athenahealth’s Ambient Notes
Overview
athenahealth’s Ambient Notes is an AI-driven tool integrated into the athenaOne EHR platform, designed to streamline clinical documentation.
It is intended for clinicians across various specialties and care settings who utilize athenaOne.
The tool functions by using ambient listening technology during patient encounters (in-person or telehealth) to capture conversations. This audio is then processed by generative AI to automatically draft structured clinical notes, such as SOAP notes, and populate relevant EHR fields. Clinicians can review and edit these AI-generated notes within athenaOne before finalizing them. This workflow aims to reduce the time spent on manual documentation, allowing providers to focus more on patient interaction.
Notable capabilities include:
- Embedded Integration: Ambient Notes is embedded directly within athenaOne and athenaOne Mobile.
- Choice of Models: It operates as a marketplace, allowing clinicians to select from various integrated ambient AI models, including Abridge, Suki, iScribe, and with Dragon Copilot rolling out. athenahealth is also rolling out its own first-party scribe, athenaAmbient, which drafts notes, diagnoses, orders, and prescriptions.
- Automated Documentation: The system automatically generates clinical notes, and some models can also draft diagnoses, orders for labs, imaging, prescriptions, and referrals.
- Provider Review: Clinicians maintain oversight by reviewing and editing the AI-generated content before signing.
Reviewed by Pouyan Golshani, MD — Interventional Radiologist
Key Features
- Ambient listening technology for real-time conversation capture
- Generative AI for automatic clinical note summarization
- Seamless integration with athenaOne EHR and mobile app
- Reduces documentation time and after-hours work for clinicians
- Enhances patient-provider interaction and engagement
- Supports multiple AI-powered models (e.g., Suki AI, iScribe AI, Microsoft Dragon Copilot)
- Automatic population of relevant EHR fields
- Suggests diagnosis and procedure codes (model-dependent)
- Provider review and editing capabilities for AI-generated notes
- Works for both in-person and telehealth visits
Use Cases
- Streamlining clinical note documentation during patient encounters
- Reducing administrative burden and physician burnout
- Improving the accuracy and completeness of clinical notes and medical billing
- Enhancing patient-provider engagement by allowing clinicians to be more present
- Automating charge capture and suggesting appropriate billing codes
- Supporting efficient documentation across various medical specialties
What Physicians Need to Know
Leverage Ambient Notes to minimize 'pajama time' by completing documentation more efficiently during or immediately after patient encounters. Review and edit AI-generated notes carefully to ensure accuracy, completeness, and alignment with your clinical judgment and preferred documentation style. Utilize the multilingual capabilities to enhance patient engagement and provide inclusive care for diverse patient populations.
Ambient Notes is a fully integrated, AI-driven tool within the athenaOne EHR platform, designed for seamless documentation without requiring third-party integration for its core functionality. It automatically populates relevant EHR fields and can draft orders and diagnoses. athenahealth also offers flexibility by supporting multiple AI-powered models, including Suki AI, iScribe AI, and Microsoft Dragon Copilot, allowing clinicians to choose the model that best aligns with their practice and specialty needs.
Details
| Category | Practice Management & Scheduling |
| Pricing |
Included with athenaone
|
| Deployment | Cloud-based |
| Compliance | |
| BAA Available | Unknown AI-estimated |
| HIPAA Compliant | Unknown AI-estimated |
| FDA Status | Unknown AI-estimated |
| Integrations | |
| EHR | Not specified |
| Specialties | Family Medicine, Hospital Medicine, Internal Medicine |
What the Web Says
athenahealth's Ambient Notes is an AI-powered solution integrated into the athenaOne EHR platform, designed to automate clinical note documentation through ambient listening and generative AI. It aims to reduce administrative burdens for healthcare providers, allowing them to focus more on patient care and improve work-life balance. The feature is currently in limited release and is expected to be generally available to all athenaOne customers in mid-to-late 2026, with some partners already generally available.
Overall: MixedStrengths
- Reduces time spent on documentation, including after-hours charting.
- Increases accuracy and detail in clinical notes.
- Allows clinicians to be more present and engaged with patients during visits.
- Offers flexibility with multiple AI ambient models to choose from, integrated directly into athenaOne.
- Can lead to more comprehensive and accurate billing.
- Included in the athenaOne subscription at no additional cost for native AI features.
Limitations
- Some users report a steep learning curve for the broader athenaOne platform.
- The native athenaAmbient (athenahealth's own scribe) may not cover all aspects like diagnosis management, order entry, or billing automation at launch.
- Potential for errors in AI-generated notes, requiring careful review and editing by the clinician.
- Concerns about data privacy and security with AI listening to patient conversations.
- Some users find the user interface of athenaOne clunky and requiring many clicks.
- Inconsistency in note quality and coding suggestions can occur when using different models in a multi-provider group.
Based on reviews from: Athenahealth, Forbes, Physician Assistant Forum, SOAPNoteAI, AssemblyAI, Commure, iScribe Health, G2, Newsweek, Reddit, Sully.ai, Fierce Healthcare
Last updated: 2026-07-22
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