AI Scribe for Family Medicine
Document the full lifespan in one workflow — newborn well-child checks, kindergarten physicals, teen mental health screens, adult chronic disease, and Medicare AWVs. Bright Futures templates, age-aware preventive coding, and adolescent confidentiality built in.

Documentation for the Whole Family
Six visit types that cover the bulk of a family medicine schedule, from kindergarten checks to end-of-life conversations.
Well-Child Visit
AAP Bright Futures-aligned templates from newborn through age 21 with growth percentiles, developmental milestones, and immunization tracking.
Adult Annual Physical
Comprehensive preventive visits (99396/99397) with USPSTF screening, lifestyle counseling, and vaccine status.
Geriatric Care
Mini-Cog, MoCA, fall risk, polypharmacy review, advance care planning, and Medicare AWV (G0438/G0439).
Sports / Camp Physical
Pre-participation evaluation forms with cardiovascular screen, MSK exam, clearance language, and Z02.5 coding.
Mental Health Screening
PHQ-9, GAD-7, HEEADSSS for adolescents, SBIRT for substance use — captured in age-appropriate confidential sections.
Pre-conception Counseling
Folic acid, vaccination status, chronic disease optimization, genetic risk, and reproductive life planning documentation.
Family-Medicine-Specific Features
The differences that matter when the same provider sees a 6-month-old, a 16-year-old, and a 76-year-old in the same morning
Bright Futures Templates
Age-banded well-child templates that match the AAP Bright Futures periodicity schedule, including age-specific anticipatory guidance and surveillance items required for billing.
Growth & Developmental Tracking
Captures weight, length, head circumference, BMI percentiles, and developmental milestones (M-CHAT-R, ASQ-3) in structured fields that carry forward visit to visit.
Adolescent Confidentiality
Separate confidential and shared sections for adolescent visits so HEEADSSS findings, contraception, and mental health remain visible only to the provider, with parents seeing the appropriate summary.
Multi-Generational Family Charts
Recognizes related family members ("his mother, who you saw on Tuesday") and keeps charts cleanly separated while letting you cross-reference family history.
Geriatric Cognitive Screening
Captures Mini-Cog and MoCA scores with prior-visit comparison, documents fall risk per CDC STEADI, and structures advance care planning conversations to support 99497/99498 billing.
Vaccine & Schedule Awareness
Flags missing vaccines per the current CDC schedule (pediatric, adolescent, adult, and senior), suggests catch-up plans, and structures the encounter for clean 90460/90461/90471/90472 billing.
Three generations before lunch
Last reviewed by the PatientNotes Clinical Team — April 2026
Family medicine is the only specialty where you might see a 4-week-old for a newborn check, the baby's 16-year-old sister for a sports physical and a confidential mental health screen, and their 78-year-old grandfather for an Annual Wellness Visit — all on the same morning, all in the same family chart. That breadth is the hardest thing for general-purpose ambient scribes to handle. Most tools were built for an adult internist with the same SOAP template all day long; for family medicine, that means age-inappropriate templates, missed pediatric milestones, and well-child notes that read like adult SOAPs with the words “baby” sprinkled in.
PatientNotes was built differently. When you open the visit, the patient's age and visit type determine the documentation framework. A 4-month-old well-child encounter loads the AAP Bright Futures 4-month template — head circumference percentile, gross motor milestones (rolls front to back), social milestones (laughs, smiles socially), 4-month vaccines (DTaP/IPV/Hib/PCV/Rotavirus). A 14-year-old annual visit loads the adolescent template with HEEADSSS framing (Home, Education, Eating, Activities, Drugs, Sexuality, Suicide/depression) in the confidential section, with the parent-visible summary kept separate. A 78-year-old AWV loads the G0439 template with the cognitive screen, fall risk, and advance care planning fields.
The shared problem list is the second piece. When grandfather is on metformin, lisinopril, and atorvastatin and the granddaughter comes in with new-onset polyuria, the AI surfaces “Family Hx T2DM in maternal grandfather” in her chart automatically — because the relationship is in the family graph and the grandfather's problem list is up to date. That is a small thing on any single visit; over a 25-patient day across three generations it is the difference between leaving clinic at 4:30 and leaving at 7:30.
Sample AI-Generated Family Medicine Note
A 4-year well-child check and kindergarten physical — Bright Futures-aligned, vaccine-billing ready
CHIEF COMPLAINT: 4-year well-child check; kindergarten readiness physical.
SUBJECTIVE:
4-year-old female accompanied by mother for routine well-child visit and
kindergarten entry physical. Mother reports no concerns. Child has been
well — no recent fever, vomiting, diarrhea, or sick contacts. Sleep:
9-10 hours/night, no parasomnias. Appetite normal; eats most fruits and
vegetables; 2-3 cups whole milk per day. Toilet trained day and night
since age 3. Speaks in 5-6 word sentences, telling stories, knows colors
and counts to 20. Plays well with siblings; attends preschool 3
half-days/week with no behavioral concerns. Helmet worn for biking.
Booster seat in car, rear seat. No firearms in home. Smoke detectors
working. No tobacco exposure.
Diet recall (24h): cereal + whole milk; PB&J + apple slices + milk;
chicken + rice + broccoli + water. Brushing teeth 2x daily, last dental
visit 4 months ago.
Screen time: 1 hour/day, mostly co-viewed.
Family history: Father with seasonal allergies; maternal grandmother T2DM.
OBJECTIVE:
Vitals: T 98.6 F, HR 96, RR 22, BP 92/58 (manual, R arm)
Weight: 16.8 kg (50th %ile)
Height: 102 cm (45th %ile)
BMI: 16.1 (60th %ile, healthy)
Vision (LEA chart): 20/30 OD, 20/30 OS
Hearing (audiometry screen): Passed bilaterally at 1, 2, 4 kHz / 25 dB
General: Well-appearing, cooperative, age-appropriate behavior
HEENT: AFOSF n/a (closed); PERRL, EOMI, TMs pearly bilaterally with
sharp light reflex; nares patent; OP clear; teeth without caries
Neck: Supple, no LAD, no thyromegaly
CV: RRR, no murmur, femoral pulses 2+ symmetric
Pulm: CTAB, no wheeze
Abdomen: Soft, NT, ND, no HSM, no masses
GU: Tanner 1, normal external female anatomy
MSK: Full ROM all extremities, gait stable, hops on each foot
Skin: No concerning lesions, no bruising in unusual locations
Neuro: CN II-XII grossly intact; balances on 1 foot 5 sec; copies a cross
Developmental surveillance (Bright Futures 4-year):
- Motor: Hops, balances on 1 foot, draws cross — appropriate
- Language: 5-6 word sentences, tells stories — appropriate
- Cognitive: Counts to 20, knows colors — appropriate
- Social: Cooperative play, follows multi-step directions — appropriate
- M-CHAT-R: not indicated (age >36 mo); no autism concerns
ASSESSMENT:
1. Well 4-year-old female — kindergarten ready (Z00.129)
2. Mild myopia — vision 20/30 — recheck at 5-year visit; ophthalmology
referral if persists or worsens
3. Up-to-date immunizations except pending DTaP #5, IPV #4, MMR #2,
Varicella #2 (4-6 year boosters due today)
4. Healthy weight, healthy diet
5. Anticipatory guidance: home/car safety, screen time, dental,
reading aloud, kindergarten transition
PLAN:
1. Vaccines administered today: DTaP #5, IPV #4, MMR #2, Varicella #2
(each in separate sites; informed consent obtained from mother;
VIS sheets provided). Tylenol info reviewed for fever.
2. Vision: Recheck at 5-year well-child; ophtho referral if 20/30 or
worse persists.
3. Dental: Continue 6-month visits; fluoride varnish applied today.
4. Anticipatory guidance reviewed: reading 20 min/day, family meals,
1 hour active play daily, 8-13 hours sleep, screen time <1 hr/day.
5. Kindergarten form completed and given to mother.
6. Return for 5-year well-child or sooner for concerns.
CPT: 99392 (well-child, established, age 1-4)
90460 x4 + 90461 x4 (vaccine administration with counseling)
90700 (DTaP), 90713 (IPV), 90707 (MMR), 90716 (Varicella)
99173 (visual acuity screen), 92551 (audiometry screen)
ICD-10: Z00.129, Z23Common Family Medicine ICD-10 Codes
The eight Z-codes and disease codes that account for the majority of family medicine encounters
Z00.121Encounter for routine child health exam with abnormal findingsZ00.129Encounter for routine child health exam without abnormal findingsZ00.6Encounter for exam for normal comparison/control in clinical researchZ02.5Encounter for examination for participation in sportZ76.89Persons encountering health services in other specified circumstancesF41.9Anxiety disorder, unspecifiedJ06.9Acute upper respiratory infection, unspecifiedE11.9Type 2 diabetes mellitus without complicationsThe AI suggests age-appropriate Z-codes (Z00.121, Z00.129) automatically for well-child visits and switches to Z00.00/Z00.01 for adult preventive visits. CPT suggestions (99391-99397, G0438/G0439, 99213-99215, 99173, 90460/90461) appear in the same review panel.
Three family practices, three setups
How solo, FQHC, and hospital-employed family physicians use PatientNotes day-to-day
Dr. Megan O’Sullivan, MD
Solo rural family practice, Vermont
Megan is the only family physician for a 30-mile radius. Her panel is roughly 30% kids, 50% adults, and 20% Medicare. She switched from Freed.ai because the well-child Bright Futures templates and Medicare AWV templates lived in the same product — Freed treated everything as adult SOAP. With PatientNotes she finishes well-child notes between patients and bills 99392 cleanly with vaccine administration codes attached.
Dr. James Liu, DO
5-physician FQHC, Oakland CA
James is medical director at a federally qualified health center serving a 60% Spanish-speaking community. The team adopted PatientNotes after a 4-week pilot. The Spanish patient-instruction generation, shared problem lists across providers, and adolescent confidentiality controls were the deciding factors. Group billing for sports physical season alone (200+ exams in August) was three days of work; with PatientNotes it became one afternoon.
Dr. Priya Iyer, MD
Hospital-employed family physician, Sutter Health, Sacramento
Priya sees three generations of families on Epic. Sutter does not allow direct EHR write-back yet, but the copy-paste workflow saves her 90 minutes per day. She uses templates for sports physicals (200+ each spring), Medicare AWVs for her 65+ panel, and Bright Futures for the kids. Her chart-close time dropped from a 22-hour median to under 4 hours.
Coming from Microsoft Dragon Medical One?
Family medicine has the highest rate of Dragon usage in primary care. Here is the honest comparison.
Dragon Medical One (Microsoft, via the Nuance acquisition) is a mature dictation platform — you talk after the visit, it types into your EHR. Many family physicians who have used it for 5-15 years have built rich custom vocabularies and macros and reasonably wonder whether throwing that away for an ambient scribe is worth it. The honest answer: for some workflows it absolutely is, for others it is not.
Dragon Medical One
- Type: Dictation, post-visit
- Cost: $99-199/user/month + setup
- Pediatric templates: Custom macros only
- Adolescent confidentiality: No native handling
- Best for: Heavy macro users, EHR text-field workflows
PatientNotes (Ambient)
- Type: Ambient, in-visit
- Cost: $50/user/month, no setup
- Pediatric templates: AAP Bright Futures built in
- Adolescent confidentiality: Native split sections
- Best for: Family physicians who want to stop dictating altogether
How to switch in three steps
- Run them in parallel for one week. Most family physicians find the ambient capture catches pertinent negatives that get dropped during dictation (because the patient mentioned them but you did not say them out loud later).
- Convert your top five Dragon macros into PatientNotes templates. Well-child anticipatory guidance, sports clearance language, geriatric AWV plan — keep the muscle memory.
- Cancel Dragon at contract renewal. Read the full breakdown on the Dragon vs PatientNotes comparison page.
PatientNotes vs Freed.ai for Family Medicine
Freed is the most-asked-about competitor in family medicine. Here is the fair comparison.
Freed.ai is a respectable ambient scribe that has been popular with solo physicians since 2023. For family medicine specifically, the trade-offs are clear: Freed is polished and easy to use for adult SOAPs, but the product was not designed with the lifespan-spanning realities of family practice in mind. The pediatric workflow is particularly thin.
| Capability | Freed.ai | PatientNotes |
|---|---|---|
| Price (single user) | $99/month | $50/month |
| Adult SOAP quality | Excellent | Excellent |
| Bright Futures pediatric templates | No | Yes, age-banded |
| Adolescent confidential sections | No | Native split |
| Sports physical (Z02.5) format | Generic SOAP | Dedicated form |
| Geriatric AWV templates | Generic SOAP | G0438/G0439 native |
| Multi-provider team plan | Add-on tier | Built in |
| Best for | Solo PCP, mostly adult panel | Family physicians, full lifespan |
Read the full breakdown at PatientNotes vs Freed, or compare related specialties at Primary Care and Pediatrics.
Family Medicine AI Scribe — FAQ
Reviewed by the PatientNotes Clinical Team, April 2026
Does PatientNotes work for family medicine?
Yes. Family medicine is one of the specialties PatientNotes is purpose-built for. The AI handles the full lifespan in a single workflow: newborn-to-12-month well-child checks per the AAP Bright Futures schedule, sports and camp physicals (CPT 99396 with Z02.5), adolescent confidential visits, adult chronic disease, geriatric AWVs, and end-of-life and advance care planning. Templates auto-switch based on patient age and visit type.
How much does an AI scribe cost for family medicine?
PatientNotes is $50 per user per month for family medicine. The most common alternative is Freed.ai at $99/month, then Heidi Health at $99-129/month, and Microsoft Dragon Medical One at $99-199/month plus implementation. For a small family practice with 3 physicians, switching from Freed to PatientNotes is roughly a $1,800/year saving while gaining team templates and shared problem lists.
Is Freed.ai better than PatientNotes for family medicine?
Freed.ai is good but consumer-style — designed for solo physicians with mostly adult panels and SOAP-only documentation. PatientNotes is built for the multi-generational reality of family medicine: pediatric Bright Futures templates, dedicated sports physical clearance forms, geriatric cognitive screening (Mini-Cog, MoCA), and shared problem lists across team providers. If your practice has even one mid-level or one nurse coordinator, PatientNotes is the better fit at half the price.
Can family medicine notes be auto-generated for both kids and adults?
Yes. PatientNotes detects patient age (entered when the visit is opened) and uses the appropriate documentation framework: Bright Futures structure for ages 0-21, problem-focused SOAP for adult sick visits, comprehensive preventive (99396/99397) for adult wellness, and AWV (G0438/G0439) for Medicare patients. Vaccinations, growth percentiles, developmental milestones, and HEEADSSS adolescent screens are all captured in age-appropriate sections.
Does PatientNotes integrate with Athenahealth or Practice Fusion?
PatientNotes works alongside Athenahealth, Practice Fusion, eClinicalWorks, NextGen, AdvancedMD, Greenway, Elation, and Epic. The current workflow is generate-and-paste: the structured note is produced in PatientNotes and pasted into the EHR encounter (4-6 seconds per note). FHIR-based write-back is in development for Athenahealth and Epic, with no change needed for the existing copy-paste workflow once it is available.
Will it help me bill family medicine CPT codes correctly?
Yes. PatientNotes suggests age-appropriate preventive codes — 99381-99385 for new patients, 99391-99395 for established (broken out by age band 0-1, 1-4, 5-11, 12-17), and 99396/99397 for adults — alongside problem-focused E&M (99213/99214/99215). It also flags vaccine administration codes (90460, 90461, 90471, 90472), pre-participation exam (Z02.5), and well-child encounter codes (Z00.121, Z00.129).
How do I switch from Dragon Medical One to PatientNotes?
Dragon dictates what you say. PatientNotes listens to the visit and writes the note for you. The switch takes most family physicians about a week of parallel use to trust the AI output. Practical steps: (1) start a 7-day free trial, (2) keep dictating with Dragon for the first three days while PatientNotes runs in parallel, (3) compare notes, (4) cancel Dragon at contract renewal. Keep your custom Dragon vocabularies as PatientNotes templates so the muscle memory carries over.
Is PatientNotes HIPAA compliant for family medicine, including pediatrics?
Yes. PatientNotes is HIPAA compliant and signs a BAA with every paid practice. For pediatric and adolescent visits we honor parental access controls and adolescent confidentiality preferences set at the practice level. Audio is encrypted in transit (TLS 1.3) and at rest (AES-256), stored in SOC 2 compliant US-based infrastructure, and auto-deleted within 30 days of note generation. The platform is also CCPA aligned for California practices.
More resources for family medicine practices:
One Scribe for the Whole Family
From newborn well-child checks to Medicare AWVs — one AI scribe, half the price of competitors, built for the lifespan reality of family medicine.
No credit card required. Cancel anytime.