ACC is moving to outcome-based care.
CIE makes the proof automatic.
Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) — the patient's own report of how recovery is going — are increasingly how New Zealand's ACC evidences outcomes, and the direction of travel is clear. CIE captures them in the flow of care, scores them, and files them as a governed, audit-ready record. You stay ahead of the requirement; you get the admin time back.
Built by Design By Zen, an NZ AI lab. Evidence, not confidence.
The direction of travel — what ACC is moving toward
ACC is shifting toward outcome-based care: funding that can show not just that treatment happened, but that the patient improved.
Patient-Reported Outcome Measures are the recognised way to evidence that — the patient's own account of recovery, tracked over time.
In ACC's integrated and outcome-based pathways, PROMs are already operationalised; across allied health more broadly, the trajectory points the same way.
The clinics that adapt most easily are the ones already capturing this data as part of care.
What CIE is
CIE — the Clinical Intelligence Ecosystem — is built around the outcome, not the note. Three things make it different from a documentation tool:
It is PROMs-native. Patient-reported measures aren't an add-on; they're the spine of the record. CIE captures the patient's own report of recovery, scores it, and tracks the trajectory over time.
It is governed. Every result carries a consent state and a time-stamped audit trail. The record is built to be checkable — to be shown to be exactly what it claims.
It is not a scribe. A scribe writes down what was said. CIE measures what happened to the patient. (More on that below.)
The hidden cost
CIE does three jobs. Each has its own page.
The requirement is reasonable. The problem is time.
Issuing the right measure, chasing completion, scoring it, and filing it against each ACC claim is unbillable administrative work — the hour at the end of the day that no one pays for.
Multiply it across a caseload and PROMs compliance quietly becomes a tax on the clinic.
How CIE handles it
CIE is PROMs-native. It doesn't bolt outcome measures onto a note-taker — it's built around them.
Capture. The right patient-reported measure goes to the patient at the right point in their care, in their own voice — not a clipboard at reception.
Score. Responses are scored automatically and tracked over time, so the recovery trajectory is visible at a glance, not buried in a spreadsheet.
File. Each result is stored as a governed, time-stamped record, ready to stand behind an ACC-funded claim — capture, score, and audit trail in one pass.
The result: the measure ACC expects, collected and filed, with [VERIFY: estimated admin time] given back to the clinician.
CIE vs the scribe
AI scribes transcribe the conversation. CIE proves the outcome.
AI scribe | CIE |
|---|---|
Documentation | Compliance + outcome proof |
A record of what was said | A record of how the patient is doing, over time |
Turns the visit into notes | Turns recovery into measured, patient-reported evidence |
A scribe writes down the session. CIE shows whether the patient got better — which is what ACC-funded care is ultimately accountable for.
Governance — evidence, not confidence
PROMs only count if the record holds up.
CIE is governed by design: every result carries a consent state and a time-stamped audit trail, so an outcome that supports a claim can be shown to be exactly what it says it is.
Where ambient AI tools have run ahead of consent and accuracy, CIE treats those as the starting line — human→AI→AI (LAW) safeguards, falsifiable records, and a clear liability boundary.
In care, evidence is the currency — not confidence.
The Comfort Index (CI), clinical edition
Everything CIE produces rests on the same governance spine:
CIE is the Comfort Index (CI) applied to clinical recovery.
The same question that runs through everything we build — how am I, and how will I know? — is, by definition, patient-reported.
PROMs are how that question is asked and answered in a clinic, measured over time. Learn about the Comfort Index →
Proof
CIE runs in clinical deployment at Node-1, Nelson — governed, stable, and in pilot clinical use since January 2026.
We describe it as deployed and governed, not as clinically proven: the independent proof ladder is work in progress, and we won't claim a result we haven't earned.
FAQ
Does ACC require PROMs for physiotherapy?
ACC is moving toward outcome-based care, and Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) are central to how it evidences recovery. They are already operationalised in specific ACC pathways such as integrated MSK care, and the broader direction of travel points the same way.
Clinics should follow the current ACC Health Outcome Measures guidance and operational guidelines for what applies to their contract.
What are Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs)? PROMs are validated, standardised questionnaires in which patients report their own symptoms, function, and well-being.
They capture recovery from the patient's perspective and are tracked over time, distinct from clinician-measured outcomes such as range of motion.
Are PROMs the same as "physiotherapy outcome measures"?
Not quite. PROMs are one type of outcome measure, defined by who reports — the patient. "Physiotherapy outcome measures" is a broader bucket that also includes clinician-measured results. ACC's expectation is specifically about patient-reported measures.
How is CIE different from an AI scribe? An AI scribe transcribes the consultation into notes. CIE measures the outcome — capturing, scoring, and filing patient-reported recovery data as governed, audit-ready evidence.
The transcription documents the visit; the CIE proves the result.
Do PROMs add to clinic admin time?
Collected manually, yes — issuing, chasing, scoring, and filing PROMs is unbillable work. CIE automates that flow so the measure is captured and filed without the end-of-day admin tax.
Is CIE's PROMs data audit-ready for ACC? Yes — each result is stored as a time-stamped, consent-aware record with an audit trail, so a patient-reported outcome behind an ACC-funded claim can be shown to be exactly what it represents.
See clinical intelligence in your clinic's workflow. Book a walkthrough — we'll show how PROMs capture, scoring, and ACC-ready filing fit your caseload.. [Book a clinic walkthrough]
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