How AI Scribe Handles Different Field Types

AI Scribe interacts differently with each field type in your charting template. Understanding this behavior helps you build forms that produce accurate, predictable output.

For a full configuration reference — including Custom Instructions, placeholder text, and troubleshooting — see the AI Scribe Configuration Guide.

Field Type Quick Reference

Standard Fields

Standard fields start blank and are filled entirely from the session transcript. These include text, textarea, number, checkbox, radio button, and dropdown fields.

Scribe reads the field label to understand what content belongs here. If no relevant content was discussed in the session, the field is left blank.

Smart Fields

Smart fields pull values from the patient's profile (name, date of birth, medications, allergies, diagnoses, and others).

Supported smart fields:

Name, date of birth, medications, allergies, and diagnosis are fully supported. The field is pre-filled from the profile when the note loads, and Scribe can add to or update those values based on what was discussed in the session.

⚠️ Smart fields write back to the patient profile at lock time — not sign time. When a provider locks a note, any smart field value in that note — including ones Scribe has modified — is written back to the patient profile. Always review smart field values before locking.

Unsupported smart fields:

Referring provider, sex, gender, and address are not yet supported by Scribe.

⚠️ Unsupported smart fields go blank — not just unfilled. The pre-filled profile value does NOT carry into the Scribe note for these field types. Writing a Custom Instruction to fill them has no effect — the field is excluded before the AI runs. Use a Copy field instead if you need these values in your note.

Pre-fill Fields

When pre-fill is enabled on a charting template, the previous note's content is loaded into the new note as a starting point.

Scribe's behavior with pre-filled content:

• If the session transcript contradicts a pre-filled value, Scribe overrides it
• If the session includes new information for a field, Scribe appends it
• If the topic wasn't discussed, Scribe preserves the existing pre-filled value

Pattern recognition: Scribe detects patterns in pre-filled content (such as dated entries) and continues them.

Example — if a previous note contained:

[2026-01-15] Patient reported improved sleep patterns. [2026-01-08] Discussed sleep hygiene strategies.

Scribe will prepend a new dated entry and preserve the prior ones.

Copied Fields

Copied fields pull the most recent answer to a given question from any previous form the patient has completed.

Scribe's behavior:

• If the session explicitly discusses a change to the copied value, Scribe updates it
• If the topic wasn't discussed, Scribe preserves the existing copied value

Excluding a Field from Scribe

Any field can be excluded from Scribe using the "Exclude Field from Scribe" checkbox in the Form Builder.

When a field is excluded:

• It is hidden from the AI entirely — Scribe will not attempt to fill it
• Pre-filled or copied values in that field are preserved as-is
• The field continues to function normally for manual editing

Use this for:

• Administrative or billing fields that should never be auto-filled
• Consent or legal fields you want to keep fully manual
• Fields where Scribe consistently produces incorrect output
• Fields that are always pre-filled or carried over from the previous note

This is more reliable than writing "do not fill this field" in Custom Instructions. An excluded field is hidden from the AI entirely — not just instructed to skip it.

Fields Scribe Never Touches

Regardless of configuration, Scribe will never modify:

• Signature fields
• HIPAA consent fields
• Autoscored calculator fields

Precedence: When Multiple Field Types Interact

• If pre-fill is enabled and a previous note exists for that template, pre-fill is the primary source for that note's starting content. Copied field behavior is effectively superseded once a pre-fill history exists.
• If pre-fill is enabled but no previous note exists, copied fields can still populate from other forms the patient has completed.
• Smart fields operate independently — they pull from the patient profile regardless of pre-fill or copied field settings.

⚠️ Important: Modifying Form Templates After Notes Exist

Modifying a charting template after Scribe has already generated notes can cause fields to disappear from those existing notes.

Scribe-generated notes store a snapshot of the form at generation time, unlike manually created notes which reference the live template. If you delete a field from the template, that field will no longer display in previously generated Scribe notes — even though the data exists.

Workaround:

Convert Scribe-generated notes to chart notes before modifying the template. Once converted, the note references the live template and field data is preserved regardless of future template changes.