AI in healthcare: A glimpse of the future clinic

At Women’s Health Road in Sydney’s Northern Beaches, a multidisciplinary practice with a focus on women’s health, an AI agent is used to onboard new patients. The agent telephones patients and takes care of appointment scheduling, provides information about their upcoming appointment and asks them questions to gather basic clinical information.

“We really want to be at the forefront of creating purpose-built technology for women,” says Dr Talat Uppal, a gynaecologist at the practice and its director.

Uppal also uses AI-driven medical transcription service Heidi — for whom she is an ambassador — to record and generate consultation notes. This allows her to devote her entire focus to the patient during appointments.

“I have looked into the whites of more women’s eyes in the past year than I have during the previous 20 years of my career, because I can actually sit down and focus on talking to the person,” she says.

“I have looked into the whites of more women’s eyes in the past year than I have during the previous 20 years of my career, because I can actually sit down and focus on talking to the person.”
- Dr Talat Uppal, Women’s Health Road

AI as a diagnostic tool

AI is also being applied in clinical settings, including diagnostic support and after-hours patient interactions

At the Tasmanian Digestive Centre, the first digestive day hospital in the southern state, Dr Albert Nwaba is using AI for assistance with diagnosis of several conditions. For example, a computer-aided diagnosis (CADx) helps doctors pick up polyps when they do an endoscopy, by highlighting areas they should examine closely.

“AI is in its infancy when it comes to its integration in clinical practice, so it is not much accepted,” says Nwaba. “But we are beginning to understand it will not replace the service.

The aim is to improve outcomes and, with time, there will be more people picking this up.”

Nwaba also wants to develop a system where AI can manage simple patient interactions when the practice isn’t staffed.

“We still want to provide some level of care after hours and that’s where I believe AI can be easily integrated,” he says. “For instance, if a patient has had a colonoscopic procedure and develops abdominal pain after going home, we can program AI so when they ring the clinic, it can ask a few questions and direct them to the emergency department if need be.”

Like Uppal, Nwaba also uses Heidi to take notes, which saves money on transcription and his time, ensuring a better and longer consultation. “It allows for a much more robust discussion with the patient,” he says.

It frees him up to spend more time teaching students and junior doctors and, he hopes, to spend more time on research.

“We’ve got to understand AI is here to stay,” he says. “It will not replace the service we provide, but rather it will enhance efficiency and improve outcomes. That should be the take-home for my colleagues.”

“It will not replace the service we provide, but rather it will enhance efficiency and improve outcomes. That should be the take-home for my colleagues.”
- Dr Albert Nwaba, Tasmanian Digestive Centre

AI’s adoption across the health ecosystem

Use of AI in healthcare is accelerating, says Peter Girvan, Head of CommBank Health.

“Many industries across the full health ecosystem are starting to understand AI is not just a one-off; it’s here to stay,” he says. “It has many emerging use cases across multiple different industries.”

The most immediate time and cost savings are coming from reductions in administrative burden.

“Billing, scheduling and taking consultation notes all take the time of administrative and management staff and health professionals,” says Girvan. “The use of AI is creating efficiencies.”

AI is particularly well-suited to highly transactional processes. General practices and dental clinics, for example, manage high volumes of appointments, payments and Medicare or health fund claims each day.

Beyond administration and diagnostics, Girvan also sees a growing role for AI in preventative care. By supporting care plans and providing real-time insights into patient progress, AI can help shift healthcare away from a purely reactionary model and support value-based care.

“Medicos will use it to get real-time data and insights from the information they gather from patients and to start tracking outcomes,” he says.

Safeguards guiding AI adoption

While AI’s potential is increasingly clear, adoption is not frictionless. Clinicians are cautious, and successful implementation depends on accuracy, transparency and strong governance.

At Women’s Health Road, safeguards have been put in place to ensure AI is used appropriately. Patients are informed about its use at several points, can opt out at any time and can choose to deal with a human if they prefer.

Uppal says it is important AI works for all three groups affected by its use: patients, administrative staff and clinicians.

Enabling tailored care at scale

Ultimately, says Girvan, healthcare practices must manage patient throughput to meet the costs of running their businesses.

“With AI, they can extend patient care times, because they’re building efficiencies into their business and saving on cost,” he says. “They’re not having to accelerate patient flow as frequently to earn a return.”

Agentic AI — where applications can make limited decisions independently — has significant potential in healthcare, says Tariq Scherer, Executive Manager, Modelling and Data Science at CommBank.

“Where you’re dealing with a large number of patients with different needs, it’s very hard to create solutions that fit everyone,” he says. “AI can be very powerful in smoothing out that long-tail challenge, allowing medical practitioners to focus on their specialisations and patients.”

“With AI, they can extend patient care times, because they’re building efficiencies into their business and saving on cost. They're not having to accelerate patient flow as frequently to earn a return.”
- Peter Girvan, Head, CommBank Health

Key takeaways for healthcare leaders

Across the health ecosystem, four themes are emerging as critical to sustainable AI adoption:

• Build strong digital foundations: Reliable AI depends on modern systems, secure data environments and technology that integrates smoothly across healthcare settings.
• Put safety, privacy and governance first: Clear safeguards, transparency and oversight help build trust and ensure AI is used responsibly alongside human decision-making.
• Support clinicians and teams: When AI is embedded thoughtfully into workflows, it can reduce administrative burden and free clinicians to focus on patient care, teaching and research.
• Plan for long-term, system-wide impact: Sharing insights and collaborating across primary care, specialties and hospitals helps drive consistent, high-quality care and sustainable change.

Supporting a future-ready health sector

As healthcare modernises, leaders are being asked to navigate a more complex balance: improving efficiency without losing the human relationship at the centre of care and embracing innovation while ensuring long-term sustainability.

From CommBank’s perspective across the health ecosystem, this shift represents a broader transformation rather than a narrow digital upgrade. Providers are rethinking facilities, strengthening digital infrastructure and recalibrating workforces to support new models of care.

AI’s potential spans administrative and clinical settings, but its impact depends on thoughtful adoption. Sustained investment, prudent risk management and collaboration across the sector will shape how effectively AI improves patient experience, enhances productivity and builds more resilient healthcare operations.

CommBank’s focus is on supporting a system that is financially resilient, technologically capable and centred on both patient and practitioner needs.

If you’re considering how AI could improve patient care and practice efficiency, CommBank can help you explore funding and support options to invest with confidence. Find out more by visiting CommBank Health.