Yaroslavl Pilot Shows How Voice AI and Digital Assistants Can Ease Healthcare Strain

Less Routine, More Time for Care

A systemic transformation is underway in the Yaroslavl region, gradually reshaping how medical institutions operate. Following the successful deployment of four diagnostic neural networks that analyse medical images to detect cancer and strokes, the region is taking the next step.

In 2026, two new intelligent systems will be added to the toolkit of local clinicians and patients: a voice assistant for healthcare professionals and a dedicated chatbot for residents. This is a targeted intervention along two critical axes of the system – internal documentation workflows and first-line interaction with patients. The underlying aim is to shift the balance away from administrative procedures toward direct medical care.

Routine paperwork remains one of the leading contributors to physician burnout worldwide. Completing medical records, issuing referrals, and managing reports can consume up to a third of a doctor’s working time, drawing attention away from clinical reasoning and face-to-face communication. The Yaroslavl voice assistant is designed to give that time back to clinicians.

Speaking Instead of Typing

The concept is straightforward. During or immediately after an appointment, a doctor verbally dictates observations, patient complaints, and treatment decisions. The intelligent system structures this information in real time, generates accurate entries in the electronic medical record, and prepares the required formal documents.

This represents a qualitative leap in documentation practices. Typographical errors are reduced, terminology is standardised, and data is saved instantly. Physicians no longer act as data-entry operators and can return to their core role as analytical clinicians and empathetic communicators. This transition is difficult to overstate in importance for retaining staff and strengthening the professional standing of medicine.

To book a doctor’s appointment, we are planning to use an approach similar to Moscow’s. Patients will answer guided questions in a chatbot so that it is easier for the doctor to understand the reason for the visit when the patient arrives

Maria Mozheiko

Acting Minister of Health of the Yaroslavl Region

On the other side of the system is the patient seeking care. Booking an appointment, particularly with a specialist, is often accompanied by uncertainty – whom to see and how to articulate the reason for the visit. The Yaroslavl chatbot, developed using Moscow’s experience as a reference, is intended to serve as an intelligent interface between individuals and complex healthcare bureaucracy.

Through an intuitive dialogue, the system helps patients clarify symptoms, asks follow-up questions, and on that basis suggests the most appropriate care pathway. This may involve booking an appointment with the right specialist, recommending preliminary tests, or, in straightforward cases, offering pre-visit guidance.

For patients, this simplifies access and reduces anxiety. For the healthcare system as a whole, it is a powerful tool for easing pressure on primary care and improving efficiency. By the time a “pre-screened” patient reaches a physician, a structured medical history is already available, making consultations more focused and saving valuable minutes.

A Scalable Model for Russia

The importance of the Yaroslavl project extends well beyond a single region. It demonstrates a workable, step-by-step model of digitalisation in which technologies are introduced not for their own sake but to address specific operational bottlenecks. The first phase focused on diagnostic support, the most critical and science-intensive part of healthcare. The second phase targets logistics and administrative processes, directly affecting satisfaction levels among both doctors and patients and, ultimately, the health of the entire system.

For a country as geographically vast and regionally diverse as Russia, this approach is particularly significant. Successful implementation in Yaroslavl creates a ready-made case tested on real infrastructure. It can be replicated in other regions, adapted to local conditions while preserving the core architecture – integration with existing regional health information systems and federal platforms. This provides a direct pathway toward a strategic objective: a unified digital healthcare framework in which data and services work for every citizen, regardless of location.

Exporting Digital Health Expertise

International prospects for such solutions, especially voice assistants and medical chatbots, are substantial. The global digital health market faces strong demand for technologies that do more than deliver diagnoses – solutions that optimise internal workflows within clinics and hospitals are increasingly sought after. Russian IT companies, shaped by experience integrating deeply with a complex and highly regulated national healthcare system, have developed distinctive expertise in building large-scale enterprise platforms.

Following successful domestic rollout and scaling, these systems could be offered to markets in the Eurasian Economic Union, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America, where similar challenges exist: modernising healthcare delivery under constrained resources. A key condition for export will be not only technical maturity but also compliance with international data protection standards, such as HIPAA in the United States or GDPR in Europe, alongside flexible localisation. In this segment, Russian healthcare software could emerge as a competitive alternative to Western products, offering end-to-end solutions for entire regions or national systems.