palmERIs Your AI Scribe Recording Patients? The Hidden Risk of Saved Audio.
Ask what your AI scribe saves, who can replay an encounter, and what its deletion policy covers. With palmER, we never save your audio.
A patient notices the phone on the bedside table while telling you something sensitive. "Is that recording me?"
You have about two seconds to answer. You need to explain both what the scribe captures and whether it keeps the audio.
Some tools keep recordings after transcription. Others do not. Ask what is saved, who can replay it, and when it is deleted.
With palmER, the answer is clear: We never save your audio. No one can ever listen to any encounter. Other patient data automatically deletes within 24 hours. What Does Your AI Scribe Save? explains the other data that can remain behind a note.
Why a vendor might keep recordings
A vendor may offer playback, retain recordings for quality review, or keep them under a hospital contract. Ask which of those applies to your account.
A saved recording can contain the entire conversation, including what a family member says from the corner of the room. You need to know who can listen to it and for how long.
What an audio retention policy leaves unanswered
"Audio is deleted after 30 days" can be true when written and fail later without anyone deliberately misrepresenting it.
Ask whether deletion covers every saved copy, including backups, and how the vendor confirms that it happened. Check whether the policy can change under your contract. A deletion date alone does not answer who can access a recording while it exists.
What palmER does with audio
palmER uses encounter audio to transcribe the conversation and draft your note. We never save your audio. No one can ever listen to any encounter.
The transcription stack is published, so you can inspect how it works. You do not need to read source code to get a clear answer at the bedside.
Ask what exists after the encounter
The retention window is only one part of the answer. The audio is followed by a verbatim transcript, the AI's first draft, every edit, and the questions you typed to the built-in assistant. Ask how long each is kept and who can access it. What Does Your AI Scribe Save? covers what major tools publish about these layers and why a malpractice carrier calls a retained recording "undoubtedly discoverable."
Ask which settings apply to your account and who maintains them. If data is copied into another system, ask which policy covers that copy.
The playback test: 5 questions that expose storage
You can test an ephemerality claim in a sales call without reading source code.
- Ask to re-listen. "Can anyone play back yesterday's encounter?" If yes, ask where the recording is kept. If no, ask whether playback is impossible or simply restricted.
- Check for a retention control. If the admin console offers 30, 60, or 90 days, ask which setting is active, whether it covers backups, and who can change it.
- Ask what happens when transcription fails. Does it leave a saved recording, who can access it, and how long does it remain?
- Ask who can access audio for quality review. If recordings or clips are reviewed later, ask what is retained, how reviewers get access, and when it is deleted.
- Read the subcontractor list. Ask what each company receives and stores. A storage or data-labeling provider's name alone does not establish that it receives encounter audio.
The answers should explain storage, playback, failed requests, reviewer access, and subcontractors. The absence of a player alone does not establish that a vendor saves no audio.
The bedside makes the choice concrete
Emergency medicine depends on patients being willing to share sensitive details. Those conversations happen behind a curtain, and patients ask about the device on the table. With palmER, you can give a plain answer about privacy while you explain how the scribe drafts the note.
What palmER keeps
palmER was built by emergency medicine physicians who use it on their own shifts.
Ambient Scribe listens at the bedside and drafts your HPI and Physical Exam. We never save your audio. No one can ever listen to any encounter. Transcripts, drafts, your edits, and the questions you ask auto-delete within 24 hours. Nothing you enter is used to train AI models. The details are on the security page, written in plain language so it can be graded like any vendor's answer sheet.
Start your free 30-day trial of palmER on your next shift. No credit card required.
Frequently asked questions
- Does an AI scribe store the audio of the patient encounter?
- Some vendors retain recordings; others do not. Ask whether audio is saved, who can listen to it, and which policy applies to your account. With palmER: We never save your audio. No one can ever listen to any encounter.
- Which AI scribes let you set retention and auto-delete policies for transcripts and notes?
- Ask which data the settings cover: recordings, transcripts, drafts, edits, or questions. In palmER, transcripts, drafts, and the questions you ask auto-delete within 24 hours. We never save your audio.
- What happens to my recordings after 30 days?
- Ask what the deletion policy covers, whether it includes backups, and which contract terms can change the schedule. Do not assume one retention setting covers every type of data.
From the palmER clinical team — built by board-certified emergency physicians.
How palmER handles patient data