How NextGen Healthcare’s Ambient AI Helped Two Clinics Break the Cycle of Pajama Time
Clinician burnout has been a slow burn for years. Documentation fatigue, shrinking margins, and rising patient demand are creating a pressure cooker that no one can outwork forever. AI scribes are seen as a release valve and are quickly improving the lives of many clinicians, sometimes the same day the technology is implemented.
Two FQHC Leaders Turned to Ambient AI When Burnout Hit Its Peak
During NextGen’s user conference, Dr. Derrick Hamilton, CEO and Chief Medical Officer at Juniper Health, and Kathy Halcomb, Chief Medical Officer at White House Clinics, described how NextGen Healthcare‘s Ambient Assist (AI scribe) solution, changed the emotional and operational rhythm of care at their two rural Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs).
Key Takeaways
- Burnout relief was immediate. Both Dr. Hamilton and Halcomb expected a slow ramp-up with AI scribes, but instead saw near-instant drops in pajama time and rapid gains in provider satisfaction. It stabilized staffing and retention.
- Patient experience scores climbed. Ambient Assist didn’t just help clinicians work faster, it restored face-to-face connection with patients, driving measurable improvement in net promoter scores and shifting the emotional tone of visits.
- A well-structured pilot ensured organizational acceptance. By intentionally selecting both high performers and struggling charting clinicians, White House Clinics validated that AI scribes improved documentation completeness and workflow consistency—regardless of specialty or comfort level with technology.
Ambient Assist AI Adoption in FQHCs Reduces Pajama Time and Stabilizes Workforce Wellbeing
Burnout wasn’t an abstract concept for Juniper Health and White House Clinics. Care providers were leaving, retiring early, or quietly falling behind on charting because two to three hours of nightly documentation had become the norm (pajama time documentation).
Both decided to implement NextGen’s Ambient Assist solution – the company’s AI scribe/ambient voice technology. The relief was almost instantaneous. Dr. Hamilton shared that: “Ambient [Assist] just came along at just a wonderful time and… almost had instant dividends.”
To underscore how deeply the issue affected daily life, Halcomb noted that clinicians were finally present at home again, saying providers told her “they’re able to be with their families when they’re there… no longer are they saying they’re charting all day on Sunday.”
Clinicians who had been drowning in pajama time suddenly reclaimed evenings and weekends. That shift created space for family routines and reduced the steady erosion of morale that rural teams feel acutely. The emotional temperature of the organization began to change before the IT team even reached full deployment.
Reclaiming Eye Contact in the Exam Room Drives Measurable Gains in Patient Satisfaction
For years, FQHCs have wrestled with exam rooms dominated by keyboards. Ambient AI nudged the computer back into the background and let clinicians look patients in the eye again.
“Suddenly the visit is focused on them [patients] and no longer focused on the computer,” explained Halcomb.
At Juniper Health, this change showed up in the data. Dr. Hamilton said, “Our net promoter scores are at an all time high month in, month out… Patients are not rejecting having AI in the exam room with them.”
Even technology-hesitant individuals grew comfortable once they realized the visit felt more personal than before.
Clinicians Overwhelmed by Documentation Adopted Ambient AI Faster Than Expected
Leadership assumed early adopters would be their technologically fluent users. The opposite happened. Providers who had been falling behind on charts or nearing burnout became the strongest advocates once they saw the immediate lift. Dr. Bob Murry, Chief Medical Officer at NextGen described it from the vendor side: “It’s actually the people that are struggling… those people are willing to make a change in their workflow to get their life back.”
At White House Clinics, Halcomb saw similar patterns play out across specialties, including those who initially resisted technology. Once they tried it, they “grabbed right onto it” and quickly relied on it. The people carrying the heaviest workload became the ones who pushed the implementation forward.
Ambient AI Resets Expectations for Work, Care, and Human Connection
Burnout didn’t disappear, but patient visits changed. Adopting Ambient Assist loosened the grip of after-hours charting and brought back small but important moments of presence during visits. Clinicians looked up again. Patients noticed. What stood out at both Juniper Health and White House Clinics was not a dramatic overhaul, but the speed at which daily life began to feel manageable again once the ambient AI scribe was in place.
In an era where documentation demands often dictate the pace of care and the number of patients that can be seen in a day, the experience of these two FQHCs shows that reclaiming time is more than an operational win. It is a return to the work clinicians thought they were signing up for.
Learn more about Juniper Health at https://juniperhealth.org/
Learn more about White House Clinics at https://whitehouseclinics.com/
Learn more about NextGen Healthcare at https://www.nextgen.com/
Listen and subscribe to the Healthcare IT Today Interviews Podcast to hear all the latest insights from experts in healthcare IT.
And for an exclusive look at our top stories, subscribe to our newsletter and YouTube.
Tell us what you think. Contact us here or on Twitter at @hcitoday. And if you’re interested in advertising with us, check out our various advertising packages and request our Media Kit.
Clinician burnout has been a slow burn for years. Documentation fatigue, shrinking margins, and rising patient demand are creating a pressure cooker that no one can outwork forever. AI scribes are seen as a release valve and are quickly improving the lives of many clinicians, sometimes the same day the technology is implemented.
Two FQHC Leaders Turned to Ambient AI When Burnout Hit Its Peak
During NextGen’s user conference, Dr. Derrick Hamilton, CEO and Chief Medical Officer at Juniper Health, and Kathy Halcomb, Chief Medical Officer at White House Clinics, described how NextGen Healthcare‘s Ambient Assist (AI scribe) solution, changed the emotional and operational rhythm of care at their two rural Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs).
Key Takeaways
- Burnout relief was immediate. Both Dr. Hamilton and Halcomb expected a slow ramp-up with AI scribes, but instead saw near-instant drops in pajama time and rapid gains in provider satisfaction. It stabilized staffing and retention.
- Patient experience scores climbed. Ambient Assist didn’t just help clinicians work faster, it restored face-to-face connection with patients, driving measurable improvement in net promoter scores and shifting the emotional tone of visits.
- A well-structured pilot ensured organizational acceptance. By intentionally selecting both high performers and struggling charting clinicians, White House Clinics validated that AI scribes improved documentation completeness and workflow consistency—regardless of specialty or comfort level with technology.
Ambient Assist AI Adoption in FQHCs Reduces Pajama Time and Stabilizes Workforce Wellbeing
Burnout wasn’t an abstract concept for Juniper Health and White House Clinics. Care providers were leaving, retiring early, or quietly falling behind on charting because two to three hours of nightly documentation had become the norm (pajama time documentation).
Both decided to implement NextGen’s Ambient Assist solution – the company’s AI scribe/ambient voice technology. The relief was almost instantaneous. Dr. Hamilton shared that: “Ambient [Assist] just came along at just a wonderful time and… almost had instant dividends.”
To underscore how deeply the issue affected daily life, Halcomb noted that clinicians were finally present at home again, saying providers told her “they’re able to be with their families when they’re there… no longer are they saying they’re charting all day on Sunday.”
Clinicians who had been drowning in pajama time suddenly reclaimed evenings and weekends. That shift created space for family routines and reduced the steady erosion of morale that rural teams feel acutely. The emotional temperature of the organization began to change before the IT team even reached full deployment.
Reclaiming Eye Contact in the Exam Room Drives Measurable Gains in Patient Satisfaction
For years, FQHCs have wrestled with exam rooms dominated by keyboards. Ambient AI nudged the computer back into the background and let clinicians look patients in the eye again.
“Suddenly the visit is focused on them [patients] and no longer focused on the computer,” explained Halcomb.
At Juniper Health, this change showed up in the data. Dr. Hamilton said, “Our net promoter scores are at an all time high month in, month out… Patients are not rejecting having AI in the exam room with them.”
Even technology-hesitant individuals grew comfortable once they realized the visit felt more personal than before.
Clinicians Overwhelmed by Documentation Adopted Ambient AI Faster Than Expected
Leadership assumed early adopters would be their technologically fluent users. The opposite happened. Providers who had been falling behind on charts or nearing burnout became the strongest advocates once they saw the immediate lift. Dr. Bob Murry, Chief Medical Officer at NextGen described it from the vendor side: “It’s actually the people that are struggling… those people are willing to make a change in their workflow to get their life back.”
At White House Clinics, Halcomb saw similar patterns play out across specialties, including those who initially resisted technology. Once they tried it, they “grabbed right onto it” and quickly relied on it. The people carrying the heaviest workload became the ones who pushed the implementation forward.
Ambient AI Resets Expectations for Work, Care, and Human Connection
Burnout didn’t disappear, but patient visits changed. Adopting Ambient Assist loosened the grip of after-hours charting and brought back small but important moments of presence during visits. Clinicians looked up again. Patients noticed. What stood out at both Juniper Health and White House Clinics was not a dramatic overhaul, but the speed at which daily life began to feel manageable again once the ambient AI scribe was in place.
In an era where documentation demands often dictate the pace of care and the number of patients that can be seen in a day, the experience of these two FQHCs shows that reclaiming time is more than an operational win. It is a return to the work clinicians thought they were signing up for.
Learn more about Juniper Health at https://juniperhealth.org/
Learn more about White House Clinics at https://whitehouseclinics.com/
Learn more about NextGen Healthcare at https://www.nextgen.com/
Listen and subscribe to the Healthcare IT Today Interviews Podcast to hear all the latest insights from experts in healthcare IT.
And for an exclusive look at our top stories, subscribe to our newsletter and YouTube.
Tell us what you think. Contact us here or on Twitter at @hcitoday. And if you’re interested in advertising with us, check out our various advertising packages and request our Media Kit.
Go to Source
2026-02-10 21:30
Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Healthcare Central is published from a syndicated feed.
