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A nationwide rollout of an AI-powered clinical documentation tool, called AI scribe, to emergency clinicians across public hospitals in New Zealand is now being extended to mental health crisis teams.
Health Minister Simeon Brown recently announced that AI scribes are now being used by approximately 1,250 emergency doctors and frontline staff across all public emergency departments in the country, 250 more than the initially targeted number in October.
In a statement, Minister Brown announced that Te Whatu Ora is preparing to procure 1,000 additional AI scribe licenses for use by mental health teams.
WHY IT MATTERS
The inclusion of mental health teams represents the next phase of the national AI scribe rollout across EDs, Sonny Taite, director of Digital Innovation and AI at Te Whatu Ora, told Healthcare IT News.
"Mental health clinicians were involved in the early implementation of the technology, particularly in emergency departments where mental health teams support people presenting in crisis. This early experience, alongside clinician feedback, has helped inform our understanding of how the technology may be applied across both acute and mental health settings," he explained.
Taite mentioned that mental health clinicians reportedly spend up to 40% of their time on documentation.
"While informed by emergency department learning, the expansion into mental health is a distinct phase," Taite clarified. "It is deliberately designed to ensure the technology is safe, appropriate, and delivers value in different clinical contexts."
Te Whatu Ora has not disclosed which vendors will provide the additional licenses to the ED mental health cohort. "Due to commercial reasons, we are unable to share further details at this time," Taite said.
To date, four providers of ambient AI scribe: Heidi, iMedX, T-Pro, and IntelliTek, have been endorsed by an advisory group within Te Whatu Ora for use within the public health system. Heidi previously confirmed that they were contracted to deploy their solution as part of the nationwide rollout.
THE LARGER CONTEXT
A prior pilot study at Hawke's Bay Hospital found that the use of an AI scribe in a public ED allowed doctors to see an additional patient per shift on average.
Te Whatu Ora is exploring other clinical areas where an AI scribe can be applied. Taite previously shared with this publication that they received strong interest from outpatient clinics.
ON THE RECORD
"This places New Zealand among the fastest health systems in the world to move from pilot to nationwide frontline AI use in emergency departments, helping clinicians spend more time with patients and less time on paperwork," Minister Brown said about the completion of the nationwide rollout across public EDs. The minister emphasised that "AI will never replace clinical skill or judgement, but it will play an increasingly important role in supporting frontline healthcare staff."
He also noted "encouraging" early feedback from the nationwide rollout. "After one month of use at Middlemore Emergency Department, 80% of surveyed staff said the AI scribe improved productivity or efficiency, and 84% said it had a positive impact on their overall experience and wellbeing during a shift."
