Canada Health Infoway Introduces AI Scribe Program to Reduce Administrative Burden for Primary Care Clinicians

Through this initiative, up to 10,000 eligible primary care clinicians across Canada will receive a fully funded one-year license for a prequalified AI-powered tool that can help to automate note-summarizing, document patient visits, and generate structured notes—allowing them to spend more time on patient care and less on paperwork.

Addressing Administrative Burden in Primary Care

Excessive documentation demands are a growing challenge for primary care clinicians across Canada, contributing to burnout and reducing time spent with patients.

• 44 per cent of physicians experience burnout, with administrative workload as a major factor (2024 National Survey of Canadian Physicians)
• More than 51 per cent of physicians using an EMR report spending two or more hours at home or after hours completing documentation and administrative work. (2024 National Survey of Canadian Physicians)
• The 2023 Canadian Survey of Nurses highlights that documentation and navigating multiple systems are major administrative burdens, impacting workflow efficiency and clinician well-being.

By automating time-consuming administrative tasks like documentation, AI-powered clinical tools can help reduce administrative workload, improve efficiency, and free up more time for direct patient care.

How the Program Works

Infoway is conducting a competitive cross-Canada RFPQ (Request for Pre-Qualification) process to ensure the selected technologies meet national standards and unique regional needs, support secure data sharing, meet clinical practice requirements, and align with the Shared Pan-Canadian Interoperability Roadmap.

Infoway is also collaborating with provinces and territories to implement the AI Scribe Program. Program availability, access, and execution may vary by jurisdiction, with each approach tailored to align with the unique needs of the region and clinical practice requirements.

When the program officially launches in Spring 2025, eligible primary care clinicians will have the opportunity to access region-specific, prequalified AI Scribe tools that meet these standards, ensuring flexibility while maintaining quality and security.

Starting today, primary care clinicians can express their interest in the program and sign up to receive updates ahead of the program launch in Spring 2025.

A Pathway for AI in Clinical Workflows

The AI Scribe Program is the first step in a broader effort to integrate similar technologies into Canada’s healthcare system. The AI Scribe Program introduces a maturity model that supports a structured framework for advancing interoperability, progressively enhancing AI scribes' integration with digital health systems. It defines a clear vision for improving data quality and interoperability by aligning AI scribe adoption with pan-Canadian standards, ensuring these tools seamlessly connect within the broader health ecosystem.

Future phases will explore scalability, deeper EMR integration, and AI-assisted decision support, ensuring AI-powered tools remain trusted, secure, and effective for Canadian clinicians now and into the future.

To learn more about the national AI Scribe Program, please visit us here. If you have questions, please contact us.

About Canada Health Infoway

At Canada Health Infoway (Infoway) we believe a more connected and collaborative system is a healthier system, and one that leads to better health outcomes for all Canadians. By leveraging digital technologies and innovations, we’re working with governments, healthcare organizations, clinicians, and patients to advance connected care across the country. This improves care coordination, empowers patients to have a more active role in managing their health, and equips care providers with information and insights to support better care both at the point of care and throughout their patients' health journey. Most importantly, it modernizes our health care system towards a future with patient-centered care at its heart.

We’re an independent, not-for-profit organization funded by the federal government and accountable to our Board of Directors and Members of the Corporation (Canada’s 14 federal, provincial and territorial deputy ministers of health). Infoway is led by a team of seasoned professionals who are specialists in their respective fields, including health care, administration, information technology and privacy. Visit us online at www.infoway-inforoute.ca.

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