About Headway
How Headway is reimagining session notes with Scribe
Save hours each week, and protect your peace of mind, with a smart, secure note-taking tool designed for compliant insurance-based care.
August 22, 2025 • Updated on September 29, 2026
By the Headway Editorial Team • Clinically reviewed by the Headway Clinical Team
12 min read
By the Headway Editorial Team • Clinically reviewed by the Headway Clinical Team
If you've ever spent your off hours catching up on progress notes, you know the toll documentation can take. It's one of the most necessary (and most exhausting) parts of running an insurance-based practice. Accurate, compliant, and detailed notes are critical for meeting legal requirements, protecting against audits, and ensuring continuity of care. But they often creep into evenings, weekends, and the short breaks between sessions.
That's why Headway's free EHR for therapists now includes Scribe — a note-taking assistant built for insurance ease. Scribe doesn't replace your expertise. It handles the repetitive, administrative parts of documentation so you can focus on care, and it drafts directly into Headway's clawback-protected templates.
What to look for in session notes tools
With AI exploding in popularity, the market is filled with writing and transcription tools. But as a mental care provider, you can’t use any old product. You have to make sure your solution meets certain standards, including:
- HIPAA compliance: Since your notes will include PHI, it’s vital that your AI assistant is fully HIPAA-compliant. To meet that standard, Scribe lives within Headway’s HIPAA-compliant infrastructure. Transcripts are deleted or de-identified after about 30 days.
- EHR integration: You’re using an AI tool to save time, so make sure it works with your existing tech to avoid duplicating efforts. Scribe fully integrates with Headway’s EHR, flowing directly into our compliant documentation templates.
- Clinical accuracy: A note is only useful if it’s accurate. Scribe was built by and for therapists, so you can trust it to meet the highest standards around clinical accuracy.
- Insurance compliance:Whether you or your AI assistant writes a note, it still needs to meet insurance standards. Because Scribe integrates with Headway’s existing compliant documentation templates, you never have to worry. And, as always, Headway notes are clawback-protected for your peace of mind.
Scribe: A note-taking tool designed for what’s at stake
You don’t have to settle for generic templates that leave you to interpret insurance standards yourself, adding stress and time to your day spent writing notes. We built Scribe to do the opposite: to save you time, safeguard your work, and support your care.
Scribe works in two key ways:
- Notes from a transcript. Use Headway Telehealth for your virtual therapy sessions, and Scribe drafts a detailed note directly from the transcript. Available for one-on-one talk therapy sessions. Transcription is available in English and Spanish, and you can use it for intake sessions and progress notes alike. (At this time, Scribe is not yet available for couples therapy, group therapy, or medication management.)
- Notes from your summary. Write a brief session summary, and Scribe generates a full clinical note in your Headway template.
Both paths land in the same Headway template, so the structure stays consistent no matter which one you choose.
How Scribe works
Scribe was built to fit seamlessly into your existing workflow — so it always saves time rather than adding something new to your already-full plate. Here’s exactly how it works.
Step 1: Get one-time client consent
If you plan to use Scribe’s transcription feature, you’ll need to use Headway Telehealth, and you'll have to get your client’s permission first. You can do this in one of two ways:
- Send your client the AI transcription client consent form found in Headway’s form library.
- Start transcription during a telehealth session, then guide your client to accept the consent pop-up. (If they don’t, no worries — the session will continue as normal, without transcription.)
If you’re looking for support bringing up transcription with your clients, head down to the “How to talk to your client about AI” section.
Step 2: Conduct your session
Next, you conduct your session exactly as you normally would. If you’ve elected to use Scribe’s transcription feature, it will run in the background, capturing all the necessary information to write a thorough note.
Step 3: Scribe drafts
You have a choice. You can either:
- Turn on the transcription feature at the beginning of a session, so Scribe can automatically produce a note from information in the transcript, or
- Write a short session summary yourself, then leave it to Scribe to turn it into a full note.
Either method generates a thorough, built-for-compliance note in seconds.
Step 4: You review
We pride ourselves on Scribe’s accuracy and clinical rigor, but it’s still important to carefully review each note. Look out for errors or typos, and make sure the overall note aligns with your clinical judgment. Once you’re satisfied, we’ll submit the claim immediately for payment.
Step 5: Headway streamlines billing
Once your note is submitted, your job is done. As part of Headway’s wider package of billing support benefits, we guarantee competitive bi-weekly payments, offer clawback protection, and cover the costs of any audits or denials that arise from using a Headway template — including those filled in by Scribe.
Your sessions stay private — and in your control
You’re in the driver’s seat of your practice — and you can think of this tool as a dashboard feature helping you navigate. Because Scribe is an opt-in feature, you and each of your clients can decide if and how to use it.
- One-time client consent is required before transcription can begin, via your forms library or an in-session prompt. Clients can revoke their permission at any time from their own settings. You turn on Scribe client by client, and you can pause mid-session.
- Your clinical review is the final step. Scribe drafts; you confirm.
- Use it on your terms. Some providers rely on Scribe daily; others turn it on only for certain session types or skip it altogether. The tool is flexible, built to support your workflow — not dictate it.
- Video is not recorded. No video is ever saved. Audio is only retained until the transcript is created, and the transcript (not a recording) is what Scribe works from.
- The transcript is temporary. The full transcript is kept for about 30 days, and access is restricted to a small group of trained Headway employees who can check the draft against it for accuracy.
- Your sessions never train outside AI models. Scribe is built in-house, not a third-party wrapper. It runs on Anthropic's HIPAA-compliant models under a zero-data-retention agreement: your transcript isn't stored there and isn't used to train their models. Headway is HIPAA-compliant and SOC 2 certified.
Practice in-network with confidence
Simplify insurance and save time on your entire workflow — from compliance and billing to credentialing and admin.
Designed with clawback protection in mind
Most clawbacks trace back to documentation that doesn't match what insurance companies expect to see. Headway's note templates are built around payer audit criteria, including medical necessity, time, interventions, response, and treatment plan. Scribe drafts into those same templates, so the documentation that goes out the door is structured for insurance compliance from the start.
Combined with your judgment as the final step, that's clawback protection by design, not an afterthought.
What other providers are seeing
Scribe has had a positive impact on mental health providers and their caseloads:
- Cut documentation time in half with notes from transcript
- 4 million+ notes submitted with Scribe to date
- $500/year saved on third-party tooling by running everything in one EHR
"The quality is incredible… I barely had to do any editing at all. With Scribe, less than 5 minutes per note." — Leah Drizin, LMHC
No upsell, no paywall
Many EHRs put AI notetaking behind a paywall. Scribe is included with Headway's EHR at no extra cost, so faster, payer-ready documentation isn't a premium add-on. It's how Headway works.
Ready to try it?
Headway providers can take our Headway Academy course to learn how to use AI notes and access Scribe from your provider portal.
Built with the providers who use it
We built Scribe in collaboration with the people who know documentation best: therapists, psychiatric care providers, and insurance experts. Every template, safeguard, and shortcut reflects real feedback from providers in the field.
And we’re not done. Your input shapes what comes next, from treatment plan support to note customization. We’ll keep listening, so the tools we build evolve with the realities of your practice.
How to talk to your client about AI
Before you use Scribe, you’ll need consent from your patient. Here’s a few tips on how to offer that conversation.
1. Before using AI-assisted notes, explain what the tool does, how information is handled, and why participation is optional.
- Example: “I’d like to use a tool that helps draft my notes from a written transcript of our conversation. I review and approve the note afterward. Would you like to talk through how it works before deciding?”
2. Address privacy directly: Patients may want specifics, not just reassurance. Be sure to brush up on how Scribe keeps sessions private, and in you and your patient’s control. Refer to Scribe’s privacy and consent guidance for more detail.
- Example: “It’s reasonable to have questions about where that information goes. Headway doesn’t keep a video recording, but it temporarily stores the written transcript, and authorized staff may review it for accuracy. Is there anything else you’re concerned about?”
3. Leave the decision with your patient: Explain that they can decline, turn off transcription in their own Settings, or pause the transcription at any time mid-session – without affecting their care. They’ll see a modal in-session that they can decline, or accept.
- Example: “You’ll see a request on your screen where you can accept or decline. It’s entirely your choice, and saying no won’t change your care. If you agree now and change your mind later, we can pause or stop transcription at any point.”
Session notes FAQs
Is AI note-taking HIPAA compliant?
Scribe was built with HIPAA-compliance at its core — but we can’t promise the same of other tools on the market. Before using an outside AI note-taking assistant, make sure it meets all HIPAA requirements.
Do I need client consent to use AI for session notes?
Yes, you need client consent before using AI transcription. When using Scribe, you can get permission during a telehealth session or send a consent form in advance.
Can AI-generated notes be used for insurance billing?
Yes, and Scribe notes are drafted into Headway’s insurance-compliant templates.
What's the difference between ambient AI notes and summary-based AI notes?
An ambient note-taker “listens in” on your session (with client consent!), then drafts a note automatically. Summary-based notes, meanwhile, turn information you’ve provided into a full note. With Scribe, you can use either method.
Who is responsible if an AI-generated note has an error?
Ultimate responsibility always rests with the provider. That’s why it’s so important to carefully review each note before signing and submitting it.
Does Scribe record my therapy sessions?
Audio is recorded to create the transcript – once the transcript has finished processing, the audio is deleted. Only the transcript is used to draft your note.
What happens to the transcript after my note is written?
The full transcript is held in Headway's secure environment for about 30 days so a small group of trained Headway employees can review it for accuracy. Only your signed note becomes part of the client's record.
Does my session data train AI models?
Nothing goes to an outside company to train on. Headway's model partner, Anthropic, operates under a zero-data-retention agreement. Headway uses only de-identified transcripts, only from providers with that setting on, and only to improve its own products.
Does using AI for notes affect clawbacks?
Not at Headway. Scribe drafts within our existing compliant documentation templates, meaning we guarantee clawback protection and financial coverage in the event of audits or denials.
Take back time and stay protected
Documentation will always be part of running an insurance-based practice, but it doesn’t have to drain you. With Scribe, you can capture your sessions quickly, keep your documentation payer-ready, and protect your time.
Whether you use it every day or only when you need an extra hand, our goal is the same: to help you spend less energy on paperwork, and to free you up for the work that matters most: supporting your clients.
Try Scribe for free
No cost, no commitment, just tools to make documentation easier.
This content is for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute clinical, legal, financial, or professional advice. All decisions should be made at the discretion of the individual or organization, in consultation with qualified clinical, legal, or other appropriate professionals.
© 2026 Therapymatch, Inc. dba Headway. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission.
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