Health fund claim emails and dental AI security: what a rebate query gives away in ChatGPT or Claude.

Dental practices write to health funds when a rebate is unclear, a claim is rejected or a patient asks what they will get back. The practice manager is under time pressure, the fund’s rules are fiddly, and the email is a natural thing to give to ChatGPT or Claude to draft and make polite. It carries the member’s number, the treatment and its fee, other patients in the same batch, the practice’s bank details and often something a patient said in confidence about their cover. This page marks every item in a routine fund email that the Privacy Act and the Code of conduct bear on, and shows how the same email is drafted on Ermos inside the practice.

The health fund claim email

Sent by the practice manager to a health fund’s provider team when a rebate needs confirming before treatment or a claim has been rejected. The patient has authorised the practice to claim, but only for the claim.

An invented email. The practice, fund and patients are fictional; the member numbers, provider number, phone number and bank details are placeholders (ABN 51 824 753 556 is the ATO’s published example). Hover or tap any highlighted item for the analysis; the full list is below.

What leaves the practice

1. 1
   A named patient, her member number and the treatment

   Identity, fund membership and a procedure with its date and fee. Personal information, and health information because it describes treatment given in providing a health service. Patient data guide.

2. 2
   A patient’s intention to cancel her cover

   What a patient said about her own cover, repeated to the fund. Confidential to her and to the practice, and sent to an AI tool it reaches a third party. Privacy Act guide.

3. 3
   Three other patients in the same batch

   Names, member numbers and treatments for patients who are not the subject of the email. Their health information, in a message about someone else. Patient data guide.

4. 4
   A patient’s request about contact

   Resubmission instructions and a request not to phone a patient at home while a pathology result is pending. Sensitive information about an investigation of a patient’s health. Patient data guide.

5. 5
   Bank details and ABN of the practice

   Where the money goes. The practice’s own information, and the kind of detail used in payment-redirection scams.

6. 6
   The provider number

   The practice’s identifier with the fund. Used to authenticate claims and not personal to any patient.

7. 7
   The request for confirmation

   Generic wording asking the fund to confirm in writing. The practice’s own template and nothing about any patient.

8. 8
   The sender

   A named practice manager with a direct line. Ties the message to the practice and to a person who handles patient data.

What happens in Frontier Models (ChatGPT, Claude)

• The whole document is transmitted to the provider’s servers. On personal plans the user cannot choose where it is stored or processed, and for the major providers that has generally meant outside Australia, under that country’s legal process. Some business plans offer storage in Australia, but the provider still receives the content.
• On consumer tiers, prompts can be retained and used to train future models.
• The provider’s staff and systems can reach the content under the provider’s own policies.
• Once sent, the practice no longer controls it. Retention and deletion happen on the provider’s terms.

The same document on Ermos

Part of AI data leakage in dental practices.

Common questions