AI Guides / Allied Health

AI and automation for allied health businesses

An allied health clinic sells hours off a diary, and the diary leaks in three places: the patient who doesn't rebook at the desk, the one who stops at session three of six, and the DNA that leaves a practitioner staring at an empty slot. Your practice software already contains the recalls, reminders and waitlist to plug all three — mostly switched off, and costing you a fraction of what any new tool would.

Start at step one. Stop whenever you like — nothing below is needed for anything above it to work.

Start at step one Done this before? Jump to all 11 jobs

Prices checked by hand 27 July 2026 · nobody pays to be listed here

The whole page, in order

Week 1 · free$0

Switch on what Cliniko already includes: SMS reminders (10¢ each), recall types for every discharge reason, and the online booking page. One afternoon.

Software: Cliniko

Week 2$0

Make rebook-at-the-desk the rule, and set a recall automatically for anyone who leaves without a next appointment. The recall list becomes your Monday-morning ritual.

Software: Cliniko recalls

Week 3$0

Start the referrer loop: a thank-you on referral, an outcome letter at discharge. Two templates, filled per patient by the clinician.

Software: Cliniko letters and templates

Week 4 · measure$0

Watch three numbers: rebooking rate at checkout, DNA rate, and recalls converted. Only then decide whether anything needs building.

Software: Cliniko reports and a weekly tally

Step one · start here

What your current allied health software may already include

On Cliniko, Xero, these are settings, not another subscription — check your plan includes them. On something else, search its help centre for the same feature name.

Extra software cost

$0*

if included in your plan

Hours back per month

≈14

Task 1

Cliniko → Recall types and the recall list

saves ≈6 hrs/mo

Why it matters

Recalls from 1 day to 100 months, per discharge reason — review in 2 weeks, episode check-in at 3 months, annual follow-up at 12. The machinery for never losing a patient at discharge is in the plan you already pay for, waiting for recall types to be created.

What to do

Open the official guide below. In Cliniko, find “Recall types and the recall list”. Follow the guide once, switch it on for one real job or customer first, and check that it did exactly what you expected before using it everywhere.

Open the official setup guide ↗

2 hours · $0 extra if included in your current plan

Task 2

Cliniko → SMS reminders and cancellation reporting

saves ≈5 hrs/mo

Why it matters

Reminder texts at 10¢ a message — no subscription, no add-on tier — plus the cancellations and no-shows report that tells you which day, practitioner and appointment type your DNAs cluster on.

What to do

Open the official guide below. In Cliniko, find “SMS reminders and cancellation reporting”. Follow the guide once, switch it on for one real job or customer first, and check that it did exactly what you expected before using it everywhere.

Check the official pricing and plan details ↗

1 hour · $0 extra if included in your current plan

Task 3

Xero → Invoice reminders

saves ≈3 hrs/mo

Why it matters

For the accounts that don't settle at the desk — third-party payers, plans, the occasional slow account. Built in, off by default.

What to do

Open the official guide below. In Xero, find “Invoice reminders”. Follow the guide once, switch it on for one real job or customer first, and check that it did exactly what you expected before using it everywhere.

Check the official pricing and plan details ↗

20 minutes · $0 extra if included in your current plan

Different software? The same switch usually exists under another name.

Step two · first workflow to implement

Cliniko recalls: Rebook at the desk, or a recall fires automatically.

The cheapest appointment you will ever fill is the one booked before the patient reaches the car park. Anyone who leaves without one gets a recall set for their review window — no exceptions, no memory required.

Do this in order

1. In Cliniko, open Settings, then Recalls, and create one recall type for each real discharge reason: short review, episode check-in, and annual follow-up.
2. At checkout, book the next appointment. If the patient leaves without one, add the matching recall before closing their record.
3. Put your online-booking link in the recall message and keep the wording about continuing the patient’s outcome, not filling the diary.
4. Use a staff or test patient first. Confirm the recall appears on the right date and the booking link opens the correct appointment page.

Typical size

every discharge

Setup

2 hours

What to use

Cliniko recalls

Cliniko · $45/mo per practitioner ↗

Buy or build: Already paid for

How you know it worked

Count it in week one, then count the same thing again in week four. If the number did not move, stop spending.

Keep this implementation simple

Use the steps above with the software you already have. Test the workflow on your own phone before adding another product or paying someone to build around it.

Step three · keep going without adding complexity

Once step two works, take the next three jobs in this order.

One at a time. Finish it, test it on real work, then start the next.

Make.com + list exportTypical size≈10 stalled plans/mo

Catch the drop-off at session three

Care plans die quietly in the middle: pain eased, life intervened. A check-in text when a plan stalls — framed around finishing the outcome, not filling the diary — recovers courses that were prescribed for a reason.

Setup effort: 1 week

Cliniko waitlist + Make.comTypical size≈12 gaps/mo

Fill the DNA gap from the waitlist

A 10am no-show should trigger texts down the waitlist until the slot fills. The waitlist feature exists in your software; the cascade is the missing piece.

Setup effort: 1 week

Cliniko letters + templatesTypical size≈15 referrals/mo

Close the loop with every referrer

GPs keep referring to clinics that write back. A thank-you when the referral lands and an outcome letter at discharge — templated structure, clinician-written content — is the whole system, and almost nobody runs it consistently.

Setup effort: Half a day

Step four · only once the first three are running

These are useful, but they are not the place to begin.

The first point where paying for a build makes sense — once the earlier steps are running.

Cliniko recall typesTypical size≈300+ closed episodes on file

Reactivate finished episodes on an annual clock

The ankle you rehabilitated last winter belongs to a runner who will need you again. A 12-month recall per closed episode — human-sounding, condition-aware in framing but generic in content — restarts care that lapsed, not ended.

Setup effort: Half a day

Does this look familiar?

These are the problems the named tools above are meant to remove.

Rebook at the desk, or a recall fires automatically

Catch the drop-off at session three

Fill the DNA gap from the waitlist

Close the loop with every referrer

Reactivate finished episodes on an annual clock

Reminders that cut the DNAs

After thirty days

Four numbers. If they have not moved, stop and do not spend another dollar.

Number one

Rebook at the desk, or a recall fires automatically

Write down the current monthly number before you switch anything on. Compare it with the same number after thirty days.

Number two

Catch the drop-off at session three

Count it the same way in week one and week four. Do not change the definition halfway through.

Number three

Recall types and the recall list

Use the history inside your existing software to count how often the automation actually ran.

Number four

Hours given back

Ask the person doing the work now. They will know before a dashboard does.

Every other figure here is a typical size. These four are yours.

Reference

All 11 jobs for allied health, in order of what they return.Open ↓

Wins work

Rebook at the desk, or a recall fires automatically with Cliniko recalls

Typical size: every discharge
Buy or build: Already paid for · Cliniko recalls
Effort: 2 hours

Catch the drop-off at session three with Make.com + list export

Typical size: ≈10 stalled plans/mo
Buy or build: Small build · Make.com + list export
Effort: 1 week

Fill the DNA gap from the waitlist with Cliniko waitlist + Make.com

Typical size: ≈12 gaps/mo
Buy or build: Small build · Cliniko waitlist + Make.com
Effort: 1 week

Close the loop with every referrer with Cliniko letters + templates

Typical size: ≈15 referrals/mo
Buy or build: Already paid for · Cliniko letters + templates
Effort: Half a day

Reactivate finished episodes on an annual clock with Cliniko recall types

Typical size: ≈300+ closed episodes on file
Buy or build: Already paid for · Cliniko recall types
Effort: Half a day

Saves hours

Reminders that cut the DNAs with Cliniko SMS

Confirmation at booking, text the day before, at 10¢ a message. The cancellation report then tells you whether it's working and where the remaining no-shows cluster.

Typical size: 5 hrs/mo
Buy or build: Already paid for · Cliniko SMS
Effort: 1 hour

Let patients book without ringing with Cliniko online bookings

The online booking page ends phone tennis for routine appointments and takes bookings at 9pm when your competitors' phones don't. Included; most clinics bury the link.

Typical size: 6 hrs/mo
Buy or build: Already paid for · Cliniko online bookings
Effort: 2 hours

Intake forms before the first visit with Snapforms

History and consents completed at home and filed to the record — the first appointment starts with treatment, not a clipboard.

Typical size: 4 hrs/mo
Buy or build: Buy · Snapforms (integrates with Cliniko)
Effort: 1 day

Letters from templates, not from scratch with Cliniko letters

Referrer letters, insurer reports and care-plan summaries assembled from templated structure with clinical content written by the clinician — the addressing and formatting automated, the judgement never.

Typical size: 4 hrs/mo
Buy or build: Already paid for · Cliniko letters
Effort: Half a day

Chase the slow accounts without touching them with Xero

Reminders at 7, 14 and 30 days for third-party and plan balances, with hardship accounts excluded because those need a phone call.

Typical size: 3 hrs/mo
Buy or build: Already paid for · Xero
Effort: 20 minutes

Answer the team's questions once with ChatGPT Team

Fee schedule, cancellation policy, item numbers, what each fund covers — one place the front desk can ask instead of interrupting a treatment room.

Typical size: 4 hrs/mo
Buy or build: Buy · ChatGPT Team, $25/user
Effort: 2 days

The stack

The tools named, priced, and judged.

Tools named in this guide, what each one is for, its price, and the verdict.
Tool	What it is for	Price	Verdict
Practice managementCliniko	Diary, notes, billing, recalls, reminders, waitlist and online bookings for allied health.	$45/mo per practitioner ↗	Every feature included at one flat per-practitioner price, SMS at 10¢ — the honest move is exhausting what's inside it before buying anything else on this page. Its marketing and campaign tools are thin by design; that gap is real but rarely the first problem.
Practice managementHalaxy	The freemium alternative — core platform free, pay for SMS and payments.	Free core; usage fees ↗	Genuinely free to start, but the per-use fees add up at volume and the workflow is more opinionated — model your real monthly cost at your appointment volume before assuming free wins.
Digital formsSnapforms	Intake and consent forms completed by patients and filed against the Cliniko record.	From ~$29/mo ↗	AU-hosted, which matters for health data. Skip it if your patient volume is low enough that the clipboard genuinely isn't hurting.
Phone & messagingOpenPhone	A clinic number with a shared inbox and missed-call text-back.	$19/user ↗	Worth it for clinics where reception doubles as treatment support. Keep clinical content out of texts — booking logistics only.
AI answeringRosie	Overflow and after-hours answering, capturing booking requests.	$49/mo ↗	Name, number and preferred time only — it must never collect symptoms or clinical details. If you can't lock that configuration down, don't deploy it.
AccountingXero	The clinic's books and the payment reminders nobody enables.	$35/mo ↗	You almost certainly have this already, and it integrates with Cliniko. The reminders are free and off by default.
AutomationMake.com	The DNA-gap cascade and stalled-plan check-ins, built on de-identified list exports.	$9/mo ↗	Every scenario in a health practice is a privacy decision: names and numbers for booking, nothing clinical, ever. Keep the scenarios few and auditable.
AssistantChatGPT Team	Operational questions from your own documents — policies, fees, item numbers.	$25/user ↗	Load your real policies and it earns its keep. It never sees a patient record or a clinical note — that line is absolute.

Do not bother

Three things not to buy yet.

An AI scribe as your first automation.

Notes tools are the seductive purchase, but they demand access to clinical records and the money is in the diary. Fix rebooking, recalls and DNAs first — the boring data — and revisit scribes once the utilisation problem is solved and the privacy assessment is done properly.

A separate reminder or engagement platform.

Your practice software already sends reminders at 10¢ a message with no subscription. A dedicated platform charges a monthly fee to do the same job with a nicer dashboard.

Marketing automation suites.

A 2–6 practitioner clinic grows on rebooking discipline and referrer relationships, not drip campaigns. The suite money buys a lot of outcome letters and recall follow-through instead.

Sources