It would be great if the government encouraged technologies like ours more; I think we’re part of the solution.” In healthcare, if we haven’t heard this wish dozens of times, we haven’t heard it at all. In any case, in artificial intelligence, we’re creating all sorts of solutions that promise to make public health more efficient. Plume AI’s paperless tool is just the latest example.
Marc-André Paquin, co-founder and CTO of Plume AI, estimates that with a little more effort to promote his automated note-taking application to Quebec healthcare institutions, he could easily double its usage rate. The Plume AI application records healthcare professionals’ meetings with their patients, then its AI transcribes them and generates a detailed clinical note. It can produce fully completed forms that conform to dozens of templates, such as those used in hospitals and clinics across the province.
“We adapt to the institutions,” says Marc-André Paquin, whom we met in Las Vegas at Amazon’s annual AWS Re:invent conference, which focuses on AI and cloud technologies. “Right now, doctors can use our solution with the forms they need. By early 2026, we will integrate thousands more forms into the application.”
Launched last year, Plume AI is now used by over 4,000 professionals across a dozen specialties… including veterinarians. Its success remains modest, but relies primarily on word-of-mouth.
Plume AI estimates that healthcare professionals, from doctors to nurses, spend 30% of their day dealing with paperwork. Its application could reduce this time by half.
“That’s a lot more appointments that can be booked every day,” said its co-founder.
Thousands more doctors
If all those saved hours are accumulated and used to help more patients, it has a huge impact on the network’s productivity. The Montreal-based company Medfar has also been offering doctors an automated note-taking application for the past few months, which also incorporates AI.
Medfar estimates that if all clinics in Quebec automated note-taking, the time saved would be equivalent to adding 1600 doctors to the Quebec health network.
Reducing the time spent filling out forms appears to be the gateway for AI into the healthcare sector. Last summer, Canada Health Infoway, a federally funded organization, launched the Pan-Canadian AI Transcription Program, which aims to facilitate the adoption of this technology.
In Quebec, this program plans to grant 2,000 licenses to use these applications. Frontline professionals who obtain these licenses will have 12 months to test them.
An initial survey of 567 users confirms that the technology has a positive impact on their daily lives. Nine out of ten respondents from this small sample say they feel more present for their patients now that their administrative burden has decreased.
Automated paperwork
Both Plume IA and Medfar would like to act quickly, an agility that Quebec’s health system is struggling to encourage. Despite its promise, AI has failed in other areas of healthcare, such as medical imaging, due to resistance to change within the public system.
Medfar has decided to expand internationally to grow. The company hopes to quickly achieve billion-dollar status in the AI sector.
Plume IA envisions a different path for its development. “Our goal in the coming years is to use AI in other processes, in hospitals or clinics,” says Marc-André Paquin. “There is much to be done to improve the healthcare system in Quebec.”
Plume AI sees potential in triage, for example, when a patient calls a clinic, to determine the urgency of the case and automate appointment scheduling. It can even extend to insurance claims, where no two forms are identical.
Resistance to change is still present, but less pronounced than before, says its co-founder. Large institutions are very cautious, but doctors and other professionals are pushing for faster adoption of the technology.
This rapid adoption by the grassroots is at least as conclusive as the pilot projects.
The travel and accommodation costs for this report were paid by AWS Canada, which has no say in it.