A better way to practice medicine: My Emergency Doctor and Heidi partnership reshaping healthcare
April 17, 2025β’7 min read
My Emergency Doctor (MED) x Heidi at a glance
βHeidi has truly transformed our consultations. It lets us focus on patients while the documentation happens in the background, saving us time and reducing stress.β β Senior Psychiatrist at MED
Key outcomes:
- 77% clinician adoption within 3 weeks
- Significant reduction in documentation time - saving up to 2 hours per consult
- Enhanced clinician work-life balance and reduced burnout
- Custom templates tailored to each specialty for efficiency and accuracy
Read on if you might also be experiencing:
- Staffing shortages and clinician burnout from excessive documentation
- Mental health consults that require extensive after-hours documentation
- Difficulty managing high demand while maintaining quality patient care
Background
My Emergency Doctor (MED), was founded in 2016 out of the realisation that βthere has to be a better way to practice medicine.β MEDβs mission is to bridge urgent care gaps by connecting patients, hospitals, and clinicians seamlessly via telehealth - 24/7 - anywhere in Australia and beyond.
MED chose Heidi to partner with on executing their mission, making care more accessible together whilst also caring for the wellbeing of clinicians themselves.
βI cannot imagine my consultations without Heidi anymore.β - FACEM at MED
Challenges
Picture a worried mother in a fluorescent-lit corridor, cradling her feverish baby after four agonising hours in a crowded emergency department. The little one is restless, and her own anxiety is mounting with each passing minute. Scenes like this have become all too common across Australiaβs healthcare landscape.
Staffing shortages and burnout
βItβs not sustainable to be on the ground 24/7.β - Jasmina Dimitrijevic, Marketing Manager at MED
Hospitals often struggle to maintain enough senior medical staff, especially at night or during peak seasons. Many rural facilities are nurse-led, lacking an onsite senior doctor to address urgent patient needs. Clinicians themselves face burnout, compounded by long hours and administrative burdens that can extend well beyond their scheduled shifts.
Rural and remote hurdles
Jandowae General Hospital - one of MEDβs rural hospital partners.
Patients in remote Australian regions may have to travel up to 15-20 hours just to see a specialist. Overcrowded metropolitan hospitals add another layer of complexity, as transferring patients from rural areas often contributes to lengthier ED wait times and higher costs.
Growing demand for mental health services
Psychological and psychiatric consults are on the rise, and waitlists can extend for weeks or months. For practitioners, the required documentation can consume hours beyond face-to-face time.
The Solution
Watching this play out in real time, MEDβs founder - a practicing FACEM - realised, βThere has to be a better way.β
Say hello to your
AI resident.Itβs like you, but less gorgeous.
AI resident.Itβs like you, but less gorgeous.
Building a βvirtual hospitalβ
MEDβs core telehealth platform offers on-demand access to senior emergency physicians (FACEMs), as well as the ability to schedule appointments with GPs, psychiatrists, cardiologists, and geriatricians over a phone or video call. Hospitals, primary health networks, and even residential aged care facilities can connect with a specialist immediately, no long-term staffing or overhead required.
Where Heidi comes in
Streamlining consults is only half the battle; the other half is accurate, efficient documentation. Thatβs where Heidi enters the picture.
Impact
Real-time documentation
Heidi transcribes during the actual telehealth consultation, enabling clinicians to focus fully on patient interaction.
βIf you donβt have to spend two hours writing a report after a 40-minute consult, thatβs a huge plus.β - MEDβs Senior Psychiatrist
High adoption & happy clinicians
An impressive 77% of MED clinicians started using Heidi within three weeks of rollout.
βHeidi is easy to work with, the training required is minimal. And seeing a professional medical summary created after a consult with a patient, which filters out all the unnecessary details and includes clear plans and patient instructionsβ¦ is a game changer.β - Tatiana Lowe, Medical Director and FACEM at MED
Custom templates & accessibility anywhere
Heidi scales with MED, empowering each specialist with a powerful suite of templates tailored to their needs - as detailed or specific as they like them.
βJust had a play with it, it's cool! Works really well, I like the detailed version of notes.β - FACEM at MED
Plus, clinicians can access Heidi wherever they are, making practicing medicine more accessible and sustainable.
βThe app has worked well with my headphonesβ¦picking up vital signs now without any issues.β - FACEM at MED
With MED's clinicians working from all over the world, from Uganda to Sweden to those living out their dreams of sailing the world, Heidi meets them wherever they are.
Dr. Bishan Rajapakse, MED FACEM working from Sweden.
Recruitment & retention benefits
MED actively highlights Heidi to new recruits, emphasising how it saves time and reduces clerical strain.
We speak about Heidi when weβre out recruiting,β Amy Hill, MEDβs Commercial Director, says.Β
βIf you can talk to a psychologist or a psychiatrist and say, you donβt have to be doing reporting for 2hrs after a 40min consultation, we have tools here to help to support you and minimise that to 20 minutes - thatβs a huge recruitment plus for us.β
Whatβs next
MEDβs vision is bold yet simple: remove geographical barriers, reduce clinician burnout, and bring the best possible care to every patient, no matter how remote. Heidi is vital to that vision, creating seamless clinical documentation that supports speed and accuracy.
βIf the consultation time has already reduced by just three minutes each call, that adds up fast across hundreds of daily consultations.β - Chantel Gallagher, MED Operations Manager
- Continued expansion: Beyond emergency care, MED now offers geriatric and cardiology telehealth, plus robust primary and mental health services through acquired arms like GP2U and Psych2U, with many more to come.
- Reimagining work-life balance: With telehealth and AI-driven documentation working hand in hand, MED hopes more clinicians will feel empowered to remain in the workforce - whether theyβre parents caring for young children or doctors who want to travel.
Ultimately, MED and Heidi share a simple goal: make healthcare more sustainable, flexible, and deeply human for both patients and providers. As one clinician remarked, βWe donβt introduce much new technology here, but Heidiβs been a success, a tool that truly serves the practice of medicine.β
The takeaway is clear: medicine can and should be practiced differently to make it more sustainable. So, if youβre ready to reclaim precious hours from paperworkβand deliver outstanding telehealth care β try Heidi for yourself.
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