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We’re living in a moment of massive transformation across industries, technologies, and the way people relate to their work and wellbeing. In mental healthcare, the stakes are especially high.
The demand for care continues to rise while the provider workforce is stretched thin and struggling with burnout. At the same time, artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing rapidly, promising to reshape how care is delivered, accessed, and experienced.
But while AI offers exciting potential, it also raises valid concerns about privacy, control, and whether we might be replacing the human side of care with something less personal.
At Spring Health, we believe we can—and must—do things differently. The future of mental healthcare isn’t about choosing between technology and human connection. It’s about finding the right balance. It’s about building tools that support clinicians and help people feel more cared for—not less.
So, what does that look like in practice?
Discover how Spring Health's ethical AI enhances mental healthcare by supporting providers and empowering members.
The real challenge: A system that doesn’t work for the people in it
If you talk to mental health providers, you’ll quickly hear a familiar frustration: they entered this field to help people, but spend far too much time on administrative tasks.
Clinical note-taking, in particular, can take up to 20% of a provider’s week. That’s hours spent typing, formatting, and revisiting session details—time that could be used to rest, prepare for care, or support more members. The ripple effects of this are real. Providers burn out, therapeutic relationships suffer, and members don’t get the continuity or depth of care they deserve.
On the other side, employers and health plans face mounting pressure to offer meaningful support, but aren’t always seeing clear results. Delays in care, provider turnover, and disengaged members limit the impact of even the best benefits programs.
It’s a system that needs change and AI, when implemented thoughtfully, can be part of the solution.
Where AI can help: Supporting people, not replacing them
There’s a misconception that AI in mental healthcare is about automating everything—removing the human element in favor of speed and efficiency. But that’s not how we think about it at Spring Health.
We see AI as a tool to support—not replace—the provider-member relationship. It should reduce friction, not create it. It should give time back to providers and space back to members. It should help everyone involved in care feel more informed, seen, and supported.
One of the ways we’re doing this is through AI-assisted note-taking.
With consent from providers and members, our platform can securely record and transcribe sessions and generate structured summaries directly within our proprietary Compass system. This feature helps providers complete clinical notes up to 40% faster, freeing them to focus on care, not keyboards.
But speed is just one part of the story.
More importantly, AI note-taking allows clinicians to be fully present during sessions—listening, connecting, and responding in real-time—without multitasking or taking mental shortcuts. That kind of presence isn’t just nice to have. It’s essential to strong therapeutic alliances and lasting outcomes.
Ethical, transparent, and consent-first by design
Of course, none of this matters if AI isn’t implemented responsibly. That’s why we’ve built every part of our AI experience around trust and transparency.
Here’s what that means at Spring Health:
- Consent is required: Providers and members must both opt in before any session is recorded or transcribed. Either party can opt out at any time.
- Privacy is protected: Audio recordings are deleted shortly after transcription. Transcripts are encrypted and never shared externally, and any data used for improvement is fully de-identified.
- Providers stay in control: AI-generated summaries are editable, and final notes are always reviewed and signed by the provider.
- Security is foundational: We meet and exceed standards like HIPAA, SOC2, HITRUST, and GDPR—and our practices are trusted by large employers in the financial, retail and tech industries.
In short, our AI doesn’t make decisions for people. It supports the people making decisions.
It’s not just about documentation—it’s about better care
While note-taking is the first use case for our AI tools, it’s just one piece of a larger vision.
Because we own our entire platform, Compass, we can thoughtfully integrate AI at key moments across the care journey. In the coming year, you’ll see more features that help providers personalize care, surface early warning signs, and support members between sessions in smarter ways.
These tools extend care beyond the hour-long appointment and help build more continuous, connected experiences. They help us move from reactive support to proactive, preventive care without overburdening clinicians or asking members to repeat themselves.
This means employers and health plans can offer care that’s not only accessible, but actually effective—care that adapts to people’s real needs and evolves over time.
Building for the long term, together
We know AI is moving fast, and not every solution on the market is built with the same care. Many third-party tools are black boxes, with little visibility into how data is handled or how decisions are made.
That’s why we’ve chosen to build in-house. From product development to data governance, our teams fully control how our tools work, how they’re monitored, and how they evolve. Our internal governance board—made up of clinical, legal, product, and security leaders—ensures everything we build meets the highest standards.
But we also know that trust isn’t built through policy alone. It’s built through practice, feedback, and continuous improvement. That’s why we actively involve providers in developing and refining every AI feature, and why member consent is never optional or assumed.
AI should make care feel more human, not less
People, not technology, should always be at the center of mental healthcare. When used with intention, AI can quietly enhance that human experience. It can help providers show up as their best selves. It can help members feel more heard and less alone. And it can help organizations deliver on the promise of mental health support that works.
At Spring Health, we’re not building AI for the sake of innovation. We’re building it to make care better—for everyone.
Learn more about how we're building AI that strengthens human connection in mental healthcare.
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