AI Clinical Scribes & Privacy Compliance:

What Allied Health Professionals Need to Know

As AI technology rapidly integrates into Australian healthcare, many allied health professionals — including occupational therapists, physiotherapists, exercise physiologists, psychologists, and speech pathologists — are exploring the use of AI clinical scribes to ease their documentation burden. But a common and crucial question arises: “Is this privacy and healthcare compliant?”

AI clinical scribes are tools that use artificial intelligence to listen to conversations, generate clinical notes, or summarise key points from a patient consultation. They promise to save time — but also raise important questions about privacy, data security, and clinical responsibility.

If you’re considering an AI clinical scribe to help summarise consultations or automate notes, understanding your obligations under Australian privacy, healthcare, and clinical safety laws is essential to safeguard your patient’s trust and your professional reputation.

What Laws & Regulations Apply For Use of AI Clinical Scribes

National Privacy Legislation

If you're a health professional in private practice within Australia, you're subject to Australian privacy legislation, including the Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). These govern how you collect, use, disclose, and store patient’s private information. Learn more about the APPs.

Key principles as related to healthcare privacy include the following:

• APP 1 – Be transparent with patients about how their data is handled
• APP 3 & 6 – Only collect what’s necessary, and use it appropriately
• APP 8 – Follow special rules if data leaves Australia
• APP 11 – Protect health data from misuse and unauthorised access

State Health Records Legislation

In addition to national privacy law, most Australian states and territories have their own health privacy legislation. Of particular note are:

• NSW: Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002
• Victoria: Health Records Act 2001
• Other states/territories: have various healthcare acts, which are largely similar to national privacy legislation

These laws define:

• What constitutes a health record
• Patients’ rights to access their records
• How records must be stored, retained, and disposed of
• Data sovereignty – some states (in particular NSW) have specific and tighter data sovereignty restrictions, where data is required to be stored within Australia (or even within the state) unless specific exceptions apply.

Responsible AI Usage as Part of Healthcare Compliance

Using AI in a clinical setting also triggers responsibilities under healthcare compliance frameworks that govern allied health professionals. For instance, as a registered practitioner, you must comply with Ahpra’s National Board Code of conduct as relevant for your profession, including in your use of AI.

Aphra have released a very helpful resource to help guide healthcare professionals, titled Meeting your professional obligations when using Artificial Intelligence in healthcare, which is updated regularly to reflect new developments in AI.

Your compliance obligations related to AI as a healthcare provider include:

• Maintain accurate and secure health records
• Take reasonable steps to protect patient confidentiality
• Ensure that AI-generated content is verified and clinically appropriate
• Uphold professional accountability — AI tools do not replace your duty of care

How to Ensure Your AI Scribe — and Your Use of It — Is Compliant

There are some key questions you should ask when deciding whether to us an AI clinical scribe, and also some processes you should put in place within your healthcare business, to ensure you remain compliant.

Ask Where Data is Processed & Stored

When evaluating a clinical scribe, ask your AI vendor "Where Is the Data Processed and Stored?"

It's important to note that data is legally bound by the laws of the country in which it is stored — this is known as data sovereignty. What this means is that if your AI scribe stores data outside Australia, such as on U.S. servers:

• It may fall under foreign surveillance laws (e.g. the CLOUD Act)
• You must inform patients and obtain consent under APP 8
• There are even greater restrictions on where data is processed and stored if you practice within NSW
• You may be liable for breaches that occur offshore

Best practice: Choose tools that process and store data within Australia.

Ask About Cybersecurity & Clinical Safety Standards

As a healthcare provider, you’re ultimately responsible for selecting technology that protects your patients’ sensitive health information. When evaluating an AI scribe tool, be sure to ask your vendor:

• Is the data encrypted in transit and at rest?
• Is infrastructure hosted within Australia to meet data sovereignty requirements?
• Are they compliant with recognised standards like ISO 27001 or ISO 82304-1?
• Is there secure login, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and practitioner-level access control?

If you want to learn more about evaluating AI tools for healthcare, check out this blog: 9 Tips for Choosing an AI Healthcare Tool

Implement Processes for Consent, Transparency & Review

To build trust and maintain compliance, put clear workflows in place whenever you use an AI clinical scribe:

• Inform the patient clearly and in advance that an AI tool will assist with their documentation
• Record this disclosure in your privacy policy and patient intake forms
• Implement a review process to ensure clinicians check and approve all AI-generated notes before finalising them in the patient record.

A Quick Compliance Checklist

Before adopting an AI clinical scribe, ensure you:

Mention AI use in your privacy policy
Get patient consent
Confirm data is stored in Australia, or APP 8-compliant (or HRIP compliant if your are in NSW)
Ensure the responsible clinician reviews and approves all AI-generated notes
Ensure alignment with the relevant National Board code of conduct
Check vendor’s cybersecurity and clinical safety controls

AI clinical scribes can offer huge benefits — helping save time, reduce burnout, improve accuracy, and streamline documentation. But they must be implemented ethically, safely, and in compliance with Australian privacy and healthcare laws.

By understanding and applying the right privacy, professional, and security standards, you can embrace AI without compromising patient trust.