Preve vs PatientNotes: Which is best for physiotherapists?

Many physiotherapists are already familiar with PatientNotes. It is an AI scribe tailored for allied health and medical professionals, designed to quickly generate notes, letters and summaries.

Preve takes a broader view. It uses scribing as the foundation to capture rich patient context, then builds on that with tools that enhance both the physio and the patient experience.

Here is how they compare.

1. Core Purpose and Design

• PatientNotes is focused on helping clinicians write clear and accurate documentation. It is well suited to allied health professionals who want to create notes, reports and letters with minimal effort.

• Preve is built by physiotherapists, for physiotherapists. It goes further than documentation by linking every note to the patient’s wider rehab journey, making it easier to manage continuity and drive outcomes.

Takeaway: PatientNotes is a strong choice if documentation is your main challenge. Preve is better if you want a tool that fits into the entire physiotherapy process.

2. Session Memory and Continuity

• PatientNotes produces excellent notes, but each consult stands alone. It does not automatically feed context from one session into the next.

• Preve not only writes notes but also remembers previous sessions. This continuity is carried forward into checklists, treatment plans and future appointments.

Takeaway: For physios who work across months of rehab, Preve’s memory is an advantage.

3. Templates and Document Types

• PatientNotes provides templates and formats suited to allied health. This includes referral letters, discharge summaries and standardised notes.

• Preve offers pre-set templates specific to physiotherapy specialties such as MSK, women’s health, hand therapy and respiratory care. These are ready to use immediately without setup.

Takeaway: PatientNotes is flexible across professions, while Preve delivers instant structures optimised for physiotherapists.

4. Pre-Session Insight

• PatientNotes does not offer an AI clinical assistant.

• Preve has an AI assistant feature that prepares the physio before each session with a pre-session checklist. This pulls key details from the patient’s past sessions, so you walk in ready to go.

Takeaway: Preve uses prior session context to surface useful content that preps the physio before the patient even arrives.

5. Patient Experience and Engagement

• PatientNotes is mainly a clinician tool. While it produces clean summaries, it does not provide a dedicated patient-facing system.

• Preve builds on its scribe by creating a patient-accessible treatment plan that includes:

  • Plain language diagnosis and contributing factors

  • Personalised goals

  • Exercise prescriptions

  • Outcome measures

  • Recovery milestones and timelines

  • Appointment schedule

  • Historical appointment summaries

  These plans are delivered via a patient portal, helping patients stay engaged between appointments.

Takeaway: PatientNotes improves efficiency for physios. Preve improves efficiency and keeps patients accountable, which leads to better adherence and fewer cancellations.

6. PMS Integration

• PatientNotes integrates with Cliniko and Nookal, allowing you to view appointments and save notes back to your PMS.

• Preve also integrates with Cliniko and Nookal. Preve also pulls historical patient context into the platform, meaning your past notes in Cliniko are considered in future sessions on Preve, creating greater continuity of care.

Takeaway: Both tools can link with Cliniko and Nookal, with Preve’s integrations running deeper in order to utilise past patient insights.

7. Time Saved vs Outcomes Driven

• PatientNotes is an excellent way to reduce documentation time, giving physios more hours back in their week.

• Preve not only reduces admin but also improves patient adherence, engagement and outcomes through its structured plans and continuity features.

Takeaway: PatientNotes is a time saver. Preve is a time saver that also drives better results.

Final Verdict

PatientNotes is a strong, allied health–friendly scribe. It works well if your main need is accurate notes, reports and letters across multiple professions.

Preve is not just a scribe. It is a physiotherapy-specific platform that uses scribing as a starting point to deliver context, continuity and patient engagement. It remembers your patient’s journey, prepares you for every session, and keeps patients connected to their rehab through a dedicated portal.

For physiotherapists, that means Preve is not only cutting down on paperwork, it is reshaping the way you and your patients experience rehab.

Quick Comparison Table