On/Offcall: How AI Scribes Impact Physicians' Time, RVUs And Productivity According to a New Study

She’s a leading oncologist, one of the top voices for equity in medicine, and the founder of Women in Medicine®, which calls out the systems driving burnout, gender inequality, and attrition in healthcare. This week, we were excited to welcome Dr. Shikha Jain to How I Doctor for an unfiltered conversation about gender equity, invisible labor, and the kind of physician-led reform that could actually fix what’s broken in healthcare.

In this inspiring conversation with Offcall co-founder Dr. Graham Walker, they unpack:

🧱 Why we must be educating, empowering, and enlisting both men and women to drive change, while doing the deeper work to support a sustainable workforce and healthier communities
🩺 Why practicing physicians need to be at the table for decisions that shape patient care, and what happens when we’re not
💰 How profit-driven policies and non-clinical stakeholders are eroding physician autonomy and putting patients at risk
🏥 What it would take to truly remake our healthcare system — one that puts patients over profits, and power back in the hands of doctors
💡 How societal expectations derail the careers of women physicians — and what it will take to dismantle those norms, redefine leadership, and fix the system for good

Listen to the episode here

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Featured Article From Offcall

Why Guaranteed Standard Issue (GSI) Disability Insurance Should Belong Within Graduate Medical Education’s Wellness Initiative

NEW original essay from founder of Physician Financial Services Lawrence B. Keller: Graduate Medical Education appropriately places a strong emphasis on resident and fellow wellness because it directly affects patient safety, educational outcomes, workforce sustainability, and institutional accreditation. However, one critical component of wellness is often underemphasized: financial wellness. For medical residents and fellows, Guaranteed Standard Issue (GSI) disability insurance should be considered as part of a broader wellness framework.

3 Things to Read This Week

Work Hours, Stress, and Burnout Among Resident Physicians (JAMA Network)
From Dr. Sydney F. Tan, Hana Siddiqui and Alex Pinto: A survey sample of 540 U.S. residents in high-burnout specialties showed that longer work hours were significantly associated with higher stress and higher self-perceived competency, but work hours were not significantly associated with burnout.

Association of Primary Care Clinic Appointment Time With Opioid Prescribing (JAMA Network)
From Hannah T. Neprash and Dr. Michael L. Barnett (and h/t Dr. Spencer Dorn): In a new cross-sectional study, opioid prescribing for opioid-naive patients with pain diagnoses was significantly associated with increases as the workday progressed and with appointments that started late in the day.

Ambient Artificial Intelligence Scribes and Physician Financial Productivity (JAMA Network)
From A Jay Holmgren, Dr. Cynthia L. Fenton, and Robert Thombley (and h/t Rik Renard): UCSF tracked 1.2 million encounters across 1,565 physicians and found that AI scribe adopters saw 1.81 more RVUs (translating to roughly $3,044 annually).

Highlights From Our Community

Each week, we celebrate career milestones, launches, & other goings-on in the physician community. Have something to promote? Reply and we’ll feature you.

👉 Go and check them out, Patrick O’Malley
Dr. Patrick O’Malley is building a new community called ShiftChange featuring a series of webinars targeted at emergency medicine and urgent care physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners. Learn more and check out his past line up and upcoming events here.

✅ Excellent conversation, Benjamin Schwartz and Adam Bruggeman
Dr. Benjamin Schwartz and Dr. Adam Bruggeman hosted an important conversation about Adam’s advocacy work on behalf of independent physicians. Watch and read more here.

❗Who’s going to ViVE? Thanks for your guide John Dayton!
Dr. John Dayton compiled a comprehensive 2026 Physicians Guide for anyone who’s going to the upcoming ViVE conference in Los Angeles. See the guide here!

🙌 Well done, Karen Kaufman
Incredible to see! Virginia allergist immunologist Dr. Karen Kaufman shared her heartfelt reflections after celebrating 5 years of building her own independent practice. Also see this great tribute from Nneka Chineme Unachukwu here!

🎉 Congratulations on your new role Huzaifah Salat
Dr. Huzaifah Salat announced that he started a new role as President Elect – Medical Staff Leadership Council (MSLC) at Advocate Health. Learn more and congratulate him here.

💸 Hell yes, Claire Oduwo
Dr. Claire Oduwo received her first attending physician paycheck! And spoke openly about why she values money and the meaning of money in medicine. Congratulate her and watch it here.

Be Sure to Sign Up for Offcall!

At Offcall, we believe physicians deserve to be heard, valued, and treated fairly. Everything we do is driven by our commitment to empowering doctors with accurate, reliable, and trustworthy data — to advocate confidently for themselves and ensure their compensation truly reflects their worth.

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