Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about TeleScribe, privacy, compliance, specialties, and clinical use.
Getting Started
What is TeleScribe?
TeleScribe is Australia’s affordable AI medical scribe — built for nurses, nurse practitioners, counsellors, midwives, doctors, and all health professionals. It works for every consultation type — in-person, telehealth, and hybrid. It captures clinician-patient audio, transcribes the conversation, and generates structured clinical notes in Australian format in seconds. TeleScribe also includes 13 built-in clinical tools, 9 Medicare exemption pathways with proforma generation, secondary document generation, letterhead PDF export, and a video consult add-on. It supports 35+ clinician roles and 50+ specialties. TeleScribe is a documentation aid only — all outputs are draft notes that require clinician review before finalisation. TeleScribe is only available in Australia.
How does it work?
TeleScribe follows a four-step pipeline: Record the consultation audio in your browser (with pause/resume support), Transcribe the audio in real time using a four-layer speech-to-text engine, Generate a structured clinical note from multiple clinical formats using AI (notes stream in real-time as they generate), and Review, edit, and finalise the draft. During or after the consult you can run clinical tools, toggle exemption pathways, and generate secondary documents — all from the same recording. Your role and specialty knowledge packs are applied automatically to every note. Audio is processed in-memory and never stored.
What note types are available?
TeleScribe includes 10 primary note types: SOAP notes (with 14 sub-sections), brief chart/handover notes, referral letters (with toggleable header and sign-off blocks), telehealth notes with compliance documentation, specialist/initial consultation notes, GP Mental Health Treatment Plans, medical certificates, procedure notes, discharge summaries, and medication review notes (HMR format). Plus 8 secondary document types: transfer note (ISBAR), travel with medication letter, clearance certificate, progress note, patient letter, care plan, health assessment, and specialist report. All formats use Australian clinical conventions and Australian English spelling. Clinicians can also create custom note templates with their own prompt instructions.
Is TeleScribe suitable for telehealth consultations?
TeleScribe is purpose-built for telehealth. The telehealth note type includes an MBS compliance block covering consultation modality, patient identity verification, informed consent, and clinical necessity. TeleCheck provides postcode-based disaster eligibility checking and 9 Medicare exemption pathways with timestamped proforma generation — all built directly into the scribe workflow.
Specialties & Clinician Roles
Is TeleScribe only for GPs?
No. TeleScribe is built for every health professional in Australia — not just GPs. It supports 35+ clinician roles across nursing (registered nurse, nurse practitioner, midwife, mental health nurse, practice nurse, counsellor), medical (GP, specialist, surgeon, psychiatrist, emergency physician), allied health (psychologist, dietitian, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, speech pathologist, podiatrist, social worker, chiropractor, pharmacist, and more), and dental and complementary medicine (dentist, orthodontist, naturopath, TCM practitioner). Each role has its own knowledge pack that tailors note structure and terminology. Students and registrars can also use TeleScribe at a 40% discount.
What are Specialty Knowledge Packs?
Specialty Knowledge Packs are a two-axis system that tailors every note to your practice. Axis 1 is your clinician role — it sets the note structure, clinical terminology, and how you are referenced throughout the document. Axis 2 is your specialties — they add domain-specific data fields, assessment sections, and safety-netting phrases. The two axes work simultaneously. For example, a Midwife selecting Midwifery gets antenatal notes with gestational age, parity, and EDD. A Physiotherapist selecting Musculoskeletal gets ROM measurements and strength grading. Knowledge packs are included in all plans at no extra cost.
What specialties are supported?
TeleScribe includes 50+ clinical specialties across all major domains: Cardiology, Endocrinology, Respiratory Medicine, Psychiatry, Psychology, Paediatrics, Orthopaedics, Oncology, Palliative Care, Geriatrics, Women's Health, Weight Management, Dermatology, Addiction Medicine, Medicinal Cannabis, ENT, Midwifery, Emergency Medicine, Sexual Health, Pain Medicine, Gastroenterology, Nephrology, Haematology, Rheumatology, Neurology, Infectious Disease, and many more. New specialties are added regularly based on clinician feedback.
Do I need to set my role every session?
No. You set your clinician role and specialties once in Settings. They are applied automatically to every session from that point forward. You can change them at any time.
Can I use multiple specialties?
Yes. You can select multiple specialties that reflect your scope of practice. All selected specialties contribute context to your notes — the system combines them into a single cohesive output. For example, a GP who also practises skin cancer medicine and weight management can select all three.
Privacy & Data
Is patient data used to train the AI?
No. Patient data processed through TeleScribe is never used to train AI models. This is contractually enforced with all AI providers under their API data usage policies and is consistent with the OAIC's Guidance on Privacy and the Use of Commercially Available AI Products (October 2024).
Where is my data stored?
Core data (accounts, notes, transcripts) is stored in Australia via Supabase (Australian-region infrastructure). Audio recordings are never stored — they are processed in-memory only and discarded immediately after transcription.
How does audio recording work?
TeleScribe uses the browser's MediaRecorder API to capture audio in 30-second segments. Each segment is sent for transcription and then discarded. No audio is saved to disk, uploaded to permanent storage, or retained after the session. The audio exists only in your browser's memory during the consultation. This approach is consistent with surveillance device legislation across Australian jurisdictions.
Does data leave Australia?
AI processing (transcription and note generation) is performed via US-based API providers (Deepgram and OpenAI for transcription, OpenAI and Anthropic for note generation) under contractual protections that prohibit the use of data for model training. Cross-border disclosure is governed by APP 8 of the Australian Privacy Principles. Core data storage — your account, notes, and transcripts — remains in Australia via Australian-region infrastructure. We are actively evaluating Australian-hosted AI alternatives as they become available.
Reliability & Data Safety
What happens if the transcription service goes down during my consult?
TeleScribe uses a multi-provider transcription architecture with automatic failover. If the primary transcription provider experiences an outage or error, TeleScribe automatically and instantly falls through to the next available provider — with no action required from you. Your audio segments are preserved in your browser's memory and retried automatically. The entire failover process is invisible: you keep talking, the transcript keeps building. There is no single point of failure in the transcription pipeline.
How many transcription providers does TeleScribe use?
TeleScribe maintains four independent transcription layers across three separate providers. If one provider is down, the system cascades to the next within seconds. This includes providers with healthcare-specific speech recognition models trained on medical terminology. Every request starts at the primary (fastest, most accurate) layer — TeleScribe never gets stuck on a backup provider. The moment the primary is available again, the next chunk goes straight back to it.
What if my internet drops briefly during a consult?
Audio chunks that fail to send are held in a retry queue in your browser. TeleScribe automatically retries failed chunks with increasing wait times between attempts (to avoid flooding a recovering connection). If your connection restores within the retry window, those chunks are transcribed and inserted into the correct position in your transcript. You'll see a brief notification if chunks are queued, and a manual retry button appears if any chunks exhaust their automatic retries.
Will I lose my transcript if something goes wrong?
No. TeleScribe is designed so that audio is never silently lost. Every 30-second audio segment is preserved in your browser's memory until it is successfully transcribed or you explicitly discard it. If all transcription providers are temporarily unavailable, the audio segments queue up and retry automatically. When recording stops, TeleScribe waits for all pending chunks to complete before generating your clinical note — so nothing is skipped. If any chunks permanently fail, you'll see exactly how many and can retry them with one click.
Is my clinical data used to train AI models?
No. This is an absolute guarantee. No patient data — no audio, no transcripts, no clinical notes, no patient names or identifiers — processed through TeleScribe is ever used to train, fine-tune, or improve any AI model. This applies to every AI provider in our transcription and note generation pipeline. It is contractually enforced under the API data usage policies of each provider. This is consistent with the OAIC's Guidance on Privacy and the Use of Commercially Available AI Products (October 2024), which specifically addresses the risks of clinical data being used for model training. We treat this as a non-negotiable boundary.
Is audio from my consultations stored anywhere?
No. Audio is never written to disk, uploaded to permanent storage, or retained after the session — by TeleScribe or by any provider in the pipeline. Audio exists only in your browser's memory during the consultation. Each 30-second segment is sent for transcription, the text result is returned, and the audio is discarded. There is no audio archive, no audio backup, and no way to replay a past consultation's audio. This approach is consistent with surveillance device legislation across Australian jurisdictions, where recording without consent is a criminal offence in five of eight states and territories.
What data do the AI providers actually receive?
Transcription providers receive short audio segments (up to 30 seconds each) with no patient identifiers attached — just raw audio. The note generation provider receives the accumulated transcript text along with the note type and your clinician role/specialty context. No patient names, Medicare numbers, dates of birth, or other identifiers are sent unless they were spoken during the consultation. All transmissions use encrypted connections (TLS). Providers are contractually prohibited from retaining, logging, or using the data for any purpose beyond processing the immediate request.
How do I know which AI providers TeleScribe uses?
TeleScribe uses only healthcare-safe AI providers: OpenAI (US-based, SOC 2 Type II certified, HIPAA BAA available, zero data retention on API calls), Anthropic (US-based, safety-aligned, API data explicitly excluded from training), and Deepgram (US-based, SOC 2 Type II certified, HIPAA BAA available, purpose-built medical speech recognition). We do not use providers that route data through search infrastructure, that are based in jurisdictions with adverse data access laws, or that lack contractual no-training guarantees. Provider selection is reviewed regularly against Australian regulatory guidance.
What about providers like DeepSeek or other overseas AI?
TeleScribe does not use and will not use AI providers based in jurisdictions where government access to data cannot be contractually excluded. This includes providers operating from servers in China (e.g. DeepSeek, which was banned by the Australian government in February 2025 for use on government devices). We also exclude search-augmented AI providers (e.g. Perplexity Sonar) where patient data could be routed through web search infrastructure. Only US-based providers with explicit no-training contractual protections and healthcare compliance certifications are permitted.
Does TeleScribe monitor its own reliability?
Yes. Every transcription and note generation request is routed through an observability layer that tracks success rates, response times, and error rates across all providers. If a provider begins failing, the system automatically shifts traffic to healthy alternatives. We monitor these metrics continuously and are alerted to degradation before it affects clinicians. Provider health data informs our ongoing decisions about which services to include in the pipeline.
Compliance & Legal
Is TeleScribe a medical device?
No. TeleScribe is a documentation aid — it transcribes audio and generates draft clinical notes. It does not provide clinical decision support, diagnostic suggestions, or treatment recommendations. This is aligned with the TGA's Digital Scribes guidance (5 February 2026) and the broader SaMD classification framework under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989. The TGA's Compliance Principles for 2026–2027 identify SaMD as a priority focus area — TeleScribe maintains strict separation between documentation and clinical decision support.
What are my obligations as a clinician using TeleScribe?
Per the Standards for General Practices (5th Edition) and published professional indemnity guidance on AI-assisted documentation: you must review all AI-generated drafts for accuracy and completeness, correct any errors or omissions, add key negatives and clinical reasoning, ensure the final note meets your professional standards, and obtain informed patient consent for the use of AI scribes during consultations. You retain full professional responsibility for all clinical documentation. We recommend reviewing Good Medical Practice guidelines regarding the use of AI tools in clinical practice.
Do I need patient consent to use TeleScribe?
Yes. Published professional indemnity guidance and the ACSQHC AI Safety Scenario for Ambient Scribes (August 2025) recommend obtaining informed patient consent before using AI scribes. Consent should cover: that the consultation will be audio recorded, that AI will be used to assist with documentation, that a clinician will review and finalise all notes, and that audio is not stored. Patients should be offered the option to opt out without penalty. TeleScribe provides template consent wording for clinics.
What about AHPRA and professional indemnity?
Clinicians retain full professional responsibility for all clinical documentation, regardless of whether AI tools were used in its creation. We recommend reviewing your professional indemnity insurance policy regarding the use of AI-assisted documentation tools and consulting your insurer if you have questions about coverage.
How does TeleScribe align with ACSQHC and AHPRA guidance on AI labelling?
The ACSQHC's AI Safety Scenario for Ambient Scribes (August 2025) recommends labelling records that involved AI in their creation, obtaining consent noting surveillance device legislation, and conducting regular performance reviews. Good Medical Practice guidelines require practitioners to disclose AI use and verify every AI-generated note. TeleScribe supports these requirements by clearly marking all outputs as AI-generated drafts, providing template consent wording, and maintaining a clinician review workflow before any note is finalised.
How does TeleScribe keep up with changing regulation?
We actively monitor and build for emerging digital health legislation and regulatory guidance. This includes the TGA's 2026–2027 Compliance Principles (SaMD priority enforcement), the ACSQHC AI Safety Scenario for Ambient Scribes (August 2025), Good Medical Practice guidelines, the Standards for General Practices (5th Edition), the Health Insurance Act 1973 telehealth provisions, and the Privacy Act automated decision-making disclosure amendments effective 10 December 2026. Our product is updated continuously as guidance evolves.
Are regulators using AI to monitor digital health products?
Yes. The TGA and AHPRA actively use AI-assisted monitoring of websites, social media, and advertising to identify non-compliant medical device claims and misleading health service advertising. All TeleScribe public documentation is reviewed against the TGA Digital Scribes guidance (5 February 2026) to ensure every claim remains strictly within documentation aid territory. We do not make clinical decision support claims, diagnostic claims, or treatment recommendation claims — because TeleScribe does not do those things.
Product
How much does TeleScribe cost?
TeleScribe costs $69/mo for individual clinicians — unlimited notes, all 13 clinical tools, all 9 exemption pathways, TeleCheck, Specialty Knowledge Packs, PDF export, and secondary documents included. Video consult add-on is $19/mo. Meeting minutes workspace is included in all plans. Group pricing is available for practices of 3 or more — request a discount code on our Pricing page and each clinician subscribes individually at a reduced rate. Students and registrars receive 40% off — contact us for a discount code. All plans include a full-access 14-day free trial with no feature gates.
What clinical tools are built in?
TeleScribe includes 13 clinical tools across six domains: Mental Health (PHQ-9 Depression, K10 Distress, DASS-21, ASRS ADHD Screen), Sleep (Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Insomnia Severity Index, STOP-Bang OSA Risk), Women's Health (Greene Climacteric Scale, Menopause Rating Scale), Cardiovascular (Australian CVD Risk Calculator), Pain (NRS + Brief Pain Inventory), and Eating & Weight (BMI Calculator, EDE-Q Eating Disorder). Each tool calculates a total score, assigns severity, and inserts the result directly into your note with one click. You can configure where tool outputs are inserted and run multiple tools per consult — they stack. Need a tool we don't have? Ask us and we'll build it at no extra cost.
What is the Video add-on?
The Video add-on ($19/mo) enables browser-to-browser video consultations directly within TeleScribe. No per-minute charges, no external video platform required. The AI scribe captures both sides of the conversation and drafts the note live during the call. Patients join via a link — no account or software needed. Video consults flow directly into the standard note generation pipeline: pre-call patient details, in-call live transcript, post-call note generation, editor, and save.
What is Meeting Minutes?
Meeting Minutes is a workspace for capturing team meetings, case conferences, and clinical handovers. It includes a consent gate (all participants must be informed before recording starts), real-time transcription, AI-generated meeting minutes with action items, and an executive summary. Meeting Minutes is included in all plans at no extra cost.
Can I integrate TeleScribe with my practice management software?
Currently, TeleScribe supports copy and export of finalised notes. Direct EMR and practice management system integrations (including Halaxy, Best Practice, and Medical Director) are planned.
What does TeleCheck do?
TeleCheck is an integrated telehealth eligibility checker built into TeleScribe. Enter a patient's postcode to check whether their area is covered by an active disaster zone declaration, toggle any of 9 exemption pathways, and generate clinical proformas (long, brief, or custom format) ready to paste into your notes. TeleCheck outputs are advisory only and do not constitute billing advice.
What is the patient intake notes feature?
You can paste text from a patient intake form, booking note, or pre-visit questionnaire directly into TeleScribe before or during a session. When included, the AI uses the intake text as context when generating the clinical note — incorporating relevant patient-reported details into the appropriate sections. A clearly labelled "Reviewed & Considered" block is appended to the note as an audit trail, and can be toggled on or off at any time.
Can I create custom note templates?
Yes. TeleScribe allows you to create custom note templates with your own prompt instructions. Templates inherit from any built-in note type and add custom instructions that guide how the AI structures the note — useful for practice-specific formats, subspecialty conventions, or preferred note styles.
Can I generate documents other than clinical notes?
Yes. After generating your primary clinical note, you can generate secondary documents — referral letters, care plans, certificates, transfer notes, and more — from the same transcript. These open in a split-screen editor alongside your main note. Secondary documents are stored with the encounter and can be edited, downloaded as PDF with your letterhead, or emailed directly.
Can I download notes as PDFs?
Yes. Secondary documents (referral letters, certificates, etc.) can be downloaded as professional letterhead PDFs. Set your title, qualifications, practice name, clinic address, phone, ABN, and signature once in Settings — every PDF includes your letterhead and signature automatically. PDFs are generated in-memory and include an AI documentation assistance disclaimer on every page.
Can I email documents from TeleScribe?
Yes. Referral letters and other documents can be emailed directly from TeleScribe to specialists or other recipients. Patient resources from the Smart Send library can also be emailed to patients. All sends are logged with a full audit trail.
What happens if I need to amend a finalised note?
TeleScribe supports a standards-compliant amendment workflow. Within 24 hours of finalisation, you can fully revert the note to review status and edit freely. After 24 hours, amendments are addendum-only — a timestamped addendum is appended to the original note, which is preserved unchanged. This follows the record-keeping principles in the Standards for General Practices (5th Edition).
What is the BBV/SRH toggle?
The BBV/SRH toggle is a dedicated exemption pathway for blood-borne virus and sexual and reproductive health consultations. When enabled, it adds PSR-defensible documentation wording to your clinical note with the applicable MBS items. The perspective (first or third-person) is configurable.
What is Subjective Boost?
Subjective Boost is a per-encounter toggle that adds more direct quotes and emotive detail to the Subjective section of your clinical note — the parts of the consult that often go undocumented. It captures what the patient actually said: their own words where clinically significant, their reported feelings with attribution, barriers to care, support systems, and how they understood the management plan. Nothing is made up or inferred — only what was spoken in the consultation. Available on Moderate note length (Brief is too compressed for this detail, and Expanded already includes it). You can enable it by default in Settings or toggle it per encounter.
Can I pause and resume recording?
Yes. TeleScribe supports pause and resume during recording. Audio is captured in 30-second segments with echo cancellation and noise suppression. You can pause when the conversation goes off-topic or during interruptions, then resume without losing your transcript.
Can I customise the look and feel of TeleScribe?
Yes. TeleScribe includes seven workspace themes named after Australian plants — from the default dark Eucalyptus to warm golden Wattle and coastal blue Dampiera. Switch themes any time in Settings → Appearance. Your choice is saved to your browser and applies instantly across the entire clinical workspace. Public pages and patient-join screens always use the default clinical theme.
TeleCheck & Medicare Eligibility
What is TeleCheck?
TeleCheck is an integrated telehealth eligibility checker built into TeleScribe. It allows clinicians to enter a patient's postcode and instantly check whether their area is covered by an active disaster zone declaration, toggle exemption pathways, and generate a proforma ready to paste into notes. TeleCheck outputs are advisory only.
What is a disaster zone declaration?
The Australian Government declares disaster zones following natural disasters (bushfires, floods, storms, etc.) under the Health Insurance Act 1973 telehealth provisions. Patients located in postcodes within these declared areas are eligible for telehealth consultations under specific MBS items. Disaster declarations have a start date and may have an end date — if the end date is null, the declaration is still active and the area remains eligible.
Does my patient always need to be in a disaster zone for telehealth?
No. While disaster zone eligibility is one common pathway, eight other exemption pathways are available. TeleScribe supports all nine as toggles you can apply directly during the consult.
Are TeleCheck's eligibility suggestions reliable?
TeleCheck provides advisory information only. Eligibility suggestions are based on publicly available disaster declaration data and the MBS Schedule, synced daily. They do not constitute billing advice. Clinicians are solely responsible for verifying billing eligibility and selecting the correct MBS item for each consultation.
What MBS items does TeleCheck suggest?
TeleCheck provides advisory telehealth eligibility information based on the patient's location and consultation context. Each exemption pathway includes its applicable MBS items where relevant. All outputs are advisory only — clinicians must independently verify eligibility.
What telehealth exemption categories does TeleScribe support?
TeleScribe supports 9 exemption pathways: Natural Disaster Area (postcode lookup), BBV/Sexual & Reproductive Health, Mental Health — Focussed Psychological Strategies, Urgent After-Hours, Patient Under 12 Months, Homelessness, AMS/ACCHS (s19(2) exemption), MyMedicare Registration, and COVID-19 Isolation (currently dormant — no active orders). Each pathway is a toggle that generates a timestamped proforma with pathway name, relevant MBS items, and waiver reason. All outputs are advisory only.
Is TeleCheck included in all plans?
Yes. All TeleScribe plans include integrated TeleCheck with postcode eligibility checking, disaster zone declarations, 9 exemption pathways, proforma generation, and MBS item suggestions. See our pricing page for full plan details.
Still have questions?
Contact us at office@telescribe.com.au or learn more about TeleScribe.