Comprehend Health vs Playback Health
Playback Health began in 2018, founded by the neurosurgeon David Langer, and launched in Northwell Health in 2020. Its lead product, Engage, lets patients replay the clinician's explanation and care plan on a phone. A 2024 retrospective comparison of seven neurosurgery providers found higher HCAHPS scores for the four who used the platform, and it concerned the patient-facing replay product, not the scribe. Playback Pro is the ambient scribe. It lists Epic, eClinicalWorks and NextGen for direct integration and claims 99% verified transcription accuracy plus ICD-10 and CPT code generation. Comprehend Health costs $99 for Scribe with the billing period unstated, and offers transcription in 57 languages and brain dumps under 30 seconds. Neurosurgery services and therapy clinics seldom compare vendors side by side. Playback fits a neurosurgery service on Epic that wants patients replaying instructions, and Comprehend fits a therapy clinic.
AI medical scribes · Reviewed November 2, 2026
Comprehend Health
by Comprehend Health
AI scribe for physical therapy, OT and SLP notes, added to web-based EMRs through a browser extension.
Playback Health
by Playback Health, Inc. · founded 2018
Ambient AI scribe for hospitals, plus a patient app that replays clinician care instructions after the visit.
When to pick each one
Comprehend Health
- Transcription in 57 languages
- Brain-dump notes under 30 seconds
- $99 Scribe plan, $949 billed yearly
Playback Health
- Patients replay the clinician's explanation on a phone
- Direct integration listed for Epic, eClinicalWorks, NextGen
- Pro generates ICD-10 and CPT codes and orders
Score
Each row shows points earned of points available under the published rubric.
Comprehend Health
53of 100
Playback Health
67of 100
| Dimension | Comprehend Health | Playback Health | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| HIPAA / SOC2 / BAA | 13 / 13 | 13 / 13 | 0 |
| EHR integrations (count) | 21 / 21 | 14.7 / 21 | +6.3 |
| Top-3 EHR coverage (Epic / Oracle / Athena) | 0 / 12 | 12 / 12 | -12 |
| Bidirectional write-back | 0 / 5.2 | 0 / 5.2 | 0 |
| Peer-reviewed papers | 0 / 7 | 4.9 / 7 | -4.9 |
| RCT / meta-analysis / systematic review | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 |
| Funding & adoption signal | 8.4 / 12 | 3 / 12 | +5.4 |
| Pricing transparency | 2.5 / 5 | 2.5 / 5 | 0 |
| Years in market | 0 / 6 | 6 / 6 | -6 |
Scroll horizontally to see every column.
Pricing
Comprehend Health
| Tier | Billing period | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scribe | not labeled on page | $99 | USD 99.00 on the pricing page, with no billing period labeled. Read as per month by the research, not confirmed. A free tier exists with no price shown and is not listed here. 7-day free trial. "Prove us wrong for 30 days" money-back guarantee. Veteran discount, amount not stated. |
| Scribe, annual billing | per year, billed annually | $949 | USD 949.00 billed yearly, the annual option of the Scribe tier, per the pricing page. |
Verified November 2, 2026 from comprehendhealth.ai (opens in new tab).
Playback Health
| Tier | Monthly | Annual | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enterprise | n/a | n/a | No public price. The Pro page offers Start free trial and Book a demo; trial length and price are not shown. |
Evidence
Comprehend Health
No FDA decision, peer-reviewed study or community post in our record.
Playback Health
Compliance and integrations
Documented from each vendor’s own pages.
| Spec | Comprehend Health | Playback Health |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | ||
| HIPAA | ||
| SOC 2 Type II | ||
| EHR integrations | PracticePerfect, Practice Pro, Stride, WebPT, Empower, Comprise Health, Clinicient, Kinnser, Prompt, Jane, PT Everywhere, Charm, NetHealth, Heno, HelloNote, TheraOffice | Epic, Cerner, Allscripts, athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, NextGen, Meditech, DrChrono |
| Founded | n/a | 2018 |
| HQ | n/a | US |
Scroll horizontally to see both columns.
Common questions
Open the full ai medical scribes comparison
The best AI medical scribe for most US physicians is Abridge for hospital systems, Freed AI for solo practice (plans from $39 to $119 per month as of October 2026), Heidi Health for multilingual capture, and DAX Copilot for Microsoft-shop hospitals. Each pick below names its primary EHR integration, pricing model, and the clinician communities that surface it most often. Enterprise scribes are quote-based, with third-party estimates of roughly $208 to $600 per provider per month as of October 2026.