Ten Ten, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving U.S. health outcomes and reducing healthcare costs, today announced the release of AI in Primary Care: Where to Use It, Which Tools Exist, and How to Implement It, a new implementation guide for independent primary care practices.
The 42-page guide provides a practical roadmap for applying AI and automation across six areas: ambient AI scribes; documentation, coding, and risk adjustment; risk stratification and population health; care management and remote monitoring; patient engagement and outreach; and administrative automation. It also compares current vendors and provides a framework for evaluating and piloting new technology.
“Independent primary care practices cannot simply hire their way through the growing workload of value-based care,” said Jenn Block, PhD, Ten Ten Ten’s Chief Architect, Value-Based Care. “AI can give clinicians and care teams back significant capacity, but only if practices use it deliberately. The goal is not to replace clinical judgment. It is to automate work that does not require it.”
The guide identifies ambient AI scribes as the most mature and best-proven starting point for many practices, while also examining tools that can identify rising-risk patients, improve documentation, automate patient outreach, extend care management between visits, and reduce administrative burdens such as prior authorization, inbox management, and phone calls.
Rather than recommending particular products, AI in Primary Care helps practices decide where AI belongs and how to evaluate competing solutions. Vendor comparison tables examine technologies from companies including Abridge, Microsoft Nuance DAX Copilot, Ambience, Suki, Navina, Innovaccer, Arcadia, Memora Health, Cadence, Artera, Luma Health, Cohere Health, Notable, Phreesia, and Commure. Inclusion in the guide is not an endorsement.
“AI is moving much faster than the evidence base,” said Bhargav Raman, MD, Ten Ten Ten cofounder and Lead, Clinical Strategy & Analytics. “A compelling demonstration is not enough. Practices need to know whether a tool works with patients like theirs, integrates into their workflow, and has clear safeguards when something goes wrong.”
A major focus of the guide is what Ten Ten Ten calls the “alert-to-action gap”: the risk that an AI system correctly identifies a patient problem, but no reliable human response follows. Practices are urged to establish ownership, response times, escalation pathways, after-hours coverage, and closed-loop accountability before deploying patient-monitoring or outreach technology. As the guide states, “Detection is not a response.”
The guide also addresses AI oversight and liability, noting that AI technologies entering primary care fall outside FDA medical-device regulation because they aren’t devices. It recommends that practices conduct their own due diligence, understand vendor liability provisions, keep clinicians in the decision-making loop, and continuously monitor performance.
To make implementation manageable for smaller practices, the guide recommends treating every AI deployment as a quality-improvement initiative using the Plan-Do-Study-Act, or PDSA, model. It includes a reusable PDSA worksheet, recommended metrics and timelines, and a pre-purchase evaluation checklist so practices can test small and decide whether to adopt, adapt, or abandon a tool.
The guide was developed by lead authors Jenn Block, PhD, and Bhargav Raman, MD, with contributions from Ten Ten Ten Advisory Council members Kate Eisenberg, MD, PhD; Faarina Khan, MD, MPH; Valerie Choniuk, MPA-HCA, CPXP; Mathew Philip, MD; and Michael Udwin, MD, FACOG.
Independent practices, medical groups, and healthcare leaders interested in downloading AI in Primary Care or seeking implementation guidance can visit https://tententen.org/our-work/value-based-care or email [email protected].
About Ten Ten Ten
Ten Ten Ten is a nonprofit organization working toward a simple national healthcare goal: Top Ten health outcomes, healthcare spending at Ten Percent of GDP, within Ten Years. Through public education, open-source playbooks and implementation guides, analytics, certification, and partnerships, Ten Ten Ten works to identify and advance healthcare models that improve outcomes, reduce total cost, and expand equity.
Media Contact:
T.J. Tedesco
Executive Director, Ten Ten Ten
Email: [email protected]
Tollfree: 1-855-4TENTEN (855-483-6836)
