North Country HealthCare is the “only game in town” for care delivery in some of the regions it serves, said Dr. Jennifer Cortes, quality and population health medical officer at the federally qualified health center. The provider operates 13 primary care clinics and two mobile units, caring for 55,000 people across rural Northern Arizona.

Some communities are very remote — meaning patients may be forced to travel hours to reach specialty care — which makes recruiting providers a challenge, Cortes said.

That’s one area artificial intelligence could help. Adopting an AI scribe, which typically records providers’ conversations with patients and drafts clinical documentation, could alleviate some of clinicians’ administrative work and decrease burnout , she said.

“When ChatGPT first came

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