Electronic medical record (EMR)
A longitudinal patient record: notes, history, documents and review over time.
Can I trust the patient identity, review history and export, including after I leave?
Explore this in SphygmosChoosing medical software in South Africa
The best fit depends on the work you need to do. Compare the patient record, clinical documentation and practice operations separately, then test how they work together.
EMR, practice management or AI scribe?
These categories overlap, but they do not promise the same thing. A scribe can draft a good note without managing a patient record. An invoice editor is not an electronic claims switch. A general AI answer is not a verified patient-specific instruction.
Practice management software
Appointments, administration, billing and the financial running of a practice.
Which claims, payment and accounting connections actually work with my existing providers?
Explore this in SphygmosAI medical scribe
A draft note from doctor dictation or a consented doctor-patient conversation.
How much correcting is needed, and what happens to the audio and final note?
Explore this in SphygmosClinical AI
Discussion of clinical questions and preparation of editable documents.
How are missing information, sources, patient context and clinician approval handled?
Explore this in SphygmosWhere Sphygmos fits
Sphygmos connects patient records, clinical AI, dictation, consultation recording, editable documents, results review, appointments and professional invoice preparation. It is for South African GPs and specialists in private and public care, subject to the approvals of their practice or institution.
Use it when you want the work after a consultation to remain connected to the patient: the note, referral, script, result to review and next action. Keep your existing claims submission and laboratory-feed arrangements where these are essential. Automated claims switching and direct lab feeds are not active; WhatsApp messaging is planned, subject to activation.
Current plans and allowances distinguish Dictation from Consult recorder and show patient, AI and messaging limits. The free plan includes three patient records; paid features and allowances vary by plan.
Your next product demo, with a purpose.
Select what matters to you. Take the same checks to every supplier.
3 selected workflowsSelect any integrations you cannot do without.
Test a complete visit: appointment, patient record, note, prescription and the work still outstanding.
Dictation and consultation notes
Evaluate in SphygmosDictate a fictional note. Separately record a sample two-person consultation with consent. Check negatives, speaker attribution, medicines and doses before saving.
Evidence to check: A corrected, signed-off note linked to the right patient; recording-minute limits understood.
Explore the workflowPatient records and follow-up
Evaluate in SphygmosOpen an existing patient, inspect the timeline and review an uploaded result. Create a follow-up, assign responsibility and check how outstanding work is found again.
Evidence to check: The correct patient, a visible review state and an accountable follow-up, not just an uploaded PDF.
Explore the workflowClinical discussion and documents
Evaluate in SphygmosCompare a general clinical question with a patient-specific request. Draft a referral or PMB motivation, review missing information and inspect the output on your own letterhead.
Evidence to check: Editable fields, clear uncertainty and clinician review; a fluent answer alone is not clinical validation.
Explore the workflowEssentials for every supplier
Patient data and organisational approval
Request the processing agreement, current subprocessors, data locations, retention and deletion terms. Establish who may access patient information, and the incident notification process. Have your practice or institution approve the arrangement.
Leaving or changing systems
Test an export with fictional records before migrating. Check attachments, dates, authorship, amendments and readability in another system. Agree how historical records remain accessible when a subscription ends.
Reliability on your devices
Test your actual phone, microphone and computer. Interrupt a sample recording and connection. Confirm what is saved, what must be retried and what your team does during an outage.
Total monthly cost
Compare plan fees, clinical and admin seats, AI allowances, dictation minutes, consultation minutes, images, storage and messaging. Add switching, accounting and other existing services that you must retain. Ask about taxes, overages, top-ups and cancellation.
Your selections stay in this page. No account or patient information is needed.
Run a pilot before changing your practice.
- Begin with fictional records. Include a routine consultation, a longer specialist visit and a result requiring follow-up. Never use a live patient merely to test a sales demonstration.
- Time the whole task. Measure review and correction as well as generation. Note what still requires another system. Use comparable cases and record the number of observations.
- Check the awkward cases. Similar patient names, an amended result, interrupted audio, a returning patient and an incomplete referral reveal more than a rehearsed happy path.
- Agree what would justify switching. Decide your acceptable error and correction burden, required connections, access controls, support expectations and migration plan before committing.
The demonstration uses illustrative responses. It is not a clinical AI validation study.
Check the original product information.
For a shortlist, read each supplier's current offering and test your requirements. These references establish their published focus, not independently verified performance or an exhaustive comparison.
- Healthbridge clinical software Publishes EMR and clinical products linked to its billing offering.
- Health Focus / Eminance Publishes practice management, clinical records and AI-enabled EMC.
- Heidi South Africa Publishes Scribe, Dictate and Evidence tools, with South African data-processing information.
For local requirements, consult the Information Regulator's POPIA resources and your professional and institutional policies. A supplier's compliance statement is not a substitute for reviewing the agreement and actual controls.
See Sphygmos for yourself.
Explore the demo, or start with three patient records on the free plan.