which focused on five initiatives to promote
eHealth in General Practice:
1. Health identifiers
2. Secure Message Delivery
3. Data Coding
4. Electronic Transmission of
a number of major SMD providers (including
Healthlink, Argus and Referralnet) to work
together has seen the establishment of the
SMX network, which will allow seamless
delivery between users of these systems.
SMD, PCEHR, and ETP deal with the
external IT-data environment. Practices
must also address their internal IT initiatives
in order to take advantage of the improved
efficiencies and services now available.
levels of customer service, especially in
line with access to the practice. They don't
necessarily have to be able to speak with
someone, but being able to lodge a request or
query at their convenience, to be answered
by the practice in a reasonable timeframe,
is expected. It's also important to consider
that if your practice is being contacted
electronically, you need to be able to
respond electronically.
two years ago, SMS appointment reminders
were uncommon in general practice. These
days a significant number of practices have
initiated SMS and they are now accepted as a
normal part of practice operations. We need
to be aware of the tools and technology being
practice development.
your practice:
marketplace and are now integrated with
the majority of prominent software vendors
(e.g. HCN, Best Practice, Zedmed and Genie).
There are two types of systems:
1. Those that act as a type of `WOTIF',
available appointment at a specific
location or clinic. This enables
practices to target new patients and
manage availability across doctors
and resources, as the appointment
is not provider-specific.
doctor at their practice. Most of these
systems require some form of patient
registration to allow integration to the
electronic appointment schedule.
benefits for your staff and your patients.
For instance, do you need credit-card
confirmation to secure the online
appointment, so as to reduce any FTA and
subsequent loss of income? Utilising online
appointments provides your patients or
potential patients with 24/7 access to your
practice, without you needing to `employ' a
receptionist to book appointments outside
of your normal practice hours.
dictation of letters to text, but also speech
to text for consultation notes programs are
available that directly import into Medical
Software. This can provide an economical