scribing, which covers safety, IG, and evaluation requirements.