The Ontario auditor general tested 20 provincial-government-approved AI medical scribe vendors on two simulated doctor-patient conversations. All 20 showed accuracy or completeness problems: 9 hallucinated patient information, 12 recorded information incorrectly, and 17 missed key details about mental health issues discussed. Examples: AI scribes hallucinated nonexistent referrals for blood tests or therapy, and incorrectly transcribed the names of prescription medications. The average vendor scored only 12 out of 20 on note accuracy.
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Expert: Office of the Auditor General of Ontario, Special Report: Use of Artificial Intelligence in the Ontario Government (May 2026) The Ontario auditor general's report 'Use of Artificial Intelligence in the Ontario Government' (May 2026) found that all 20 provincial-government-approved AI medical scribe vendors showed accuracy or completeness problems in simple transcription tests of two simulated patient-doctor conversations: 9 hallucinated patient information, 12 recorded information incorrectly, and 17 missed key details about discussed mental health issues. Specific failures included hallucinated referrals for blood tests or therapy that never happened, and incorrectly transcribed prescription medication names. The auditor general warned these errors could 'potentially result in inadequate or harmful treatment plans that may potentially impact patient health outcomes.' Notably, the average vendor scored only 12 out of 20 on note accuracy, yet that accuracy metric was worth only about 4 percent of a vendor's overall approval score — making it easy for vendors to qualify even with a zero on accuracy. Source: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/05/your-doctors-ai-notetaker-may-be-making-things-up-ontario-audit-finds/
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