23 October 2025 · 1 min read
AI in healthcare is scaling, but ambient scribes face a shake-up.
The Menlo Ventures report on AI in healthcare confirms that the sector is now one of the fastest adopters of enterprise AI, with ambient scribes leading the charge — but commoditization and pricing pressure are already reshaping the competitive landscape. My bet for the next battlefield is RCM.
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Last updated
6 May 2026
AI in healthcare is scaling, but ambient scribes face a shake-up.
Menlo Ventures report on AI in Healthcare was just released, and as always, it is an insightful read on the US market. What Menlo finds: Healthcare is now one of the fastest adopters of enterprise AI. Provider spend dominates and two categories lead the ROI story: ambient clinical documentation and coding/billing automation. Ambient scribes are the first breakout, but momentum alone will not protect them.
Some takeaways:
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Healthcare AI spend hit about $1.4B in 2025, with providers accounting for ~75%.
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Ambient documentation is a ~$600M category this year.
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Startups capture ~85% of current gen-AI revenue in healthcare
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Market shares in scribes today: Nuance DAX Copilot ~33%, Abridge ~30%, Ambience ~13%.
Not suprisingly, they expect the adoption of scribes, with increasing pricing pressure, and high switching intent, especially among outpatient providers.
What we are seeing here is a typical case study of commoditization of a new offering. It will be interesting to see where the next battlefield will be, and my bet is on RCM.