A large AI scribe study in primary care has real implications for psychiatry
The April 2026 JAMA study by Rotenstein et al. is the largest multisite evaluation to date of AI-powered scribes. Across 8,581 clinicians at five U.S. academic health systems, AI scribe adoption was associated with 13.4 fewer minutes of total EHR time and 16.0 fewer minutes of documentation time per 8 scheduled patient hours, along with a modest increase of 0.49 weekly visits. The study did not find a significant reduction in EHR time outside work hours.¹
That average is useful, but the more relevant finding is which clinicians saw the biggest gains. In the JAMA study, the greatest reductions were seen among advanced practice clinicians, female clinicians, and clinicians who used AI scribes in at least 50% of visits. That matters for psychiatry because those groups overlap heavily with psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners (PMHNPs) and with the way many outpatient psychiatric practices function.¹
The subgroup findings matter more than the average
If you are trying to understand whether AI scribes matter for psychiatric practice, the subgroup data is more important than the overall average. Frequent users got better results. Clinicians who used the technology more consistently saw greater reductions in documentation burden than those who used it only occasionally. A separate 2025 study found the same pattern: clinicians who used an AI scribe frequently had larger per-appointment efficiency gains, while sporadic users saw far less benefit.²
That fits what many psychiatric clinicians already know from experience. The benefit comes when the scribe becomes part of the normal workflow. Using it inconsistently usually means the clinician is still switching back and forth between two charting methods, which limits the time savings.²
Why this matters even more for Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners
The original study was largely in primary care. Psychiatry is different.
Primary care notes are often shorter and more structured. Psychiatric notes are more narrative, more nuanced, and more documentation-heavy. A typical psychiatric encounter often includes symptoms, medication response, side effects, mental status exam findings, safety assessment, treatment planning, and, in many cases, psychotherapy documentation in the same note. That means the baseline charting burden in psychiatry is usually much higher than what is seen in primary care. The same amount of automation can produce a larger practical effect in psychiatric practice.¹
Findings Comparison
- The JAMA study found an average reduction of about 16 minutes in primary care documentation time per 8 scheduled patient hours.¹
- Our PMHScribe users report saving an average of about 2 hours per 8-hour day in charting time.
That gap is not surprising. Psychiatry has a higher documentation burden, so the operational impact is greater.
Females found AI scribes more useful
This is especially relevant for PMHNPs, as the workforce profile closely aligns with the subgroup findings from the JAMA study.
- Nurse practitioners are 87.6% female and 11.5% male.⁴
- 7.1% of NPs hold a psychiatric or mental health population certification, and 5.9% report psychiatry or mental health as a top clinical focus.⁴
- Psychiatrists were 42% female in 2022, up from 30% in 2004.⁵
The JAMA study found that the benefits were greatest for advanced practice clinicians, female clinicians, and frequent users.¹
The real value is not just minutes saved
The study measured time, but for psychiatry, the bigger issue is cognitive load.
Psychiatric documentation requires a clinician to hold a large amount of detail in working memory while also maintaining focus on the patient. When charting is reduced, the benefit is not only less keyboard time. There is less fragmentation during the visit. Other studies on ambient AI scribes have found reductions in burnout, cognitive task load, and administrative burden after implementation.³
In one multicenter quality-improvement study, burnout among ambulatory clinicians fell from 51.9% to 38.8% after 30 days of ambient AI scribe use.³
That has obvious implications in psychiatry, where subtle changes in affect, thought process, speech, insight, and risk are easy to miss when the clinician is focused on documentation.³
What this means for psychiatric practices
The practical takeaway is straightforward. Frequent use produces better outcomes. Advanced practice clinicians benefit more. Female clinicians benefit more. Psychiatry has a heavier charting burden than primary care. Put those facts together, and the likely effect size in psychiatry is larger than the primary care average reported in the JAMA study.¹²
That is why a study that may look modest at first glance is more meaningful than it appears to psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners. In primary care, the gains may look incremental. In psychiatry, the same technology can materially change the workday.
FAQ
What did the 2026 JAMA study find about AI scribes?
The study found that AI scribe adoption was associated with 13.4 fewer minutes of total EHR time and 16.0 fewer minutes of documentation time per 8 scheduled patient hours, plus a small increase in weekly visit volume. It did not find a significant reduction in after-hours EHR time.¹
Which clinicians benefited the most from AI scribes?
The largest reductions were seen among advanced practice clinicians, female clinicians, and clinicians who used AI scribes in at least 50% of visits.¹
Why do AI scribes matter more in psychiatry?
Psychiatry usually involves longer, more narrative documentation with medication management, mental status exam findings, risk assessment, and often psychotherapy documentation in the same note. Because the charting burden is higher, the operational benefit of an AI scribe can be greater than in primary care.¹
Are PMHNPs mostly female?
AANP reported in 2024 that nurse practitioners overall are 87.6% female and 11.5% male. AANP does not appear, in the sources reviewed here, to publish a separate gender-only breakout specifically for PMHNPs in that same report.⁴
What is the gender breakdown for psychiatrists?
AAMC reports that women made up 42% of psychiatrists in 2022, compared with 38% of the active physician workforce overall.⁵
Do frequent AI scribe users get better results?
Yes. Both the 2026 JAMA study and a 2025 study support the idea that higher-frequency users see greater benefits than sporadic users.¹²
References
- Rotenstein LS, Holmgren AJ, Thombley R, et al. Changes in Clinician Time Expenditure and Visit Quantity With Adoption of Artificial Intelligence-Powered Scribes. JAMA. 2026. doi:10.1001/jama.2026.2253.
- Pearlman K, Wan W, Shah S, Laiteerapong N. Use of an AI Scribe and Electronic Health Record Efficiency. JAMA Network Open. 2025;8(10):e2537000. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.37000.
- Olson KD, Meeker D, Troup M, et al. Use of Ambient AI Scribes to Reduce Administrative Burden and Professional Burnout. JAMA Network Open. 2025;8(10):e2534976. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.34976.
- American Association of Nurse Practitioners. 2024 AANP National NP Practice Survey / Practice Report.
- Association of American Medical Colleges. Women Are Changing the Face of Medicine in America.
