Headway’s AI note assistant, Scribe, captures what’s said in one-on-one Headway Telehealth sessions and uses the transcript to generate a progress note for you to review right after the session. Notes include clawback protection after you review, edit and update as needed, and sign.
Scribe and all of Headway’s AI-assisted notetaking features are included at no extra cost.
Want to see it in action? Walk through a step-by-step demo
How it works
Step 1: Join the Headway Telehealth session
- Visit your Calendar page
- Click on the session you want to join
- Click Join session
If you don’t have Headway Telehealth set up yet, you can add it to a session from your calendar by updating the session location in your Calendar page. To see more on setting up Headway Telehealth, visit our article: Headway Telehealth.
Step 2: Request client consent
Consent is a two-part process required in order to use AI transcription for notes. Once you obtain consent once per client.
You can request client consent in 2 ways:
- Via the AI transcription client consent form in your Form Library, or
- Live during a Headway Telehealth session.
Option 1
To send an AI transcription consent form, you can add it through your Forms library or Calendar:
Option 2
To enable AI transcription during the session, click the Transcribe pencil icon.
- When you initiate the request to transcribe, your client will see a pop-up asking for their consent.
- If your client does not consent, the transcription will not start, and an AI-generated note will not be created. The session will proceed as a normal telehealth call and you will be responsible for writing your progress note manually.
Note: AI-assisted notes and transcription are not mandatory. This is an optional feature that requires consent from both you and your client(s).
Once a client consents to AI transcription, you will see transcription automatically turned on in future sessions:
Step 3: During the session
Once consent is given, the session is securely transcribed in the background.
- You can see the status of transcription in the top left corner of a telehealth session.
- You can pause the transcription at any time during the session.
- If the call drops, you and your client can rejoin the call through the same link and the transcription will continue. You won’t need to click the pencil icon to start again.
Session eligibility and limitations
Scribe is available for one-on-one talk therapy sessions using Headway's telehealth offering (video sessions must be held through Headway Telehealth, not any other telehealth platform) only. It is not available for:
- Intake sessions: Scribe does not support AI-generated notes for intake sessions at this time.
- Group, family, and couples therapy sessions: Scribe is not available for sessions with multiple clients.
- In person sessions
- Psychiatric providers: Scribe is not available for psychiatric providers
- Non-English sessions
If you haven't used a Headway Telehealth note template before, some fields in your Scribe-powered note won't have AI-generated drafts. These fields rely on data from a prior template, so you'll need to complete them manually.
Data security and privacy
Scribe was designed alongside clinicians with privacy and security as a top priority. The entire process is managed in accordance with data privacy frameworks, including HIPAA.
- Scribe is not a third-party solution. It is developed by the Headway team.
- We partner with Anthropic and use their HIPAA-compliant models. We have a zero data retention policy with Anthropic, meaning your transcription is
- Not stored by Anthropic
- Not used to train any AI model
- Not sold or sent outside of Headway's HIPAA-compliant infrastructure
- No audio or recording is retained on Headway
- The session note will contain PHI from the session transcription. Aside from the content of that note, no patient PHI is retained from the transcription after approximately 30 days, unless required by law.
- Your session transcript is used to generate your draft note. After the note is created, a select group of Headway employees may review the transcription for accuracy. In the rare event we identify a quality concern during the course of our accuracy review, we will respond in accordance with applicable law and Headway’s policies. When this occurs, we may retain the transcription for more than 30 days.
What happens with your session transcript
- 1:1 talk therapy session is held, Headway Telehealth transcript recorded
During your Headway Telehealth session, audio is transcribed in real time to generate your AI-assisted note. The transcript is processed securely — we have a zero data retention policy with Anthropic, who we partner with. No audio or video recording is retained.
- Storage: Transcript enters Headway's secure system
The full transcript — including client names and session details — is stored in Headway's HIPAA-compliant infrastructure. Your progress note draft is generated and you review and edit the draft as needed before submitted. The transcript is stored for a 30 day accuracy review window, and may be kept longer as described below.
- Days 1-30: Headway reviews for accuracy
During this window, a small group of trained Headway employees may review transcripts against your submitted note to check transcript accuracy.
What that review looks like
- Checking that the transcript accurately reflects what was discussed compared to your submitted note
- Flagging any hallucinated or incorrect clinical details
In the rare event we identify a quality or safety concern during the course of our accuracy review, we will respond in accordance with applicable law and Headway’s policies. When this occurs, we may retain the transcription for more than 30 days.
- After 30 days: Full transcript is deleted or de-identified
You choose whether a de-identified version is retained.
- If you opt-in, de-identified transcripts are retained: If you've opted-in, a de-identified version with client PHI removed is retained to help improve Scribe and other Headway products and services.
- If you opt-out, de-identified transcripts are not retained: Your session transcript will be deleted. Your progress note will remain in the client's record.
You can opt out of de-identified transcript storage at any time in your Headway settings. Opting out means your full transcript is deleted after 30 days and no de-identified transcript is created — nothing is retained beyond your submitted note. You can still continue to use Scribe’s AI transcription to support your notetaking.
If you previously opted in and then decided to opt-out, transcripts generated after you opt-out will not be retained and not be de-identified.
- De-identification: What the de-identified version looks like
De-identified data is encrypted and handled in accordance with HIPAA and industry best practices. See an illustrative example below. Names and details are fabricated.
Before — identifiable data with PHI
Therapist (Dr. Rebecca Liu): Good to see you again, Sarah. How have things been since our last session on March 14th?
Patient (Kelsey Thompson): Honestly, rough. The breakup with Mike hit harder than I expected. I've been having a hard time sleeping, and work at the Brookline Wellesley office has been overwhelming.
Therapist (Dr. Rebecca Liu): I'm sorry to hear that. You mentioned last time that your mom, Diane, has been staying with you in your apartment on Beacon Street. Is that still helping?
Patient (Kelsey Thompson): A little. But she goes back to Tampa next week, and I'm worried about being alone. My birthday's coming up — I'll be 34 on April 2nd — and I don't really feel like celebrating.
After — de-identified data with PHI removed
[PROVIDER]: Good to see you again, [PATIENT]. How have things been since our last session?
[PATIENT]: Honestly, rough. The breakup with [PERSON] hit harder than I expected. I've been having a hard time sleeping, and work has been overwhelming.
[PROVIDER]: I'm sorry to hear that. You mentioned last time that your mom has been staying with you. Is that still helping?
[PATIENT]: A little. But she goes back to [LOCATION] next week, and I'm worried about being alone. My birthday's coming up — I'll be [AGE] on [DATE] — and I don't really feel like celebrating.
- Improving Headway products and services for providers like you
De-identified transcripts help Headway build better tools for your practice.
Example: what de-identified data helps us do
- More accurate notes — fine-tuning Scribe’s generated note drafts so they better reflect how you’d write your notes
- Fewer errors — catching and reducing hallucinated or incorrect clinical details
- Expanding Scribe’s capabilities — help enable Scribe to support with AI transcription for intake notes, couples therapy, group therapy, and more
- Smarter matching — understanding provider style to connect clients with the right fit
- Better tools — informing future features that support your clinical workflow like personalized session prep resources and session summaries
Expand each question below for answers regarding transcripts.
A transcript is used to create your session draft and is then stored for 30 days, during which a select group of Headway employees may review the transcription for accuracy. In the rare event we identify a quality concern during the course of our accuracy review, we will respond in accordance with applicable law and Headway’s policies. If this occurs, we may retain the transcription for more than 30 days.
Headway may store a de-identified version — with PHI removed — beyond that 30-day window to help us continue improving Scribe and other Headway products and offerings, like more personalized session prep resources and better provider-patient matching. Transcripts are stored in Headway’s secure environment in accordance with HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices. Providers can opt out at any time in settings and continue to use Scribe as usual.
If you opt out of de-identified transcripts, we will not store any future transcripts from your sessions, and any prior transcripts tied to you will also be deleted.
De-identified means that client PHI, such as names, locations, and other identifying details are removed as required by HIPAA.
De-identified session transcripts may be used for Headway product and services improvement and innovation purposes. No data will be sold to any third-parties. Providers are able to opt-out of storing de-identified transcripts at any time.
Some examples on how we’d use the data are to continuously improve Scribe’s accuracy and output and other Headway products and services, like more personalized session prep resources and better provider-patient matching.
Reviewing and signing notes
Draft generation
Once you leave the session, you’ll see a page that confirms the transcript is being processed. You can close out of this page.
Immediately after the session ends, Scribe will securely process the transcript and automatically draft a progress note. Typically, this takes a few minutes or less.
To view the draft, go to your Calendar and click into the session to view the Status. The Status will change from Generating note to Ready to confirm.
Edit and sign
Once the status changes to Ready to confirm, open the progress note draft from the session details in your calendar by clicking View generated session note.
You’re required to review and make any necessary edits to ensure the progress note is accurate and reflects your clinical judgment. Once reviewed, sign and submit the completed note.
Revoking consent
Clients can revoke consent at any time in their Settings. If a client revokes consent mid-session, you will not see a generated note after the session ends.
For future sessions, you'll need to request client consent again to use the Scribe feature.
Talking to your clients about AI transcription and transcript storage
When you use Scribe's AI transcription, your client will be asked to consent before any transcription begins. Here's what to share with your clients to help the conversation.
What your client will see
When you turn on AI transcription for a client for the first time, Headway prompts your client to consent before the session begins. Your client will see a clear explanation that:
- You'd like to use AI transcription to support your notetaking for the session
- Audio will be transcribed in real time — no audio or video is ever recorded or stored
- The transcript will be used to generate an AI-assisted progress note draft for you to review, edit, and sign
- They can decline, and transcription will remain off
Once the session starts, both you and your client will see an on-screen indicator showing whether transcription is on or off, so there's no ambiguity during the session.
After your client consents once, they won't be asked again for future sessions with you. If the same client sees a different provider on Headway, that provider would need to request consent separately.
What to tell your clients
Your clients may have questions about what happens with their session transcript data. Here's a straightforward way to explain it:
- No audio or video is ever recorded or stored. Headway transcribes audio in real time during the session, but the recording itself is never saved.
- The transcript is used to generate your progress note draft. After the session, Headway uses the transcript to create an AI-assisted note for the provider to review, edit, and sign.
- Headway has a zero data retention policy with its AI partner, Anthropic. The AI model that processes the transcript does not retain any session data.
- The full transcript is deleted after 30 days. During that 30-day window, a small group of trained Headway employees may review transcripts against your submitted note to check for accuracy.*
*If we identify a quality concern during our review, we may retain the transcription beyond 30 days in accordance with applicable law and Headway's policies.
Sample script:
Before we start, I'd like to turn on AI transcription for our session — Headway will ask you to consent before it begins, and you can say no or turn it off at any time. It’s completely optional.
If you consent, the session audio is transcribed in real time to help me write my progress notes, but no audio or video is recorded or stored.
The transcript is kept securely for up to 30 days so Headway can check for accuracy, then it's deleted.
I can choose whether a de-identified version — with your name and personal details removed — is kept to help improve the tool, and I can change that choice anytime.
You're only asked to consent once with me, and your care isn't affected either way.