How AI Scribe Handles Different Field Types

AI Scribe analyzes your session transcript and populates your charting template field by field. However, not every field behaves the same way, depending on how a field was built (Smart Field, Pre-fill, Copied Field, Diagnosis, CPT) and whether you've applied any Scribe-specific settings, the outcome can vary. 

This guide explains what to expect for each field type, and how form-level custom instructions and the "Exclude Field from Scribe" setting interact with them (Coming Soon).

Quick Reference

Standard Fields

AI Scribe reads your field label as its primary instruction. It uses the label to determine what content from the transcript belongs in that field. Clear, descriptive labels produce better results than vague ones.

Example: A field labeled "Subjective — patient-reported concerns discussed today" gives Scribe much more to work with than one labeled "Notes."

Smart Fields

Smart Fields are special fields in Healthie that auto-populate from a client's intake form responses into charting templates — things like name, date of birth, referring provider, medications, allergies, and insurance information.

With AI Scribe:

Only some Smart Fields will populate during a Scribe run. When a Smart Field isn't populated, there are a few possible reasons:

• Not yet enabled for Scribe — some Smart Field types haven't been wired up for Scribe yet, in some cases due to the sensitive nature of the data they contain, and in others for reasons still being investigated (referring provider is a known example).
• Prompt interpretation — Scribe may misread its own instructions and incorrectly skip a field it should have filled.
• Inaccurate output — in rare cases, Scribe may populate a Smart Field with the wrong value.

Recommendation: Treat Smart Field population by Scribe as best-effort for now. If a specific Smart Field is consistently not populating or populating incorrectly, reach out to Healthie support — the behavior of individual field types is actively being expanded and improved.

Pre-fill Fields

Pre-fill pulls content forward from the most recent prior chart note using the same template for that client.

With AI Scribe:

Scribe will update a pre-fill field if the session transcript contains new, relevant information for that field. If the topic wasn't discussed in the session, Scribe leaves the pre-filled content in place.

What this means in practice:

A pre-fill field that carried forward content from a prior note will be handled by Scribe in one of three ways depending on what happened in the session:

• Override — if the transcript contains updated information that contradicts the existing content, Scribe will replace it.
• Append — for free text fields, if the transcript adds new information without contradicting what's already there, Scribe will add to the existing content rather than overwrite it.
• Preserve — if the transcript contains nothing relevant to that field, the pre-filled value is left exactly as-is.

Note: If a field has both pre-fill and a copied field configured, pre-fill takes priority and will pull from the most recent chart note using the same template.

Copied Fields

Copied Fields reuse a response from another form — typically pulling an intake form answer into a charting note. They pull from the most recently completed form containing that field.

With AI Scribe:

Similar to pre-fill — Scribe will update a copied field only if the new session explicitly discussed content relevant to that field. If the topic wasn't covered, the previously copied value is preserved.

Note: This behavior is still being actively tested. If you observe unexpected results with copied fields and Scribe, please reach out to Healthie Support. 

Diagnosis Fields

Diagnosis fields integrate with the client's profile and support ICD-10 code documentation.

With AI Scribe:

If a diagnosis is documented in the session, Scribe will auto-populate the diagnosis field. Importantly, Scribe adds to existing diagnosis entries rather than replacing them — so if a client has existing diagnoses and a new one is discussed, Scribe will add it alongside the existing ones.

Important limitation:

Scribe can only populate as many diagnosis entries as there are available placeholder fields in your template. If your form has two diagnosis fields and three diagnoses are discussed, the third will not be captured. Make sure your template includes enough diagnosis placeholders for your typical caseload.

Note: The specifics of how Scribe selects and assigns diagnosis codes are still being reviewed. Reach out to Healthie Support if you have questions about code selection accuracy.

CPT Fields

The behavior of CPT fields with AI Scribe is not yet fully confirmed. If CPT code population is important to your workflow, contact Healthie Support to discuss current capabilities and any manual steps that may be needed.

Controlling How Scribe Interacts with Specific Fields

Beyond how field types behave by default, you have two tools to customize Scribe's behavior: form-level custom instructions and field-level exclusion.

Form-Level Custom Instructions (Coming Soon)

You can add custom instructions at the charting form template level that apply to the entire Scribe-generated note. This is the right place to set preferences that span all fields — things like tone, level of detail, writing style, note structure, or specialty-specific documentation standards.

Where to find it:

In the Form Builder, look for the Scribe Instructions panel near the top of your charting form template (this feature is enabled by your organization).

What it does:

These instructions are included in the prompt sent to the AI with every Scribe run on that template. They're also recorded on the AI Scribe request for your records.

When to use it vs. field-level instructions:

Form-level instructions are for general preferences that should apply across the whole note. If you need Scribe to handle one specific field differently — format, focus, content rules — use field-level instructions (set in the Edit Field modal) instead.

When to use it vs. field-level instructions:

Form-level instructions are for general preferences that should apply across the whole note. You can also reference a specific field by name directly within your form-level instructions to guide how Scribe handles it — this is a supported approach.

Additionally, field-level instructions (set per field in the Edit Field modal) are coming soon and will give you a more targeted way to control individual fields. Note that instructions set in different places each carry a different degree of influence on the AI, though the specifics of that weighting are still being documented.

When field-level instructions are available, we'll update this guide with recommended patterns for combining them with form-level instructions.

Exclude Field from Scribe

For fields that should never be touched by Scribe — regardless of what was said in the session — you can mark them with "Exclude Field from Scribe" in the Edit Field modal.

This is available on Charting forms only. It does not appear on Intake or Program forms.

How it works:

When this is enabled, the field is completely removed from the data sent to the AI. Scribe has no knowledge the field exists. After Scribe generates its response, the original field value is reinjected exactly as it was. The field appears in the Generated Chart Note with a visual indicator showing it was intentionally excluded — so you know at a glance that it wasn't missed, it was skipped on purpose.

This is a hard guarantee, not a soft instruction. Telling Scribe to "ignore" a field via prompt instructions is probabilistic — the AI may still modify it. The Exclude setting removes the field from Scribe's view entirely, so there is no possibility of accidental modification.

When to use it:

• Fields that contain sensitive or legally significant values that must remain exactly as entered
• Fields managed by another workflow or integration that Scribe should never overwrite
• Fields where any AI modification — even a minor one — would cause downstream problems

How to enable it: Open the Form Builder, select your charting form, click Edit on the field you want to protect, and check "Exclude Field from Scribe." Save the field. The setting persists and can be toggled at any time by anyone with Form Editor permissions.

Summary: Custom Instructions vs. Exclusion

Best Practices

• Label fields clearly. Scribe uses field labels as its primary signal. Ambiguous labels lead to misplaced content.
• Limit template size. Forms with 50+ fields can lead to incomplete or inaccurate Scribe output. Consider whether every field needs to be on the same template.
• Use Exclude for certainty, not convenience. If you just want Scribe to handle a field differently, field-level instructions are the better tool. Reserve Exclude for fields where modification is genuinely not acceptable.
• Review pre-fill and copied fields after Scribe runs. Because these fields carry forward prior values, it's worth reviewing them to confirm whether Scribe updated them as expected or left them unchanged.
• Add enough diagnosis placeholders. If your sessions frequently involve multiple diagnoses, make sure your template has enough diagnosis fields to capture them all.