Berta: An Open-Source, Modular Tool for AI-Enabled Clinical Documentation
In recent years, the healthcare industry has seen a significant rise in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance clinical documentation. However, the predominance of commercial AI scribes has raised concerns about costs and data governance. A new solution has emerged: Berta, an open-source, modular platform designed for AI-enabled clinical documentation.
Traditional commercial AI scribes can cost between $99 to $600 per physician per month, operate as opaque systems, and do not return valuable data to institutional infrastructures. This lack of transparency limits organizational control over data governance, quality improvement, and clinical workflows. To address these issues, researchers have developed Berta—an innovative solution that not only reduces costs but also ensures that all clinical data remains secure within the healthcare organization’s environment.
Key Features of Berta
Berta combines advanced technologies to provide a comprehensive AI scribe solution. The key features include:
- Open-Source Platform: Berta is freely available for health systems to customize and adapt to their own secure environments, promoting data sovereignty.
- Integration with Existing Infrastructure: The system was successfully integrated with Alberta Health Services’ (AHS) Snowflake AI Data Cloud infrastructure, allowing seamless data flow and management.
- Automatic Speech Recognition and Language Models: By utilizing state-of-the-art speech recognition and large language models, Berta enhances the accuracy and efficiency of clinical documentation.
- Cost-Effectiveness: Operating costs for Berta average less than $30 per physician per month, representing a 70-95% reduction compared to commercial alternatives.
Deployment and Results
Berta was deployed in a customized implementation within Alberta Health Services (AHS) for eight months, from November 2024 to July 2025. During this period, the system was utilized by 198 emergency physicians across 105 urban and rural facilities. The results from this deployment were impressive:
- Generated a total of 22,148 clinical sessions.
- Accounted for over 2,800 hours of audio documentation.
- User engagement grew from 680 to 5,530 monthly sessions.
Future Prospects
Following the success of the initial deployment, Alberta Health Services has approved the expansion of Berta to include 850 physicians. This marks the first provincial-scale deployment of an AI scribe that is fully integrated with existing health system infrastructure. By releasing Berta as an open-source platform, the developers aim to provide a reproducible and cost-effective alternative for health systems worldwide, encouraging informed evaluation of AI documentation technology.
In conclusion, Berta stands as a significant advancement in the realm of AI-enabled clinical documentation, offering a transparent, cost-effective, and secure solution that aligns with the needs of modern healthcare systems.