N.B. health network adopts AI tool

BATHURST, N.B. – Vitalité Health Network has begun rolling out AutoScribe, an artificial intelligence (AI) transcription tool now available to 130 family physicians and nurse practitioners in the Network.

This tool transcribes consultations between patients and healthcare professionals in real-time, generating structured notes that are directly integrated into the electronic medical record.

Documenting consultations and writing medical notes are essential tasks, but they are also particularly demanding and represent a significant portion of health care professionals’ administrative workload.

Freed from these tasks, physicians can interact more naturally with patients, promoting better eye contact, smoother communication, and mutual understanding.

“This is another step towards improving the efficiency of our primary healthcare teams,” said Dr. Anick Pelletier (pictured), assistant vice president of medical affairs. “By significantly reducing the time spent on notetaking and data entry, our clinicians will be able to give their full attention to patients during consultations and focus fully on what’s most important: providing high-quality care.”

The transcription tool does not make any decisions about the care provided; it simply summarizes the conversation with the care provider.

Before using the tool, each patient must provide explicit consent, ensuring that their personal information is strictly protected in accordance with provincial and federal data privacy laws. Clinicians then review the generated notes to ensure the accuracy of the information recorded.

Canada Health Infoway is supporting this initiative by offering 10,000 one-year licenses to eligible clinicians across the country through its AI Scribe Program. AutoScribe is one of several rigorously selected, pre-qualified tools that meet the highest safety standards.

Vitalité Health Network (French: Réseau de santé Vitalité) is one of two health authorities in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, the other being Horizon Health Network.

Vitalité Health Network delivers medical care on behalf of the Government of New Brunswick‘s Department of Health to the northern and southeastern portions of the province through 11 hospitals and 30 health centres/clinics and provides a variety of programs and services.