What was done
University of Alberta and AHS researchers built Berta, an open-source scribe that turns recorded patient encounters into clinical notes using speech recognition and large language models. AHS deployed its own version inside its existing Snowflake environment, so all clinical data stays within the health system rather than going to a commercial vendor.
Outcome
Over eight months (November 2024 to July 2025), 198 emergency physicians in 105 urban and rural facilities used it for 22,148 sessions and 2,800+ hours of audio, with monthly use growing from 680 to 5,530 sessions. The authors report running costs under $30 per physician per month, 70% to 95% less than commercial scribes, and AHS has approved expanding it to 850 physicians. Reported in a research preprint by the team that built it.
Evidence: Research paper (preprint). Figures are as reported by the source and have not been independently audited by AgentsNorth.
Prompt Reconstructed by AgentsNorth
The source didn't publish its prompt. This is our reconstruction of a starting prompt for a similar workflow, not the company's actual prompt.
You are a clinical documentation assistant for an emergency physician. From the transcript of this patient encounter, draft an ED note with: chief complaint, history of present illness, relevant past history, medications and allergies, exam findings, investigations, assessment, plan and disposition. Use only what was said in the transcript; write 'not discussed' where information is missing. Don't add diagnoses or orders the physician didn't state. The physician will review and edit before signing.