AI has been in medical practices longer than people realise as part of existing practice management software. However, new AI tools are rapidly being adopted.
Scribes
AI scribes have been rolled out since 2024. Scribes are used to record patient interactions with their medical practitioner, so they can focus more directly on the patient, rather than doing the paperwork at the same time. The consultation notes become part of the patient record after the practitioner signs off and confirms the record is accurate, at the end of the consultation. As at November 2025, approximately 40% of GPs are using this software. That’s a rapid uptake of a new technology, however a survey in 2025 found that more than 1,400 clinicians felt burnout had dropped by roughly a fifth within 3 months of adoption.
Note accuracy is anecdotally said to improve in accuracy with less mistakes, the software is accessible for rural and regional practices, it can reduce after-hours administrative burden and aid the efficiency of the practice.
There are a few different companies offering them but they all face the same considerations.
Patients must consent to their voice being recorded. Intimate details may be exchanged in a consultation and not everyone will be comfortable with this concept. Vernacular and abbreviations need to be considered and checked in the consult notes after the recording for accuracy. What happens to the audio afterward also needs to be explained to the patient so they are fully informed.
Clinical scribes have not been approved by the TGA under medical devices, so there is no mandatory accuracy standards, no post-market surveillance requirement and no regulatory accountability if something goes wrong.
Each consultation, with more extensive notes are still subject to the same data breach risks from a security perspective. Note take gives more lengthy detail than what some practitioners have used as their own short hand and abbreviations which are known in the healthcare arena, but not so much if you were just reading a cold paragraph of notes.
Appointment Management
Practice management software includes appointment AI. In Australia HotDoc and Health Engine have been on market and widely used in Australian by thousands of medical practices. Other software integrate within existing practice software to manage automated recalls, reminders and patient communication.
There are already international services operating in Australia handling patient data. International receptionists, which are AI, answer calls, book routine appointments and will escalate clinically urgent or difficult matters to a human.
For practices this can fill the gap of a reliable receptionist, AI never has a bad day and can handle multiple calls at once. Anecdotally no shows and cancellations have decreased utilizing these systems, with the follow up ensuring patient attendance more efficiently.
These tools need read/write access to patient records, appointment systems and billing systems. They also need clear instructions as to policy of the practice. Many international scheduling tools process data on overseas servers which is a data sovereignty issue for Australian healthcare data. Integration of these types of system sounds great in the marketing but in practice can be problematic and may infringe on existing licences of the existing practice software.
Referral Management for Specialist Practices
Referral management is built into some practice software but it still requires human intervention in triage. This may be due to not enough clear instruction able to be given to the AI to determine when an appointment is necessary from the referral alone.
Some referrals are not just paper. Some are follow up with emails from the referring practitioner with patient specific details, concerns or triage information. This all needs to be linked to the referral and patient record for the AI to make a determination regarding urgency and scope of practice issues.
Billing Systems
The Australian billing software market is growing but critically AI billing tools can’t replace MBS expertise. Even when a clinic uses AI support for billing optimisation, staff still need real knowledge of MBS item descriptors. GPs are over seven times more likely to underbill than overbill. Australian specific expertise is needed for these tools.
Coding systems are slightly different with many international tools deployed to Australia. Coding is based on international coding requirements so it is easier to implement against clinical data.
AI systems can detect underbilling in retrospect but have not been able to capture it at time of appointment thus far. It’s not far away, but it will need full notes completed by the practitioner for the AI to read and determine length and complexity of the consultation to determine the correct item for general practitioners and medical specialists.
Every major AI billing tool in the world is built for the US Current Procedural Terminology coding system. The MBS has approximately 5,700 items with fund-specific interpretation rules that vary between Bupa, Medibank, HCF and others. No commercially available AI billing tool is built specifically for the Australian MBS with Australian fund-specific rules. The tools being marketed to Australian practices are either generic or US-built. AI billing tools need a practice specific structured workflow to function correctly. Without it they bill from incomplete information and generate more exceptions not fewer.
Many business are eager to enter the healthcare industry with AI assisted tools. There are some really great ideas to improve practice efficiencies, but not all of the ideas can be easily implemented onto existing infrastructure and rules of medical practice under Medicare and Private Health Fund rules and processes.
AI can help a practice in other ways, specifically staff training and onboarding, process and procedures for the practice, and administrative workflows. AI needs to understand what to do and how to do it, before you tell it to do anything. AI needs to be trained to then train the staff and other software.
Before any of these tools can work safely in an Australian specialist practice, the practice needs to know, and have documented, what it actually does. How referrals are triaged. How billing exceptions are managed. How patient communication is handled. How aged debtors are followed up. Without that foundation, AI amplifies chaos rather than creating efficiency
It’s easier than you think to implement.