Straight Answers

Every answer to this question is written by someone selling software.

Plain answers on AI in MSK care, from someone who has to live with them on Monday. No product pitch at the end. When I do not know, I say so, and I show you what I checked.

Compliance

  • Can I use ChatGPT for patient notes?

    Not on a Free, Plus, Pro, or Team plan. Those tiers cannot sign a Business Associate Agreement, so putting protected health information into them is a HIPAA problem regardless of how careful you are. Enterprise plans and API access with the right settings can be covered.

    Last reviewed 2026-08-04

  • Does a Medicare auditor care that AI wrote the note?

    Medicare's rule is about who signed the note, not who drafted it. A scribe's signature is not accepted as authentication, and an AI scribe is a scribe. Your signature is the authentication, and it attests that the note reflects the care you actually provided.

    Last reviewed 2026-08-04

Evidence

  • How do you catch an AI that made up a citation?

    Open the source. Every time, before you use it. Fabricated references are fluent, correctly formatted, and often attached to a real journal and a real author, so nothing about their appearance will warn you. The only reliable check is resolving the identifier yourself.

    Last reviewed 2026-08-04

Operations

  • What should a clinic automate first?

    The task your clinicians already do badly because they are tired, not the task that looks most impressive in a demo. In outpatient MSK that is almost always documentation, because it is high volume, low variability, already reviewed by a human, and it is the thing being taken home at night.

    Last reviewed 2026-08-04

The Profession

  • Will AI replace physical therapists?

    No, and the replacement question is the wrong one to be spending energy on. The live questions are who owns the clinical reasoning in your notes, who consented to it being used, and whether the profession sets the terms of that or has them set for it.

    Last reviewed 2026-08-04

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Clinician and operator questions about AI in MSK care. This is not the place for a patient case: do not send patient details, names, or records. Answers are published here rather than sent back privately, and nothing on this page is medical or legal advice. Leave an email only if you want to be told when yours goes live.