Ted's Friday Five — WTF Happened in AI Allied Health This Week? Week ending 26 June 2026
Jun 28, 2026Ted Jedynak, the AI in Allied Health Guy · Helping Clinic Owners Implement AI Safely & Effectively for Better Clinical Outcomes.
Nine out of ten clinicians globally say AI needs a human expert in the loop to be safe and useful. More than half are already using personal AI tools on patient data without their employer knowing. And the peak podiatry body just made AI the centrepiece of their annual business conference. A big week. Let's get into it.
Signal 1: 92% of Clinicians Say AI Needs a Human Expert in the Loop — That's the Entire Point of AI+HI=CI
New survey data published this week confirms something that's been obvious to everyone inside clinical practice but hasn't had hard numbers behind it — until now. According to research cited across the Chief Healthcare Executive and Philips' emerging trends analysis, 92% of doctors and 90% of nurses say it is "very important" or "somewhat important" to have AI systems and clinical tools validated by a human expert. More than half of clinicians believe AI tools designed for healthcare should be built by a trusted medical resource — not a technology company.
This is not a fringe position held by AI sceptics. It's the dominant view among clinicians globally, across specialties, across countries. The premise that AI in healthcare must have a human intelligence layer — someone who understands clinical context, liability, and the specific patient in front of them — is now supported by the overwhelming majority of practitioners who actually use these tools.
For allied health clinic owners in Australia, the implications are direct. The clinicians on your team aren't wrong to be cautious about AI outputs. Their instinct to verify, question, and apply human judgement to AI-generated content is not technophobia — it's clinically appropriate behaviour that global data is now validating at scale. The problem isn't the caution. The problem is that 70% of those same clinicians (per the Philips Future Health Index 2026) don't have a structured framework for doing it well.
That gap — between knowing you should apply human judgement and actually having a structured, confident process for doing it — is precisely what the Clinical Intelligence Program (AI+HI=CI) is built to close. The formula isn't catchy branding. It's the finding that 92% of clinicians globally would endorse if you asked them. Artificial Intelligence alone is not Clinical Intelligence. Human Intelligence is what makes it clinical.
The non-obvious angle: the clinicians who distrust AI built by tech companies are also your most likely buyers for a practitioner-built, implementation-focused program. Their scepticism isn't a sales objection — it's a qualification signal. They're exactly right, and your program is the answer.
Signal 2: 56% of Your Clinicians Are Already Using Unsanctioned AI — And Your Practice Wears the Risk
Here's the stat from the Philips Future Health Index 2026 that practice owners need to sit with: 56% of clinicians globally report turning to personal AI tools when their workplace doesn't provide adequate solutions. More than half of the clinical staff in a typical allied health practice are using their own ChatGPT accounts, personal AI apps, or consumer-grade tools to handle clinical or administrative tasks — without formal approval, without governance, and in many cases without patient consent.
This is not a judgement on the clinicians doing it. When you're time-poor, when your workplace hasn't equipped you with the right tools, and when AI genuinely saves you time — you find a workaround. The Philips report notes this is a direct consequence of the training gap: organisations that don't provide proper AI training or sanctioned tools leave practitioners to solve the problem themselves.
The problem for practice owners is what this looks like through the lens of the Privacy Act — particularly with the December 10, 2026 automated decision-making deadline approaching. If a staff member uses an unapproved AI tool to process patient information and a privacy breach results, the liability falls on the practice. The APP entity is the practice. The staff member using their personal ChatGPT to summarise clinical notes between consults is creating a disclosure and data handling issue that their employer may not even know exists.
The practical step: this week, have a direct conversation with your team about what AI tools they're currently using in their daily workflow. Not a policy lecture — an honest stocktake. The goal is to understand what's happening in your practice, move toward sanctioned tools with appropriate consent and governance, and build the team AI policy that the CI Program helps you create.
Signal 3: AI Just Took Over the APodA Business Conference Program — Including My Session
The Australian Podiatry Association released the full program for Business in Focus this week — its annual Professional Development Series — and the program makes one thing unmistakably clear: AI is no longer a topic being bolted onto podiatry business education as a novelty. It's now a structural part of the conversation.
The event runs 21–22 August 2026 in Kingscliff, NSW (Mantra on Salt Beach). Two full days, 14 CPD hours, covering practice growth, leadership, cybersecurity, talent and exit strategy. But four of the sessions are explicitly about AI:
- Elizabeth Griffiths — AI for Your Practice: Your 30/90 Day Roadmap (Day 1). Elizabeth is also running an optional Sunday morning workshop to set up your own practice AI workspace — 30 seats only, $325 members.
- Kylie Mowbray-Allen — Beyond SEO: How AI Search is Changing the Way Patients Find Your Podiatry Clinic in 2026
- Peter Flynn — Mapping the Client Journey with AI: Identifying and Fixing Drop-Off Points to Improve Patient Experience and Revenue
- Ted Jedynak — Eggs, Bacon & Clinical Intelligence
Four AI sessions out of a two-day business conference from the peak podiatry body. That's not a trend. That's a profession recognising that AI literacy is now a core business skill for clinic owners.
Early Bird pricing closes 10 July 2026. Members from $725 (PIB SIG members get the best rate). Standard rates after 10 July are up to $400 higher. If you're a podiatrist who runs or manages a clinic and you want to get serious about building a more sustainable practice — with AI and without the guesswork — this is the room to be in.
Register here at podiatry.org.au →
The Bottom Line This Week
Three signals, one theme: AI in allied health is no longer a future conversation. The research has landed. The clinicians have spoken — 92% of them want human intelligence in the loop. More than half are already using AI tools unsanctioned because the systems around them haven't kept up. And the peak bodies are now programming entire conference tracks around it.
The clinic owners who will benefit most from the next five years of AI in healthcare are not the ones who understand AI best in the abstract. They're the ones who built a practical, safe, governed framework for using it — and who brought their teams with them. That's the work. Everything else is commentary.
Ted Jedynak is a podiatrist, educator, and business coach based in Adelaide, Australia. His Clinical Intelligence Program (AI+HI=CI) helps allied health clinic owners implement AI into their practice practically, safely, and without the hype. Find out more at tedjedynak.com/clinical-intelligence
