Almost one-third of Australian allied health practitioners surveyed by practice management software company Zanda are using AI every day, with more than half of Australian AI users reporting significant reductions in documentation time.
Zanda’s State of AI Adoption in Allied Health in 2026 report found 32.2 per cent of Australian respondents used AI daily, compared with 25.8 per cent in the US and 15.6 per cent in the UK.
A further 30 per cent of Australian respondents used AI weekly or occasionally, while 11.5 per cent were interested but had not yet adopted it and 26.4 per cent did not use it.
Zanda said Australia had the highest rate of daily AI use among the three countries for which it had sufficient responses to make comparisons, while overall adoption in Australia and the US was similar.
The findings come from a survey of 682 allied health practitioners conducted between March and May this year. Respondents were drawn from Zanda’s practitioner user base across Australia, the UK, US, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, South Africa and other markets.
The survey included practitioners working in psychology, counselling, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology, massage therapy, podiatry, dietetics, exercise physiology and other disciplines.
Zanda cautioned that country-level findings should be considered directional because sample sizes varied between markets.
Documentation gains
Australian practitioners using AI also reported greater reductions in documentation time than respondents in the US and UK.
Just over half – 51.4 per cent – of Australian AI users reported reducing documentation time by at least 26 per cent, compared with 46.2 per cent in the US and 43.8 per cent in the UK.
Another 11.4 per cent of Australian AI users reported no measurable reduction, compared with around 20 per cent in both the US and UK.
Across the full survey, clinical note drafting was the most common use of AI, reported by 76 per cent of AI users, followed by letters and reports at 72 per cent.
Treatment planning was reported by 36 per cent, while 24 per cent used AI for administrative automation.
The survey also found a relationship between frequency of AI use and reported documentation savings. Among all respondents using AI daily, 71 per cent reported reducing documentation time by at least 26 per cent, compared with 44 per cent of weekly users and 23 per cent of occasional users.
However, practitioners remained less convinced about AI’s clinical benefits. Across the international sample, 61.1 per cent agreed AI improved efficiency, compared with 34.3 per cent who believed it improved patient outcomes. Another 44.4 per cent were neutral on its impact on patient outcomes.
Australian respondents also raised concerns about AI-generated clinical documentation.
One Australian psychologist and practice owner told the survey that “AI documents conversations, not interventions”, raising questions about whether AI-generated notes adequately capture clinical reasoning.
Other Australian respondents raised concerns about potential skill erosion, confidentiality, informed consent and AI’s ability to deal with risk and professional obligations.
Clients bringing AI into consultations
The research also found AI was increasingly entering consultations through clients as well as practitioners.
Across the full survey, 70.2 per cent of respondents had encountered clients referencing AI-generated health information during consultations in the previous 12 months.
More than one-third had experienced a client challenging their clinical opinion using information from an AI tool, including 23.2 per cent who said this had happened rarely and 9.2 per cent who said it happened sometimes.
Zanda co-founder and psychologist Damien Adler said AI-generated information was increasingly becoming part of discussions between practitioners and their clients.
“An AI answer is becoming part of the conversation between clients and practitioners,” Mr Adler said.
“It can help someone put their concerns into words, but it can also create expectations that need careful discussion.
“Practitioners need to understand what clients have been told, help them assess it, and keep that conversation open.”
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