Playback Health vs ScribeMD
Playback Health leads with Playback Engage, a patient app that makes the clinician's explanation replayable and shareable, and sells Playback Pro as its ambient scribe. Pro lists real-time ambient listening, ICD-10 and CPT code generation, 15+ languages and, the vendor says, 99% Playback-verified transcription accuracy. A 2024 paper in Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery retrospectively compared HCAHPS patient scores from 2020 to 2022 across 7 neurosurgery providers, 4 users and 3 non-users, and users scored higher overall. It concerns Engage-style recordings, not the scribe.
ScribeMD centers on the scribe, with a Communication Hub the vendor labels beta for intake forms, messages and follow-ups. The vendor says 30,000+ physicians use it and that BAAs are in place. Its individual doctor tier is listed as free forever, which suits a single physician who wants a scribe without a budget conversation.
A neurosurgery service that wants patient communication after the visit today sees ScribeMD trail. Engage is Playback's lead product, while ScribeMD's Communication Hub is labeled beta by the vendor.
AI medical scribes · Reviewed November 2, 2026
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.
ScribeMD
by EE Dojo, Inc.
AI medical scribe that listens to visits, drafts clinical notes and syncs them to the EHR.
When to pick each one
Playback Health
- Patient-facing replayable care instructions via Engage
- Epic, eCW and NextGen direct integration listed
- 15+ languages with AI translation
ScribeMD
- Individual doctor tier listed as free forever
- Communication Hub in beta for intake and follow-ups
- BAAs in place for HIPAA, per the vendor
Score
Each row shows points earned of points available under the published rubric.
Playback Health
67of 100
ScribeMD
52of 100
| Dimension | Playback Health | ScribeMD | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| HIPAA / SOC2 / BAA | 13 / 13 | 13 / 13 | 0 |
| EHR integrations (count) | 14.7 / 21 | 10.5 / 21 | +4.2 |
| Top-3 EHR coverage (Epic / Oracle / Athena) | 12 / 12 | 12 / 12 | 0 |
| Bidirectional write-back | 0 / 5.2 | 0 / 5.2 | 0 |
| Peer-reviewed papers | 4.9 / 7 | 0 / 7 | +4.9 |
| RCT / meta-analysis / systematic review | 0 / 3 | 0 / 3 | 0 |
| Funding & adoption signal | 3 / 12 | 3 / 12 | 0 |
| Pricing transparency | 2.5 / 5 | 5 / 5 | -2.5 |
| Years in market | 6 / 6 | 0 / 6 | +6 |
Scroll horizontally to see every column.
Pricing
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. |
ScribeMD
| Tier | Monthly | Annual | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual doctor | n/a | n/a | Free forever, no credit card required. The pricing page does not state what the free tier limits. |
| Enterprise | n/a | n/a | No public price. Custom per organization for groups, clinics and health systems, with no trial clock or visit limits, a custom contract and a BAA. |
Evidence
Playback Health
ScribeMD
No FDA decision, peer-reviewed study or community post in our record.
Compliance and integrations
Documented from each vendor’s own pages.
| Spec | Playback Health | ScribeMD |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | ||
| HIPAA | ||
| SOC 2 Type II | ||
| EHR integrations | Epic, Cerner, Allscripts, athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, NextGen, Meditech, DrChrono | Epic, Cerner, athenahealth, Veradigm |
| Founded | 2018 | n/a |
| HQ | US | n/a |
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.