Patient text messages and AI data leakage: what an SMS thread gives away in ChatGPT or Claude.

Reception teams use text messages to recall patients, confirm appointments and chase results, and patients reply with more than they should. A short thread can hold the patient’s name and number, the doctor, a hint about a test, a fear, a family history and an instruction about who sees the screen. Staff paste threads into ChatGPT or Claude to draft the next message or summarise the contact for the file. This page marks every item in a routine recall thread that the Privacy Act and the NSW health records law bear on, and shows how the same thread is handled on Ermos inside the practice.

The appointment and recall SMS thread

Sent by reception when a doctor asks for a patient to be recalled, usually after a result. Patients reply by text, often from work or from a device other people can see.

An invented SMS thread. The mobile number and the practice phone number are placeholders. Hover or tap any highlighted item for the analysis; the full list is below.

What leaves the practice

1. 1
   The patient and his mobile number

   A name and a number that tie the whole thread to one person. Personal information, and health information because it was collected in providing a health service. Privacy Act guide.

2. 2
   The doctor and the blood test

   That a named doctor wants to discuss a recent test with a named patient. Information about a health service provided to the patient, which section 6FA of the Privacy Act counts as health information. Patient data guide.

3. 3
   A worry, a workplace and a shared screen

   Where the patient is, that he is anxious and that his wife can read his messages. The detail that would let someone intercept the next text. Privacy Act guide.

4. 4
   The practice’s standard line about results

   The practice’s own rule on text messages, with its public number. Generic wording that identifies no patient.

5. 5
   A guess at the result and a family cancer history

   The patient names the test and the disease he fears, and a parent’s cancer. Health information about him and his father, in his own words. Patient data guide.

6. 6
   The appointment date, time and doctor

   When and with whom the patient will be seen. Information about a health service to be provided, which section 6FA counts as health information. Patient data guide.

7. 7
   The staff member and the practice sign-off

   A first name and the practice. It identifies who in the practice handled the patient and where.

8. 8
   An instruction about how to contact him

   The patient asks the practice to stop texting. His expressed wishes about contact, which the practice has to be able to follow. Privacy Act guide.

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 healthcare practices. See how this works in practice: Recall letters on Ermos.

Common questions