AI Scribe Consent in Quebec: CMQ Guidance for Clinics

For physicians in Quebec, consent to an AI scribe is not satisfied by a waiting-room sign. The Collège des médecins du Québec says the physician must obtain explicit patient consent before use and provide enough information for the choice to be meaningful.

What to explain before first use

That the conversation will be captured or processed by an AI scribe.
The purpose of the tool and the expected benefit.
Known risks, limits and the possibility of an inaccurate or incomplete note.
How the information may be used, transferred and stored, including relevant server location.
That the patient may refuse or withdraw without losing access to appropriate care.

Build consent into the visit workflow

Assign the explanation to a named role, give the patient time to ask questions and define what happens when consent is refused. The alternative should be workable, not theoretical. The clinic should also decide how consent, refusal and withdrawal are recorded without turning a brief clinical interaction into an improvised legal script.

What changes at later visits?

The CMQ indicates that a reminder may be sufficient after the first explanation if the patient is given a real opportunity to withdraw. The clinic still needs a consistent trigger for a new explanation when the product, data use, workflow or material risk changes.

The note still belongs to the professional workflow

The physician must review, correct and sign the generated note. The CMQ recommends identifying the software in the record. Clinics should test how errors, omissions, copied statements and late corrections are handled before expanding beyond a controlled pilot.

Consent is one gate, not the whole implementation

Consent does not replace TGV verification, the clinic’s EFVP, contract review, access control, incident planning or workflow testing. Read TGV and EFVP for AI scribes in Quebec, then use the clinic implementation guide to connect the rule to daily work.