Podiatry Practice Management Software in Australia: A Buyer's Guide
Podiatry practices juggle routine care cycles, orthotic and device workflows, DVA and NDIS billing and multi-site clinics. Here is what to test in practice software before choosing.
Quick answer: Australian podiatry practices usually shortlist HeroMed, Cliniko, Power Diary or coreplus. HeroMed is the option built to remove the admin rather than reorganise it: podiatry note templates and appointment types, an AI Scribe included in the Core AI plan that drafts notes for the practitioner to review and sign, and optional AI Hero modules for reception, booking, invoicing, messaging and marketing on the same platform.
Podiatry has a workflow shape that catches out generic practice software: a large base of routine care patients on recurring cycles, a device and orthotic process that runs over weeks, wound and diabetic care that needs proper documentation, and often more than one site or a residential-care round.
Recurring care is the backbone
A big share of podiatry revenue comes from patients returning every six to twelve weeks. That makes recall and recurring booking the single most valuable capability in the system:
- Recurring appointment series booked in one action, months ahead.
- Recall lists by interval and last-visit date, not by memory.
- Reminders with a confirmation action, plus a second reminder for long-interval patients who forget.
- Waitlist re-offer so a cancelled routine slot is refilled.
Ask a vendor to show you every routine-care patient overdue by more than four weeks. If that list is hard to produce, revenue is leaking quietly.
Devices, orthotics and multi-stage work
An orthotic prescription is not one appointment — it is assessment, casting or scanning, an order to a lab, fitting, and review, with money collected at different points. Check that the platform can:
- Track a device order through stages with expected dates.
- Attach supplier or lab references and documents to the patient record.
- Handle a deposit at order and the balance at fitting.
- Flag orders overdue from the lab.
Practices without this run a spreadsheet beside the software, which is where fittings get missed.
Clinical documentation
Podiatry documentation spans routine care, biomechanical assessment, wound care and diabetic foot risk assessment. Look for:
- Templates per appointment type rather than one generic note.
- Structured vascular and neurological screening fields so risk status is comparable over time.
- Wound measurement and photo attachment with dates.
- Whole-history view for chronic patients.
AI clinical scribing helps most in the longer assessment and wound consultations. HeroMed includes AI scribing in the Core AI subscription, so the note is drafted into the record for review and sign-off rather than typed afterwards.
Billing across funders
| Funder | What to check |
|---|---|
| Private patient | Immediate invoice and payment, device deposits |
| Private health fund | On-the-spot claiming, item codes per service |
| DVA | Item numbers, referral validity, direct claiming |
| Medicare chronic disease referrals | Referral counts and expiry per patient |
| NDIS | Plan type, service agreements, plan-managed invoicing |
| Residential aged care | Facility billing and per-round invoicing |
Referral count tracking matters here: allied health services delivered under a chronic disease management referral are limited per calendar year, and software that cannot show remaining services will cost you rejected claims. Our Medicare claiming guide and MBS item numbers guide cover the mechanics; for NDIS work see NDIS and telehealth software.
Multi-site and mobile work
Many podiatry practices run more than one location plus facility rounds. Test:
- Per-site diaries, fees and reporting in one login.
- Practitioner availability across sites without double-booking.
- Mobile-friendly notes and scheduling for rounds with poor connectivity.
- Facility-level invoicing where you bill the site rather than the patient.
What to look for: checklist
- Recurring series bookings and interval-based recall
- Overdue routine-care reporting
- Device and orthotic order tracking with deposits
- Templates per appointment type, including wound and risk assessment
- Structured screening fields and wound photos with dates
- Private, fund, DVA, Medicare referral, NDIS and facility billing
- Referral count and expiry tracking
- Multi-site diaries and reporting
- Mobile notes and scheduling for rounds
- Written answers on hosting, access logging, export and AI retention
Where HeroMed fits
HeroMed Core AI provides the diary, patient records with AI scribing included, invoicing and patient messaging in one subscription, with optional AI Hero modules for booking, invoicing, reception and marketing — the last being where recall and re-engagement campaigns are run. See the comparison tables for a feature-by-feature view against Cliniko, coreplus, Power Diary and PracSuite.
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