Faster Notes From Longer Visits: How SigmaMD Built Scribe Around Specialized AI Writers

SigmaMD built Scribe to draft a clinical note the way a well-run clinic divides its work. Instead of one AI pass over the whole visit, Scribe splits the practice's note template into its sections and hands each one to an AI writer built for that kind of section. The writers work in parallel, and Scribe assembles their drafts into one note for the clinician to review and sign. The payoff is largest where documentation hurts most: for visits of 45 minutes or longer, the note-writing step is about a third faster than single-pass drafting.

The same idea runs through SigmaMD's AI workforce: give each AI teammate one well-defined job, let the teammates work side by side, and keep the clinician in charge of everything that goes into the chart. Below we explain how Scribe drafts a note, why specialists beat a single pass, and how Scribe fits with the rest of that workforce.

How does SigmaMD Scribe draft a note?

A single AI pass over a whole visit slows down as the visit gets longer, and it makes every section of the note share one set of instructions. SigmaMD Scribe works like a small team of specialists instead:

• The template becomes a set of jobs. Chief complaint, history, exam, assessment and plan, follow-up, and any custom sections the practice has added each become a separate piece of work.
• Each section has a specialist writer. The assessment and plan is drafted by a writer built only for assessments and plans, the exam by one built for exams, and so on through the note.
• The writers work in parallel. Every section is drafted at the same time, then assembled in the order the template defines.
• Template guidance shapes the draft without appearing in it. Instructions a practice writes into a template, such as "keep the exam brief", steer the writers and never show up as note text.
• Blank sections are redrafted. If a key section such as the assessment and plan comes back empty, Scribe drafts it again before the note is assembled.

Why use specialized AI writers instead of one?

For the same reason a clinic divides work among people with distinct roles: a narrow job is easier to do well and to do quickly. A writer that drafts only the assessment and plan carries instructions written for assessments and plans, instead of sharing one set of instructions with every other part of the note.

Splitting the work also keeps it lean, so a long, detailed visit doesn't turn into a long wait. Custom sections a practice adds, such as a nutrition plan or a membership check-in, are drafted alongside the rest with no extra setup.

How fast is SigmaMD Scribe on long visits?

Because the writers work in parallel, the time to draft a note barely grows with the length of the visit. SigmaMD measured this on production notes through October 30, 2026:

• For visits of 45 minutes or longer, the note-writing step is about a third faster than single-pass drafting.
• A 20-minute visit and an hour-long visit finish within about ten seconds of each other.

How does Scribe fit into SigmaMD's AI workforce?

Scribe is one member of a team. In SigmaMD, each AI teammate takes one job off the clinic's plate, and the clinician approves the result:

• Scribe drafts the visit note in the practice's own note templates and snippets, from the patient chart, during telehealth visits, or from the clinician mobile app, in English, Spanish and other supported languages.
• Scribe Actions turns the finished note into suggested chart updates: problems with suggested ICD-10 codes, medications, allergies, vitals, referrals, tasks, and draft lab and imaging orders. Nothing is added until the clinician approves it.
• Sigma AI answers plain-language questions about one patient's chart or the whole panel, summarizes faxes, scanned documents and long patient chats, and pulls individual results out of lab and imaging reports for the clinician to confirm.

Together they take on the documentation that follows every visit: the note, the chart updates, the orders and the follow-up tasks. One cardiology practice describes the time that saves in a case study on saving 20 minutes per encounter with Scribe Actions.

What does this mean for a direct care practice?

Direct primary care and concierge practices see fewer patients for longer, often 30 to 60 minutes a visit. Those long visits are exactly where Scribe's parallel design saves the most time. The draft note, and the suggested chart updates that follow it, are ready while the conversation is still fresh and before the next patient is in the room, so the clinician spends the visit with the patient instead of with the keyboard.

To see SigmaMD's AI workforce draft a note, suggest the chart updates and answer questions about the chart, book a demo of SigmaMD. You can also read how one physician uses Scribe day to day in "A Game-Changer": Dr. Dhanji on AI Scribe and Patient Care.