Guide · Allied health
Six practical admin workflows for physio, OT, speech, psychology and similar practices, with a hard rule: never paste clinical notes or patient identifiers into consumer AI.
By the Airkick team · Updated 16 October 2026
Scope
This page is about the writing around clinical work: referral letters, plan-review structure, family updates, provider emails and practice admin. It is not clinical advice, and it is not a substitute for your professional judgement, clinical notes systems, or the rules of your registration board.
Notes by Five (our guide for this audience) is paperwork workflows done safely. It does not teach you how to write clinical notes inside a consumer AI tool, and neither does this page.
Six workflows
Turn the points you'd normally dictate into a clean referral letter layout. You check every clinical fact against the file. The AI never sees the patient's full name, date of birth or Medicare number.
Draft the non-clinical wording around a plan review: the structure, the headings, the plain-English explanation of next steps for the client or funder. Clinical judgements stay yours and go in after you've reviewed the draft.
Short, clear updates for a parent, carer or support coordinator about appointment times, what to bring, and what happens next. No diagnoses or clinical detail in the AI prompt; you add anything sensitive yourself.
Cover emails when sending a report, chasing a missing referral, or confirming a joint session. Facts only, de-identified.
Did-not-attend messages, waitlist offers and polite invoice reminders. Keep them factual and in line with your practice policy.
Plain answers to the questions your reception gets every day: parking, fees, what to bring, telehealth vs in person. Not clinical advice; admin clarity.
Privacy
Hard rule
Never paste clinical notes, progress notes, assessments, or patient identifiers (full name, date of birth, address, Medicare/NDIS numbers, phone, email) into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or any other consumer AI tool. Use "Client A", strip dates of birth and file numbers, and fill real details in your practice system yourself.
Allied health practices handle health information, which is sensitive information under the Privacy Act. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) recommends, as a matter of best practice, that organisations don't enter personal information, and particularly sensitive information, into publicly available generative AI tools. Read its guidance on commercially available AI products before anyone on the team tries a consumer tool.
If your practice uses AI at all, prefer a business plan with admin controls and a clear 'no training on your data' stance, and still de-identify. This page is not legal advice: check the Privacy Act, your registration standards and your practice policy.
Tools
For the admin drafting above, any mainstream assistant will do. Start with whatever is already in your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace plan if you have one, so it sits under the same admin settings as practice email.
On 15 October 2026, OpenAI listed ChatGPT Business at US$25 per user/month billed monthly (US$20 billed annually, minimum two seats), and Anthropic listed Claude Team at the same seat prices. Your practice management software may also be adding AI features; check its data terms carefully before turning anything on.
To compare options in Australian dollars, use our free AI tools cost calculator or the assistant comparison.
Next step
Notes by Five is our written guide for allied health practice owners in Australia (physio, OT, speech, psychology, podiatry, exercise physiology and similar): a red list of what never goes into a consumer AI tool, a safe setup, and copy-and-paste paperwork workflows for referrals, plan-review structure, family and provider comms and practice admin. It's A$79, opens straight away, and comes with a 7-day refund. It is not clinical training.
Want a plan for your practice specifically? The AI Audit is A$399, arrives within 72 hours of an online form, and needs no meetings.
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Questions
No. Keep clinical notes and patient identifiers out of consumer AI tools. Draft structure from de-identified bullet points only, then finish the note in your clinical system.
No. It is paperwork and admin workflows for allied health practices, with a strong privacy line. Clinical decisions and clinical documentation standards stay with you.
The OAIC recommends, as best practice, not entering personal information (especially sensitive information such as health information) into publicly available generative AI tools. See the OAIC guidance linked on this page.
Any mainstream assistant can draft admin wording. Prefer a business plan under your practice's admin controls, and always de-identify. Check your practice-management vendor's AI features and data terms too.
No. It's a practical guide to the admin writing around allied health work. Check the Privacy Act, your registration standards and your practice policy.