The doctor is owned in the documents. During patient visits, they spend hours filling out clinical notes, updating records, and handling administrative tasks that move them away from what is most important.
A recent study from Google Cloud found that clinicians spend nearly nine hours a week on documentation. Another report from Athenahealth pointed to management tasks as the main reason for burnout, with 64% of doctors feeling overwhelmed by the vast amount of administrative work.
Erez Douk saw this struggle first hand. His wife, Dr. Gabi Mechler, works at a community clinic in Northern California, divides time between patient care and documenting wrestling.
“I was sucked into the world of clinicians,” Druk told CNBC in an interview. “One day, ‘Hey Gabi, what should we make for you?” One day, she told him, ‘Please make my notes for me.’ ”
With that request, former Facebook engineer Druk launched Freed, a medical scribe powered by AI to automate clinician notes.
Freed’s Ai Scribe: Clinicians’ Burnout Solutions
Freed will listen during patient visits and generate structured, accurate notes in real time when doctors choose records. Available for $99 a month, it is accessible to individual clinicians and small practices. Since its launch in 2023, Freed has attracted 17,000 clinicians around the world and handled approximately 2 million patient visits each month.
The company closed a $30 million funding round led by Sequoia Capital, marking its first institutional pay raise. With this backing, Freed expands non-written features, introducing features such as custom note formatting, pre-creation, and specialized templates. The team is also working on automating billing and coding tasks to further reduce the load.
The AI Medical Scribing Space is intensifying, with heavyweights like Microsoft and other health technology startups like Vieing for market share. Josephine Chen, a partner at Sequoia, believes Freed stands out by focusing on small, independent practices rather than on hospital systems.
For nurse practitioner Natalie Dessin, Fried was a lifeline. She saw about 250 patients through Cloudbreak Therapy in Virginia, and was released by making their workload manageable. “I’m not writing this here, so I feel like people have really heard it,” she said. “It literally changed my life.”
Meckler received a similar response. Before using Freed, she spent half of her workday documenting. Well, it used to take 15 minutes. “I expect great things from Elles, but I’m still shocked,” she said.
Druk and his 50-person team are focusing on improving Freed and expanding its functionality. “It’s really the most fulfilling and most important job I’ve ever done and I’ll probably do it,” he said. For thousands of clinicians, the effects are clear. Note times are shorter, longer with patients, and perhaps even a little extra time for yourself.
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