Accelerating occupational therapy care with Heidi's AI

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Background

Accelerate Abilities is a therapist-led practice founded in 2021 by a group of dedicated Occupational Therapists. Peter Pazios (one of the co-founders) wanted to bridge the gap for clients moving from paediatric to adult services. Today, the team has grown to 12 occupational therapists across Australia who support people “from birth, all the way till aged care,” cross-referring to deliver truly lifespan care. Guided by a mission to empower clients to live independently and participate fully in their communities, the practice blends evidence-based therapy with a deeply collaborative approach.

Challenges

Accelerate Abilities was growing fast, but paperwork was stretching hours and energy. With referral volumes climbing and therapists scattered across multiple states, the administrative load compounded week after week. What began as a manageable side task soon ballooned into a major operational bottleneck that threatened clinician wellbeing and limited timely access to care for new clients.

Long clinical days stretched by paperwork

“I was spending approximately two hours a day on completing notes and communicating these to client families.”

Long days of back-to-back clients were followed by lunch-time typing and at least an extra hour after the last appointment, leaving little margin for recovery.

Admin creeping into personal time

“When I was out and about in the community, that’s when I would take a lot of report-writing notes home, and I’d have to do that in my own time.”

Community visits meant travel replaced note-writing time, pushing documentation into evenings and weekends and stealing time from Peter’s young family.

Lengthy reports slowing access to care

“Functional capacity assessments can take up to 15 hours depending on the complexity from start to finish.”

Complex NDIS functional capacity assessments created wait-lists and made it impossible to meet urgent requests within days. Each new referral added 15 hours of hidden labour, so urgent cases languished while therapists chipped away at documents long after hours.

For more than three years, the team tried working harder, batching notes, and even trialling other AI tools, but nothing freed real hours until they discovered Heidi.

Solution

Peter’s long-running interest in AI prompted him to reach out to Heidi, hungry for anything that could shrink his nightly admin marathon. After a head-to-head trial with three other tools, Heidi’s richer output and native Halaxy integration stood out immediately - “a big cherry on top.” Accelerate Abilities rolled Heidi out state-by-state; the setup took minutes, and clinicians needed little more than a quick screen-share to feel confident.

“I’m not having to take any progress notes home and I’m leaving at the end of the day with these notes up to date and more thorough."

Peter’s favourite features

• One-click clinical notes – the widget sits alongside Halaxy and drops a clean, structured note in seconds.
• Template community – browsing and remixing community templates delivered a “massive aha moment,” helping the team craft gold-standard GP letters and NDIS reports.
• High-fidelity transcripts – every key detail is captured, meaning fewer follow-up calls and faster, more defensible reports.

Impact

Since adopting Heidi, Accelerate Abilities has clawed back whole workdays that once disappeared into documentation. Clinicians now clock off with their notes complete, urgent assessments turned around in days, and families experience more present, energised therapists. The practice has scaled its impact, without stretching its people to breaking point.

“The team have said they don’t know how they did their day-to-day without Heidi. Heidi’s been a game changer.”

Key outcomes:

• Up to 2 hours of notes saved every day: clinicians finish documentation before they leave.
• Functional capacity assessment report time severely reduced, increasing assessment capacity.
• Wait-list reduction: urgent FCAs can now be delivered with a faster turn-around for clients.
• Family time reclaimed: “I am able to spend a lot more time with the family.”
• Better clinical presence: “You’re more present when you are providing that consult.”

Time back to live, not type

“I am able to spend a lot more time with my family, which is great.”

Those reclaimed evenings now belong to bedtime stories and weekend outings, not admin. Therapists report lower stress levels and a renewed enthusiasm for clinical work.

Faster access for clients

“We actually now have the capacity to support our clients better.”

With documentation time halved, urgent assessments fit neatly into the week, slashing wait-lists and getting vital supports in place sooner.

Complete, reliable documentation

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Notes arrive in Halaxy fully structured and audit-ready, capturing every clinical nuance. Clinicians feel confident their records can withstand NDIS reviews without frantic last-minute edits.

Unexpected benefit – growing referral relationships

“Support coordinators … come directly to us” because they know Accelerate Abilities can turn around quality reports fast. Word has spread that the practice delivers on tight deadlines, fuelling a steady stream of new referrals and strengthening ties with coordinators and GPs alike.

What’s next

With Heidi handling the heavy lifting, Peter’s team is free to deepen care and explore even tighter AI workflows.

Accelerate Abilities will make Heidi part of every new senior therapist’s onboarding and is already collaborating with the Heidi team on specialised NDIS, DVA, and aged-care templates. Their north star is a future where a single click delivers a funding-ready report, freeing clinicians to spend even more time where it counts - face-to-face with clients.

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