AI Medical Scribe Cost: Is It Worth the Price?

How Much Does an AI Medical Scribe Cost?

AI medical scribes generally cost from $99 to $600+ per month, with some vendors offering a robust and permanent free tier like Heidi Health. This wide variance in price can make it difficult to evaluate options, as it’s not always apparent if the reported efficiency gains advertised by any AI medical scribe apply to your unique situation.

However, there is emerging evidence of substantial value for many healthcare organizations. For example, some are reporting AI scribes help them recoup $10k+ in clinical time each month, representing an ROI of 900% or more on the implementation cost of a scribe like Heidi.

In this article, we’ll thoroughly explore cost considerations for AI medical scribes. We compare pricing across leading vendors and equip you with the knowledge needed to calculate the true return on investment (ROI) possible with a high-quality product. Our goal is to help you decide whether investing in an AI medical scribe makes financial sense for your practice needs and goals.  

How to Evaluate AI Medical Scribe Costs

Evaluating the true cost of an AI medical scribe is more complex than comparing monthly subscription fees. While it’s tempting to focus solely on the sticker price, not all AI medical scribes deliver equal value, and each clinician and healthcare service has different needs.

To make an informed decision, it’s crucial to understand each dimension of value an AI scribe could bring to your practice, then compare this to the financial outlay. 

Put another way, the goal isn’t finding the cheapest possible option; it’s identifying the solution that delivers the strongest return on investment from the AI medical scribe’s cost. 

Here are the five key steps to understanding the full value a high-quality AI medical scribe may unlock in your particular situation. 

1. Assess Clinical Time Savings

The most immediate benefit of AI medical scribes is time savings on documentation. Studies show that doctors spend two hours on administrative tasks for every one hour of clinical care. This makes reducing note-taking time a prime target for improving the efficiency (and quality of life) of clinicians.

Providers of all backgrounds who use Heidi’s AI medical scribe consistently report saving 1–2 hours per day on clinical documentation, which typically accounts for around 50% of their average daily documentation time. This liberated clinical time can be used to deliver more care and generate more revenue.

In terms of real-world ROI, Advanced Urology recovered $121,000 in productive clinical time within just 16 weeks of implementing Heidi, representing a 10.3x ROI on setup costs. Similarly, Fountain Vitality reclaimed $49,000 in clinical time in 6 months with Heidi, while Nourish Family Nutrition liberated $10,000 in 12 weeks (representing a 5x ROI).    

When evaluating AI medical scribe cost, a useful initial calculation is to make a conservative estimate of the increase in the clinical time a scribe could allow and then compare this to the monthly price. For many providers, conducting even one to two additional sessions per week may pay for the cost of the AI medical scribe several times over.

2. Look Into Documentation Quality Improvements

Most issues with documentation quality are due to the immense time pressures clinicians are under, not carelessness or a lack of desire to write thorough notes. By automating a majority of the clinical documentation process, high-quality AI medical scribes give providers the time and space to produce better notes and documents.

“The quality of my documentation has improved significantly,” states neurosurgeon Mr. Gordon Grahovac, describing his experience with Heidi. “I don’t need to worry about recalling every single detail during a consultation or remembering all the information to document later. Heidi does it in the background, so I can concentrate on my patients.”

To evaluate the potential value gained from improved documentation quality, providers can estimate current revenue loss from under coding and compare this to ongoing AI medical scribe costs. Reductions in compliance costs and lower rates of insurance denials or clawbacks may also factor into the equation. 

3. Take Note of Enhanced Patient Experience

To keep up with documentation, it’s common practice for providers to alternate between typing and speaking with the patient throughout the session. This has arguably become an accepted part of healthcare delivery, but there’s no denying the practice can negatively impact the patient experience.

By eliminating the need for typing during the session, AI medical scribes enable clinicians to deliver warmer, more attentive care. 

“Heidi has improved our clinician-patient experience significantly,” explains Dr. Chris Bojrab, President of Indiana Health Group. “It allows me to build a better note but at the same time actually talk to my patient more conversationally, be more present in the moment, and still wind up with a good note.”

Patient experience is strongly correlated with the financial performance of health services. Therefore, while it’s an often overlooked aspect of revenue enhancement, potential improvements in patient experience should be considered when evaluating AI medical scribe cost. 

4. Evaluate Benefits to Better Clinician Well-Being

Health worker well-being is a global crisis, with more than one-third of the public health workforce and nearly 50% of physicians experiencing burnout. Clinician burnout results in significant costs to healthcare organizations, primarily through reduced clinical capacity, staff turnover, and retraining costs for new employees. 

Administrative burden is recognized as a primary contributing factor to clinician burnout, which makes AI medical scribes ideally suited to help address this important (and costly) issue.

In a survey of behavioral health clinicians about their experiences with Heidi’s AI medical scribe, 93% reported that the tool reduced burnout and 92% felt more joy and satisfaction with their practice. These results suggest that AI medical costs may be substantially offset by improved clinician well-being, resulting in lower costs related to staff absences, medical leave, and organizational initiatives to manage burnout.

5. Consider the Potential of Greater Staff Retention

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates a global workforce shortage of 11 million health workers by 2030. As a result, competition is only going to become fiercer between healthcare organizations wanting to retain enough staff to operate at full capacity (let alone attracting top talent). 

We all know documentation is clinicians’ least favorite part of their work. Therefore, it’s reasonable to assume that organizations with well-developed processes to enhance the benefits of AI medical scribes will be able to attract and retain the best clinicians.

To put it more simply, imagine you’re a clinician with two comparable job offers. Offer one is a health service utilizing the latest in AI scribing technology to dramatically reduce administrative burden for its providers. The other relies solely on a traditional electronic health record (EHR) or practice management system (PMS) for record keeping. Which one would you choose?  

Heidi CEO Dr. Tom Kelly explains why Heidi has a permanent free tier

AI Medical Scribe Cost vs. Other Scribing Options 

AI medical scribes aren’t the only option for streamlining administrative tasks in healthcare. Other choices include human scribes, outsourced transcription, and traditional voice-to-text software.

To fully understand the value proposition of AI-based clinical documentation solutions, it’s essential to compare AI medical scribe costs to alternative scribing options. Below is an overview of the four main transcription options available to healthcare providers.

1. Human Medical Scribes

Human medical scribes are trained professionals who accompany clinicians during patient encounters to assist with documentation tasks. They work in person alongside the provider (or sometimes virtually), listening to appointments and creating notes that are reviewed by the treating clinician and placed in the medical record.

The average annual salary for a human medical scribe is around $40,000 (USD) in the US, $95,000 (AUD) in Australia, and £24,000 in the UK.

2. Outsourced Transcription

Outsourced transcription services are a lower-cost alternative to on-site human medical scribes. These services work by clinicians taking an audio recording of their sessions or dictating a letter and then sending the audio files to a transcription company. The transcription service then types documents and generally returns them within 24–48 hours.  

Pricing for outsourced transcription varies widely. Transcription companies may charge by time of audio recording (around $1–$3 per minute), by line of text (about $0.07—$0.10 per line), or per page (approx. $5–$15 per page). 

3. Voice-to-Text Software

Also known as speech-recognition software, voice-to-text tools have been commercially available for several decades. In medical settings, they are typically used for dictation. 

With voice-to-text solutions, the clinician dictates a note or letter into a device that automatically transforms the audio into a verbatim digital transcript. This transcript is then usually manually edited by the clinician or an administrative assistant before being added to the medical record. 

Mainstream voice-to-text software is integrated into most smartphones. However, this doesn’t meet regional healthcare data security requirements (e.g., HIPAA, GDPR, APP) for most practitioners. Speech recognition software suitable for healthcare settings typically costs $50–$100 per month, per provider. 

4. AI Medical Scribes

AI medical scribes combine automatic speech recognition technology with several forms of artificial intelligence, including large language models (LLMs) and machine learning (ML), and generative AI. AI medical scribes also have extensive training in healthcare terminology and workflows. 

Much like a human scribe, an AI medical scribe can interpret, understand, and organize data from clinical sessions. As we’ve already mentioned, AI medical scribe cost varies from free to $600+ per month.

Heidi’s free version maintains the same stringent security as our paid tiers

Real-World Example of AI Medical Scribe ROI

For a real-world demonstration of AI medical scribe cost vs. value, let’s take a quick look at the experience of Priority Physicians after implementing Heidi across their two primary care clinics.

Within just 14 weeks of implementing Heidi, Priority Physicians:

• Reduced charting time by 70%
• Saved 100+ hours on documentation
• Recouped $16,000 in clinical time
• Achieved a 600% ROI on implementation costs

“Previously, I would spend 2–2.5 hours writing notes for a full day of seeing patients,” states Dr. Shelagh Fraser, Director of Medical Excellence and Innovation at Priority Physicians. “Now with Heidi, I’ve got that down to around 40 minutes.”

Dr. Fraser also explained that the overall efficiency and responsiveness of their clinic is improved with Heidi, as clinical assistants now get documentation to complete follow-up tasks immediately (previously they would have to wait until the following day for the physician to finish charting). 

Breakdown of AI Medical Scribe Costs

Now that we’ve explored how to quantify the value an AI scribe can bring to your practice, it’s time to examine AI medical scribe pricing.

Cost differs significantly between AI scribe vendors, with pricing falling into three broad tiers. While products in each tier share some commonalities in terms of feature sets and target customers, it’s fair to say that the AI medical scribe market is still developing, and a consensus regarding standard features versus price points has yet to emerge.

Please note that prices in the tiers below intend to serve as a guide only. They are general approximations based on surveying currently available data on leading AI medical scribe products. Price guides are in USD and represent the quoted monthly cost of a license per clinician.

Heidi AI Medical Scribe Cost - Free to $99 per month

Heidi disrupts standard AI medical scribe pricing in two ways. 

Firstly, we offer a permanent free tier. You can use Heidi Free to create unlimited AI-supported notes and documents for as long as you want, no strings attached. You’ll get 10 free Pro actions each month to test out paid features, but there’s no obligation to upgrade if it’s not right for you.

Secondly, Heidi Pro is only $99 per month, making it one of the most affordable, full-featured AI medical scribes available. Heidi Pro includes high-level capabilities typically only seen in products at much higher price points, such as: 

• Unlimited custom templates - Build your own or grab one from the Template Community.
• Auto-generated documents - Just Ask Heidi and she’ll write a referral letter, handover, or patient summary based on your initial note.
• Practice support tools - Heidi will suggest codes, create a task list, and soon, even perform simple follow-up calls after your session.
• Assessments and reports - Generate outputs based on uploaded patient history and previous sessions (perfect for progress reports and assessments).     

You can even try Heidi Pro today with a free 30-day trial to get a full feel for the product before paying anything.

Try Heidi for free 

Pricing Tier 1 AI Medical Scribe Cost - $119 to $149 per month

Tier 1 AI medical scribes typically have basic AI transcription with limited customization options. Products in this price range often focus on simple note generation with a handful of standardized templates for common note formats (e.g., SOAP, DAP, BIRP). Some products may have restrictions on usage volume or advanced features.

A Tier 1 scribe may work well for solo practitioners or small clinics with straightforward documentation needs. These products may not be the best at handling complex documents or unique workflows. However, they can significantly reduce the time it takes to produce standard note types. 

Pricing Tier 2 AI Medical Scribe Cost - $299+ per month

Mid-tier priced scribes generally offer more advanced AI capabilities, custom template generation, practice support tools, and possibly even EHR and PMS integrations. There are usually no usage limits at this level. Some products are also purpose-built for particular clinical specialties (like a behavioral health AI scribe or an allied health AI scribe).

The higher price point of a tier 2 AI medical scribe demands careful consideration of potential ROI. In many cases, AI medical scribe cost is easily recouped with a few additional sessions each month. Larger practices may also be able to offset the cost with reduced expenses for compliance and lower training costs for onboarding new clinicians.    

Pricing Tier 3 AI Medical Scribes Cost  - $600+ per month   

Premium-tier AI scribes typically offer advanced features geared toward medical specialists and enterprise-level organizations. With this price point, it’s reasonable to expect EHR or PMS integration as standard, extensive customization options, revenue enhancement tools,  and bespoke onboarding and customer support services.

The target market for high-end AI scribe products typically already spends a significant amount of money on alternative scribing options. For these clinicians and organizations, the relatively high AI medical scribe cost may be less than their existing transcription and administrative support solutions, representing excellent value for money.

AI Medical Scribe Cost Comparison Table

Here’s a brief table comparing AI medical scribe costs across the three tiers discussed above.

Of all the AI medical scribes in the market today, Heidi offers the most value and flexibility in price and functionality. We’ve got plans to suit medical students and solo providers all the way up to teams and enterprise-level organizations. 

Try Heidi: The Best Value AI Medical Scribe for All Clinicians

If you’re overwhelmed analyzing and comparing AI medical scribe costs, you can relax, we’ve made the decision easy. We’re so confident Heidi is the best AI medical scribe for all clinicians that we’ve made the core AI transcription features free to use, for as long as you want.

Here’s how to get started with Heidi:

• Sign up for a free plan - Access unlimited AI transcription to get a feel for the product. Use the 10 free Pro actions each month to test out more advanced features.
• Access your free 30-day trial - Try any of our paid plans at no cost. No obligation or credit card required. Simply downgrade your plan at the end of the trial if it’s not for you.
• Enjoy the savings - Deliver warmer care to more patients, with time left over to go home early or focus on your business. You decide how to spend your extra time. 

Heidi is trusted by clinicians worldwide to process over one million patient consults per week. Our advanced AI medical scribe meets or exceeds global healthcare data and security standards, including HIPAA, PIPEDA, GDPR, and Australian Privacy Principles (APP).  

Try for free

FAQs About AI Medical Scribe Cost

How much does the average AI medical scribe cost? 

AI medical scribe costs range from free to over $600 per month. Because AI scribe technology is rapidly evolving, the cost per month doesn’t necessarily correlate with features and overall quality. Some lower-cost AI medical scribes provide stellar value, while more expensive options don’t always offer features commensurate with cost.

Is the cost of an AI medical scribe worth it?

For most healthcare practices, a high-quality AI medical scribe will deliver positive ROI within the first few months of use. Increased clinical capacity alone often justifies the investment. However, when assessing AI medical scribe cost, it’s essential to consider benefits that don’t linearly produce more revenue, like improved documentation quality, better patient experience, and enhanced clinician well-being.

Are there hidden costs with AI medical scribes that are free to use? 

AI medical scribes with a legitimate free tier don’t have hidden surprises or costs. They also provide a free product that’s fit for purpose, not a pared-back version that pressures users toward expensive paid plans. At Heidi, we don’t think AI medical scribe cost should prevent clinicians (or patients) from benefiting from our product, so we’re committed to always providing a functional free version of our scribe.