AI for your clinic, in one page.
Patient data is sensitive health information under the Privacy Act. Three rules frame everything: consent and a lawful basis before you record or contact; data stays where it belongs, in your practice system and vetted healthcare tools, never a free chatbot; and a clinician stays in charge of anything clinical. Human in the loop is the rule.
Three big drains: clinical notes spilling past closing, the phones (80 to 100 calls a day, most routine), and patients who quietly drift off. Track your own week first to see where yours bleeds.
A scribe like Heidi or Lyrebird drafts your note from the consult, cutting documentation time by 50 to 70 percent. Use it with clear patient consent that can be declined, a clinician reviewing and signing every note, and data kept in healthcare-grade tools that don't train on it.
- Let online booking take simple appointment types, tied to Cliniko, Nookal, Halaxy or Zanda.
- AI reception answers routine calls on the first ring, day or night, honestly automated.
- Hand every clinical, distressed, urgent or unusual call straight to a person.
- Recall brings people back for due care; reactivation re-engages those who lapsed.
- Well-timed reminders cut no-shows by around 40 percent. Often just switch them on.
- Contact only patients you have a basis to reach, run from their own record, easy opt-out.
- 1. ......................................................
- 2. ......................................................
- 3. ......................................................
Audit the leaks, draft a one-page AI policy, prove one change (often the scribe or reminders), then widen what works. A clinician always in charge of the care.