UCSF Study Finds AI Scribes Associated with Increased Physician Productivity and Revenue
Research published in JAMA Network Open shows 5.8% RVU increase among AI scribe adopters, with no rise in claim denials
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Physicians who adopted ambient artificial intelligence (AI) scribe technology experienced significant increases in productivity and revenue without compromising documentation quality, according to new research published in JAMA Network Open.
The study, conducted by researchers at UCSF, analyzed nearly 1.2 million ambulatory encounters across 1,565 physicians between January 2023 and April 2025. Among the physicians studied, 698 (44.6%) adopted AI scribe technology, while 867 remained non-adopters.
A key finding showed that AI scribe adopters generated 1.81 more relative value units (RVUs) per week compared to non-adopters, which is a 5.8% increase that translates to approximately $3,044 in additional annual revenue per physician based on 2025 Medicare payment rates. The 1.81 RVU per week increase could help healthcare systems offset the expense of AI scribe implementation. Understanding the financial implications also informs policymakers about potential impacts on healthcare spending as AI scribe adoption accelerates.
The study also found that AI scribe adopters handled 0.80 more patient encounters per week, representing a 2.8% increase in visit volume. There was also no difference in the proportion of insurance claims denied between adopters and non-adopters, suggesting that AI-generated documentation met payer standards.
“These findings provide initial evidence that AI scribes change how physicians code and bill, and may increase productivity and patient access to care,” said lead author A Jay Holmgren, PhD, MHI, associate chief for research in the UCSF Division of Clinical Informatics and Digital Transformation (DoC-IT).
He emphasized, however, that an important question remains about whether these gains are driven by clinicians delivering additional services or more changes in coding practices.
The authors also note other important limitations in the study. The data comes from a single health system, and the study involved voluntary early adopters who may differ from typical physicians in ways that affect outcomes.
The researchers call for further studies to determine whether increased RVUs reflect genuine productivity gains or improved coding accuracy.
The full study, "Ambient Artificial Intelligence Scribes and Physician Financial Productivity," is available in JAMA Network Open. The work was supported in part by a gift from Ken and Kathy Hao to establish the Impact Monitoring Platform for AI in Clinical Care (IMPACC) at UCSF.
Another study supported in part by IMPACC, "Subjective and Objective Impacts of Ambulatory AI Scribes," was recently published in the American Journal of Managed Care. Read more here.
To learn more about AI scribes and their use at UCSF, check out this Q&A with Sara Murray, MD, MAS, UCSF Health’s chief AI officer.
About the UCSF Division of Clinical Informatics and Digital Transformation (DoC-IT)
DoC-IT serves as the academic home for applied clinical informatics researchers within the UCSF Department of Medicine. We also serve as a coordinating entity with key internal and external digital stakeholders across all UCSF mission areas, schools, departments, and divisions. Clinical informatics is approached as a multidisciplinary field that involves the use of technology by a broad spectrum of health professionals, patients, and other stakeholders.
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