Executive summary
Demos are curated. Marketing decks are polished. What matters is what cannot be staged: the first real February Monday in the slush. Eight questions, derived from a real vendor evaluation by an experienced practice owner, that every buyer must have clear answers to before signing.
| Question | What a 'no' means |
|---|---|
| Custom templates? | No specialty adaptation |
| Audio retention period? | GDPR risk + patient acceptance |
| Prior notes uploadable? | No history context |
| Edit notes after the fact? | Wrong notes stay wrong |
| Speaker diarisation? | Family + staff in the chart |
| Dialect + hallucinations? | Unusable in real daily practice |
| EMR import mapping concrete? | Manual re-sorting every note |
| Evidence-lookup-style add-ons? | Switch to third-party tool |
8 questions from a real German vendor evaluation.
The eight questions
1. Can I configure my own templates and macros?
Some vendors deliberately offer no template customisation. The reasoning is usually "we ship best practice". In daily use that means no adaptation to your specialty, no personal style, no clinic-specific vocabulary. If you are a rheumatologist and the default template targets general practice, you re-edit every note.
Minimum bar: in the free trial, you configure a custom template yourself, without raising a support ticket.
2. Are audio recordings retained, and if yes, exactly how long?
This is the most important GDPR question, and the one vendors most often answer evasively. Some retain audio recordings for weeks on their servers, for quality assurance, model training, or audit. Many clinicians do not want that. Patients react most sensitively to this point.
Minimum bar: written disclosure of audio-retention duration and purpose. Nixi AI does not store audio. The recording is deleted after transcription.
3. Can I upload prior notes and letters as conversation context?
Many tools know only the current consultation, with no patient history. For follow-ups, multimorbid patients, or referral correspondence, that is a systematic shortcoming. The AI must be able to read the prior record, or every note is written from a standing start.
Minimum bar: PDF upload + integration of prior notes into the conversation context.
4. Can I edit notes after the fact?
Reality: every note needs a small correction here and there. Some tools deliver only "done or not done", a change means starting over. Only an in-tool edit workflow is workable in daily use.
5. Does the AI distinguish patient, family member, and staff?
In a real consultation, multiple people speak. A companion, a nurse who steps into the room, sometimes several family members at once. A good AI maps statements to the right speaker. The patient's complaints belong in the history. The nurse's brief question does not.
6. Does the AI work with dialect, and does it hallucinate?
Bavarian, Swabian, Plattdeutsch, Saxonian. If speech recognition fails here, it fails in everyday clinical use. Equally important: does the AI hallucinate? An AI that invents content not said in the conversation is patient-safety-relevant and unusable. A yes/no criterion.
Minimum bar: real consultation in your regional dialect during the free trial + spot-check of transcript against what was actually said.
7. How concretely does the EMR import work?
"EMR-compatible" is a marketing phrase. What you need to know: does the transcript automatically sort into the right fields (history, findings, diagnosis, plan), or do you re-sort everything by hand? Which EMRs are native (Tomedo, CGM, T2med, Quincy, Medatixx, Turbomed, Duria, Epikur, isynet)?
Minimum bar: live test in your EMR during the free trial, with the structured note flowing into the right fields. Not a screenshot.
8. What add-on features are included?
Some vendors offer extras that add real value: medical evidence search, automatic ICD-10-GM suggestions, integrated patient letters, multilingual support. Others ship only the basic transcript. Clarify what you additionally need, and whether it is included in the price or charged as an add-on.
How Nixi AI answers the eight questions
A voice from practice
"You only realise the true value of Nixi AI when you have to work without it. The other day I had to see patients in a room without Nixi AI and I genuinely felt constrained."
— Dr. Peer Aries, MD, Consultant Rheumatologist, Immunologikum Hamburg. Co-author of the peer-reviewed EULAR Open Rheumatology 2025 study.
Next steps
Once you have clear answers to these eight questions, you know which vendor fits your practice and which does not. The fastest way to test Nixi AI against your own criteria: 14-day free trial with the full Practice Pro capabilities. Real consultations, real notes, real dialect. If you want a guided live walkthrough with your EMR first, book a short demo.
Frequently asked questions
What questions should I ask before choosing an AI documentation tool for my practice?
Eight questions decide whether a tool fits your workflow: (1) Can I configure my own templates? (2) Are audio recordings retained, if so for how long? (3) Can I upload prior notes as context? (4) Can I edit notes after the fact? (5) Does the AI distinguish patient, family, and staff? (6) Does it handle dialect and hallucinate? (7) How concretely does the EMR import map into history, findings, plan? (8) What add-on features like evidence lookup are offered? Answers in this article.
Can I configure my own templates with an AI scribe?
Not with every vendor. Some offer only fixed templates defined by the manufacturer, arguing 'this is best practice'. In daily use that means: no adaptation to your specialty or your style. Use the free trial to configure a custom template yourself, without raising a support ticket. With Nixi AI custom templates are a core feature.
Are audio recordings retained by AI documentation tools?
This is the most important GDPR question. Some vendors retain audio recordings for weeks on their servers, for quality assurance and model training. Many clinicians do not want that. Require a written statement of audio-retention duration and purpose. Nixi AI does not store audio: the recording is deleted after transcription.
Can I upload prior notes and letters as conversation context?
Many tools cannot, they only know the current conversation, with no patient history. That is limiting for follow-up documentation. Confirm before signing whether PDFs, prior notes, or referral letters can be ingested as context. Nixi AI supports this.