AI Inbox Assistants: What Ontario Clinicians Should Know
Benefits, user experiences, and practice considerations
What is an AI inbox assistant?
An AI Inbox Assistant (AIA) is software that works with your EMR to help process incoming clinical documents, particularly e-faxes. Common functions include:
- Sorts and labels documents
- Matches documents to patient charts
- Routes documents to clinicians or staff
- Flags potentially urgent items
Why consider one?
Processing incoming documents is time-consuming. A time-and-motion study found that processing 50 faxes requires approximately 2.4 staff hours. 1 AIA tools aim to reduce manual administrative work and help clinic teams focus on patient care.
OntarioMD rapid study
OntarioMD (OMD) conducted a study on behalf of the Ontario Medical Association to understand the emerging role, benefits, and limitations of available AIA tools in Ontario primary care and provide clinicians with evidence-based insights to support adoption. The study included:
- An environmental scan of AIA tools
- Findings from the 2026 OMD Clinician Survey: AI Use in Ontario, which included
- Interviews with experienced clinician users of Phelix and Waive the Wait AIA tools
Findings
While overall adoption remains limited, clinics using AIA tools reported administrative time savings and workflow efficiencies.
- 30 minutes to three hours of administrative staff time saved per day (reported by most interview participants)
- More time available for patient-facing activities
- Greatest benefit reported in clinics with high document volumes or limited administrative capacity
Important limitations
Current AIA tools can improve efficiency, but users identified challenges that highlight the importance of realistic expectations and ongoing human oversight.
- Accuracy and reliability challenges remain, as reported by 59% of users, including:
- Document labelling as the most common deficiency
- Duplicates, poor-quality scans and documents with information for multiple patients requiring manual handling
- Time savings may shift work rather than eliminate it, with some physicians reporting additional reviewing time.
- Most current AIA tools only focus on incoming faxes and are limited in EMR integration coverage.
- Tool adaptation takes time. Initial setup typically took a few days to two weeks, but participants often needed three to six months to adjust the tool, build confidence, and integrate it into routine workflows.
Before you adopt
- Does it solve a specific workflow problem?
- Does it integrate with my EMR?
- How much human review is required?
- Are costs and implementation requirements clear?
Key takeaway
AI inbox assistants can reduce administrative work, particularly in clinics with high document volumes. However, current tools remain limited in scope and require ongoing human oversight.
Choose an AIA tool because it addresses a specific practice need and fits with your workflow, not simply because it uses AI.
Interested in learning how AIA tools can support your practice? Contact support@ontariomd.com for additional guidance and support.