Cleveland Clinic cuts after-hours documentation time 49.6% with rigorous 5-vendor ambient AI evaluation

Clinicians were burdened by documentation time, including significant after-hours 'pajama time' spent completing notes. Cleveland Clinic needed an objective, evidence-based method to evaluate the growing market of ambient AI scribes before committing to a system-wide deployment.

Tested five ambient AI vendors head-to-head using over 25,000 real patient encounters to gather comparative data. Selected and integrated the winning solution with ongoing clinician feedback loops and clear-eyed evaluation criteria rather than relying solely on vendor claims.

Achieved a 49.6% reduction in after-hours documentation time, 32% increase in face time with patients, and 25% faster note creation. Leadership attributed success not to technology alone but to rigorous integration processes and continuous clinician feedback.

• Piloting multiple vendors with real patient encounter data (25,000+) produces far more reliable selection decisions than vendor case studies alone.
• After-hours documentation burden ('pajama time') is a meaningful proxy metric for clinician wellbeing alongside burnout surveys.
• Sustained success requires ongoing clinician feedback loops, not just a one-time rollout.