Ambient AI Supports Better Collaboration in Behavioral…
Ambient AI Supports Better Collaboration in Behavioral Health
Katherine Christen
July 31, 2026•5 min read••
Collaborative care models (CoCM) that transform behavioral health services into primary care are seeing rapid growth in the U.S. healthcare system.
As a 2025 report noted, providers in the commercial market, which is dominated by employer coverage, increased participation in collaborative care models by 6.9 times nationally from 2018 to 2022. In 2023 that number escalated by 9.1 times, or 4,972 providers.
For both patients and behavioral health (BH) providers, this is a promising development. CoCM can play a crucial role in increasing access to mental healthcare within the primary-care setting, where only 50% of patients with a mental health disorder are recognized, and only 12.5% of those are properly treated.
However, more collaboration and CoCM participation requirements also brings more administrative burdens. Mental health professionals must ensure they can support claims with proper documentation, share sensitive information in an effective way with their care partners, and comply with regulations such as 42 CFR Part 2, which protects the confidentiality of patients with substance use disorders [SUDs].
But with rates of clinical burnout rising, collaboration could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. This raises a critical question: How can behavioral health providers get deeper and more effective support as they forge new partnerships with primary care and specialty providers?
Ambient AI Support
Among the potential list of ideas and technologies that can support BH providers as they take on greater responsibilities within CoCM relationships, ambient AI stands out.
Documentation is heavier in behavioral health than almost any specialty, between progress notes for every therapy session, DSM-5 evaluations, safety planning, and group therapy notes. Providers must exchange notes with PCPs, schools, courts, and social services while maintaining compliance with strict regulations. So they need to know that their notes are high quality.
Nuance is everything: BH professionals not only need to identify and understand the complexities of a client's emotions, experiences, and behaviors, but translate those observations into text.
Prior to using an ambient AI scribe, Chris Bojrab, MD, President of Indiana Health Group, a large, multi-specialty behavioral health practice with more than 60 providers in psychiatry, psychology, and therapy, said these contextual details were often missed when clinicians rushed through EHR entries.
But once Bojrab’s group adopted Heidi’s ambient AI scribe, all of that nuance was captured: Providers could be more present in sessions, knowing they didn’t need to furiously take notes during sessions or jot down observations between appointments.
“Before, I had to choose between having a crappy note or sacrificing the face-to-face experience with patients,” Bojrab said.
High Country Behavioral Health (HCBH), a community-based behavioral health agency in Wyoming, experienced similar benefits. Prior to implementing Heidi’s ambient AI scribe, some clinicians spent Sundays catching up on paperwork, inevitably re-listening to recordings.
“You listen to traumatic experiences all week, then have to relive them again as you document,” Jared Bingham, COO, observed.
Today, that is no longer the case. After a phased rollout of Heidi’s scribe, average note time dropped from about 5 to 6 minutes to about 2 minutes, saving roughly 30 minutes per day.
The upshot? Clinicians keep their weekends, Bingham said.
Better Collaboration Ahead
These are just two of a growing number of practices that attest to ambient AI as one of the most impactful applications in addressing burnout.
And the timing is serendipitous. As one recent study noted, behavioral health worker retention and longevity is negatively influenced by low wages, documentation burden, poor physical and administrative infrastructure, lack of career development opportunities, and a chronically traumatic work environment. Most of these are issues that can be resolved by easing non-patient-related stressors and improving collaboration.
By automating documentation across therapy sessions, psychiatric evaluations, intake assessments, and interdisciplinary care coordination, ambient AI is translating encounters into complete, compliant notes.
The result is expanded access, stronger compliance, cleaner claims, and a more stable workforce that doesn’t cringe when it comes time to share and exchange data with patient care partners.
