Operational Impact of AI Case Notes: A Year in Review for Rehabilitation Consultants

Setting

Business: medium-sized rehabilitation provider working across 9 schemes
Session types: phone calls, client meetings, medical case conferences & assessments
Environment: office, in the car, in workplaces
Clinicians involved: Rehabilitation Consultants (Occupational Therapists, Exercise Physiologists, Rehabilitation Counsellors, Physiotherapists and Psychologists).

Background

Rehabilitation consulting across multiple schemes is documentation heavy by design; every assessment, case conference, phone call and review must be translated into clear, defensible case notes that capture capacity, barriers, psychosocial context, goals and next steps. In practice, consultants can spend around half their working week documenting, with a large proportion devoted to producing high quality, scheme ready case notes.

Prior to implementing Perci, consultants were spending significant time completing case notes, often extending into evenings or weekends, this impacted:

• Billable hours in excess of their KPI’s
• Consistency and quality of case notes
• Up-to-date case records
• Focus during client sessions
• Overall workforce sustainability

Documentation became the limiting factor; consultants could only bill to the extent they could also write and finalise notes. Perci was introduced as a clinical scribe that drafts structured notes in real time. Consultants retain full oversight, reviewing and refining each note before sign off, maintaining clinical judgement while reducing the documentation burden.

Analysis

To test whether reduced documentation burden translated into real productivity gains, 12 months (February 2025 to January 2026) of billing data was compared with Perci usage. The trend was consistent: when Perci use went up, billable hours increased. The relationship was moderate to very strong (r ≈ 0.67–0.88). Depending on the billing stage, around 45%–77% of the change in billable hours aligned with changes in Perci usage. This pattern held across different workload levels from caseload ramp-up to peak months. Importantly, even during busy periods, documentation didn’t appear to cap capacity, Perci usage scaled with demand, supporting higher throughput without the usual administrative bottleneck.

The strongest link was seen during growth-stage billing, suggesting Perci helps consultants ramp up faster by removing the note-writing barrier. This is observational (so it doesn’t prove causation), but the consistency over 12 months indicates Perci isn’t just saving minutes, it’s associated with higher, more sustainable billable capacity.

Individual Consultant Impact

Less time on notes, more time for people - consultants reported faster case notes, especially for phone calls with an estimated 12–15% reduction in admin overall. Instead of starting from a blank page and trying to recall details days later, they reviewed and refined structured notes captured immediately.

More present in sessions - with key details recorded in real time, consultants felt less split between listening and typing. Conversations flowed more naturally, with attention staying on the client.

Clearer, scheme-ready documentation - notes became more consistent and structured, clearly documenting capacity, barriers and agreed actions. This improved confidence in defensibility and enabled quicker updates to stakeholders and faster implementation of action plans.

Fewer late nights and weekends - even in peak months, documentation didn’t spill into after hours. Consultants reported less fatigue and more sustainable performance.

Business Impact

Expanded sustainable billing capacity - billing increased in alignment with Perci usage, suggesting structural productivity gains rather than simply working longer hours.

Scalability during peak demand - Perci usage scaled during high-demand months, supporting throughput without documentation bottlenecks.

Improved audit readiness - standardised case note structure improved internal quality assurance and audit confidence, reducing variability across consultants. Case notes were instantly available enabling all records to be present and up-to-date.

Stronger leave coverage and handover - structured notes allowed faster comprehension of case history, improving continuity when consultants were on leave, or when inquires were made or requested from other stakeholders; thereby reducing disruption to clients and stakeholders.