New Zealand specialist doctors now have access to Artificial Intelligence technology to help reduce patient wait times and experts say it could be a game changer for the health sector, where some patients are waiting months for their first appointment.

Leading health-tech company Medow Health has developed an AI health-specific “co-pilot” technology for tasks like note taking and drafting patient medical reports for specialist doctors, operating in the background during patient consultations, saving clinicians hours and allowing them to see more patients.

"This technology allows a single doctor to see an extra one or two patients a day, multiplied across the health system, it makes a big difference,” said Joel Freiberg who co-founded Medow Health. 

Joel created Medow Health with his brother, after his own experience with a chronic illness coupled with watching their father who is a respiratory specialist dictate reports until 10pm from the dinner table, prompting them to come up with a more efficient way for clinicians to work.

“This technology transforms the way medical reports are formulated and processed, helping specialists reduce their paperwork and freeing up valuable time and resources which can be better spent on patient care.

“The idea was to improve what really is an archaic reporting system, which saw specialists taking notes with their back to the patient during consultations or having to speak into a dictaphone to be transcribed later, instead of solely focusing on the patient in front of them,” Mr Freiberg said.

The uptake from specialists utilising the new technology across New Zealand has been swift, with doctors reporting the technology is giving them back two to three hours a day and reducing burnout.

Te Whatu Ora data on specialist waitlists shows more than 65,000 patients waited more than four months for their first specialist assessment, while between 27,000 and 33,000 waited even longer across Cardiology, Ear, Nose & Throat, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Gynaecology, Neurology, Orthopaedics and Urology. 

Mr Freiberg said the new cutting edge technology should supercharge a reduction in waitlists and speed up the appointment process.

“We’re not trying to replace doctors, we’re trying to help them. Manually producing medical reports is a time-consuming and complex process that requires extensive paperwork and hours of labour-intensive work,” he said.

“By using cutting edge AI specific to each medical specialty to examine patient interactions, formulate reports, and provide valuable insights we can enable doctors to do what they do best - focus on patient care.

"This technology helps the health professional to really turn their attention to the patient and what matters, instead of worrying about what notes they need and what letters they need to write. It allows them to focus on what is important,” Mr Freiberg said.

Engagement with Medow Health has already taken off in Australia, with the company reporting 60,000 specialist consultations facilitated with the technology last quarter and a forecast to nearly double that figure in the next three months.

"While others are turning their attention to US/UK markets, Medow is grounded in ensuring the local needs of the Australian and NZ healthcare systems are met with cutting edge technology and so that is our top focus for 2025,” Mr  Freiberg said.

About Medow Health AI

Medow Health AI is a pioneering healthcare technology company dedicated to revolutionising the medical industry through the power of artificial intelligence to streamline processes, improve patient care, and enhance overall efficiency in healthcare settings.

 The company was founded by Joel Freiberg and soon after his brother Josh and former CTO and colleague Andrew joined as co-founders using their combined 30 years experience in technology and software to help build the business into the leading Specialist AI platform it is today.

Joel lives with Crohn’s disease and has experienced long waits to see a specialist. The pair recognised there was a need for change growing up as they watched their father, a respiratory physician spend endless hours doing admin after work.