Reference
Plain-English definitions of the terms you\u2019ll meet when evaluating an AI clinical scribe in Australia. Sources linked where applicable.
Last verified .
Software that captures a clinician-patient consultation via microphone, transcribes the audio to text, and generates a structured clinical note (typically in SOAP format). AI scribes are documentation aids only — they do not diagnose, prescribe, or provide clinical decision support. Every output requires clinician review before entering the medical record.
The standard structured format for Australian clinical notes: Subjective (what the patient reported), Objective (examination findings, vitals, investigations), Assessment (clinician’s impression), Plan (what happens next). AI Notes generates SOAP notes by default, plus 18 other note types.
TGA guidance explains how a digital scribe’s intended purpose and functions affect medical-device regulation. Transcribing without analysis is different from analysing information to generate diagnoses or treatment recommendations. Classification must be assessed against the actual functions; a draft label does not settle it.
Source: TGA Digital Scribes guidance
Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. Ahpra works with the National Boards for 16 regulated health professions. Some health professions use other registration or professional membership arrangements; Ahpra registration is not a universal requirement for every role listed by AI Notes.
Source: AHPRA
A code from the Medicare Benefits Schedule identifying a specific consultation type or procedure for Medicare billing purposes. AI Notes does not provide billing advice but can surface MBS-aware documentation prompts for clinician verification.
Source: MBS Online
A set of formal categories (nine as of 1 November 2025) under which a telehealth consult with a patient a clinician has not seen face-to-face in the previous 12 months may still attract a Medicare rebate. AI Notes’s TeleCheck feature surfaces these pathways for clinician verification per consult with audit-logged proformas.
The name of AI Notes’s built-in Medicare telehealth eligibility check. Cross-references the patient’s postcode against Australian disaster-declaration data (DisasterAssist) stored locally in an Australian Supabase database. Returns a traffic-light result (green/amber/red) and surfaces nine exemption pathways as toggleable prompts.
Software intended to support clinical decisions. Whether a particular function is regulated as a medical device depends on its intended purpose, operation and applicable exclusions or exemptions. AI Notes intends its generated documents for clinician review, not independent diagnosis or treatment.
Transcription uses Deepgram nova-3-medical in its Australian region, followed by Microsoft Azure Speech (Australia East) if Deepgram fails. The privacy policy lists every provider and its location.
Australian federal legislation governing personal information handling. AI Notes’s clinical record database is hosted in Sydney. The application does not maintain an audio archive. Hosting location alone does not establish compliance or the location of processing by other services.
The TGA’s register of approved therapeutic goods including Software as a Medical Device (SaMD). Whether software requires ARTG inclusion depends on its actual functions and intended purpose. Calling a product a documentation aid does not determine its medical-device classification.
See how these concepts come together in AI Notes.
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