MediRecords 2.0: New ways to Care, Connect and Engage
 

MediRecords 2.0: New ways to Care, Connect
and Engage

MediRecords 2.0 is the most comprehensive overhaul of our electronic patient record and clinic management system since we launched in Australia in 2016. While there have been many product updates over the years, MediRecords 2.0 is designed to use screen space better, streamline workflows, reduce administrative burn-out and support shared care.

 

MediRecords Head of Product Jayne Thompson says, “Innovation is as important to us as it is to our customers”. The 2.0 product update reflects this philosophy, introducing best-in-class user experience design and other client-driven enhancements, while reinforcing the foundations for next generation digital health connectivity.  

Having grown beyond its origins as Australia’s pioneering, cloud-based practice management system, the MediRecords platform is now underpinned by three pillars: Care, Connect and Engage. Each of these will gain major new features during 2023.

 

Care

The MediRecords Care pillar contains core clinical features such as patient records, ePrescribing, appointment management, investigations, billing and claiming, correspondence, and assessments. New Care functionality will include: 

  • Case Management – Members of a designated Care Team can view and update client case notes. This is particularly valuable where care is shared between a multidisciplinary team working from separate locations or across different shifts. For example, mental health practitioners can collaborate with GPs and rehabilitation specialists as patients progress towards a safe return to work. 
  • Group appointments – Patients will be able to book and join group sessions or classes. This feature will enable group therapy, family consultations and community health programs, with providers able to message an entire group or individual group members. 
  • New mental health and readiness for work assessment templates are being added, including the Glasgow Coma Scale. 
  • Single provider view of appointments: Clinicians practising across multiple clinics won’t have to jump between them to view their appointments. Appointments across multiple sites will be consolidated in a single view. 
  • New communication capability: Real time chat with team members will be available throughout MediRecords, making it easier to message team members on the fly. Our new Comms bar will also provide shortcuts to SMS, email, alerts, and notifications. 
  • Inpatients – In a major new premium* feature, MediRecords will be able to support complex care, including inpatient admissions, detailed charting, clinical escalations, progress notes and Discharge Summaries. 
  • Our Letter writer tool is having a makeover and will be even easier to use, with highly requested new functionality, such as digital signatures. 
  • We’ve added industry-leading means of recording Consent (or denial of consent) and made it easier to add attachments to patient records. 
  • Custom fields and Tagging can be used in patient records, creating new and innovative ways to capture information, search records and report on data. 

 

Connect 

Many clients are familiar with our Connect site. MediRecords was an early adopter of FHIR (Fast Health Interoperability Resources) and API technology and new options for using these to share data are on the way. We have proven integrations with patient monitoring devices, patient-reported outcome and engagement measure systems (PROMs and PREMs), dictation technology and partner products. MediRecords is built on the SNOMED-CT-AU data coding system, which makes the data we share cleaner and primed for analytics. 

  • We now have FHIR integrations with enterprise products such as hospital patient administration systems (PAS) and scanned medical record software. This means a patient record created or updated in MediRecords can be pushed up into hospital systems, ensuring consistency of records and supporting better patient safety. Current options include allergies, medication requests and dispense notifications. 
  • New FHIR resources to be added throughout 2023 include referrals, diagnostic requests, diagnostic reports, and vital signs.  

 

Engage 

MediRecords has already connected over 60,000 patients to healthcare records via our patient mobile app. This enables consumers to book appointments, see medication information, receive reports and educational resources, and access and store personal health documents. We’re taking this to the next level in 2023 with an entirely new patient engagement platform. This will include new features such as:  

  • Real time surveys and forms 
  • Clinical assessment and observations data for remote monitoring 
  • In-appointment chat functionality 
  • Secure web access to personal health data. 

Frequently asked questions

MediRecords 2.0 is an overhaul of our current platform rather than a new product. All existing customers will transition to 2.0. Sticking with the old MediRecords format will not be an option.

We will perform the update remotely. Users won’t have to download or do anything.

We have done our utmost to preserve familiarity and usual behaviour within the MediRecords application, but the new layout may take some adjustment. To help with this, we have been providing Lunch and Learn sessions for clients. Please reach out to our training team if you have any further questions, training.success@medirecords.com.

Development will finish in March. Rigorous testing will follow before pilot sites switch to 2.0 in late April. Once we have considered their feedback, we’ll finalise the date for general release and shout it from the rooftops to let you know. 

If you are a current client, please contact your Account Manager if you would like to be a test pilot for these new features. Limited places are available.  

MediRecords 2.0 is an upgrade of your existing system and will be covered by usual licence fees. However, some of the optional new features will be Premium products and require additional fees. Details will be published as soon as possible. 

 

For other questions, please email support@medirecords.com.

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    Federal Government digital health upgrade grants on the way

    Federal Government digital health upgrade grants on the way

    Update: 24 April 2023

    New details are now available on the Strengthening Medicare General Practice Grants.

    Grants of $25,000, $35,000 or $50,000 are available depending on practice size. The grants will be administered by your local Primary Health Network (PHN) or the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO). To take advantage of this funding, complete a grant application sourced via your PHN or NACCHO.

     

    MediRecords welcomes the news that Federal Government grants aimed at helping to enhance digital health capability for Medicare general practices and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS) will become available from April. 

     

    General practices and ACCHS will be eligible for one-off grants of up to $50,000 for innovation, training, equipment, and minor capital works under three categories:

    1. Enhance digital health capability – Accelerate moves to a more connected healthcare system that meets future standards;
    2. Upgrade infection prevention and control arrangements – Ensure infectious respiratory disease (e.g. COVID, influenza) patients can be safely seen face-to-face; and/or
    3. Maintain and/or achieve accreditation against the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Standards for General Practice to promote quality and safety in health care.

    The grants were an election promise from then opposition leader Anthony Albanese in May 2022. The Strengthening Medicare – GP Grants Program was subsequently allocated $220 million in the October 2022 federal budget.

    Medicare general practice grants will be administered by local Primary Health Networks (PHNs) and ACCHS grants by the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO). Practices and health services owned or operated by a state, territory or local government agency are ineligible.

    MediRecords Chief Executive Officer Matthew Galetto welcomed the move and said he hoped it signalled a shift to better data connectivity between GPs and the broader health care system.

    “We would like to see incentives for general practices to switch to the cloud, given the environmental, security and interoperability benefits that flow from leaving behind legacy software and hardware systems.”

    Mr Galetto said the grants program was an opportunity for the Federal Government and PHNs to drive industry-wide reform and boost adoption of new technology platforms.

    “Just as PIP (Practice Incentives Program) grants helped shift GPs from paper-based systems to electronic, this grant funding should seek to do the same for next generation interoperable technology.”

    “This is bigger than improving the My Health Record. There is an opportunity to follow the United States example and provide genuine connectivity of digital health records for patients, from primary to tertiary care.”

    MediRecords is a true cloud electronic health record system featuring global standards-based interoperability and SNOMED-CT-AU clinical coding. MediRecords pioneered cloud practice management software in Australia and is now used by general practitioners, specialists, multidisciplinary clinics, hospitals, and government departments.

    Practices considering using their grant to upgrade to cloud clinical software are welcome to reach out to MediRecords. We provide onboarding services including training, data migration and configuration of electronic prescribing, telehealth integration, Medicare claiming and more.

     

     
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      NetMD – How MediRecords has taken the remoteness away from general practice

      How MediRecords has taken remoteness away from general practice.

      Andrew Dyson MR Connect

      Andrew Dyson, Digital Health Business Consultant

      NetMD are a medical centre with a difference. Their aim is to use modern technology to deliver general practice.

      NetMD do this, using MediRecords, Coviu and e-scripts, to offer medical teleconsultations online. Sixty percent of their consultations are now performed this way.


      The Challenge

      “I was working with Medical Director,” says NetMD general practitioner, Dr Leo Gunaseelan, “It cost $80 to $100K to install, plus a technician to fly from Cairns to do this at $3K a day, and yearly maintenance costs of $15 to $20K. With MediRecords I can manage everything myself, and I don’t need anyone’s help. I have freedom.”

      Dr Gunaseelan specialises in family medicine and rural medical care. He runs NetMD as an online teleconsulting service to ensure he is accessible to patients, no matter where they are based.

      “I have been working with MediRecords for five years,” says Dr Gunaseelan, “They are great, and have good support staff. MediRecords are fully cloud-based and I never need to take a day off. I have one week away a month and just work from wherever I am. That way, my patients don’t miss out on treatment.”


      How is MediRecords Used?

      Patients don’t need any special equipment to access NetMD services– just a phone, and a mobile or internet signal.

      “Patients love it,” says Dr Gunaseelan, “You don’t need high quality internet- just a satellite signal will do. Patients don’t need to come into the practice. I can provide my services to them from anywhere in the world, and it’s working well.”

      Dr Gunaseelan has been practicing for over 30 years, throughout rural New Zealand, Europe and the remote mining regions of Australia.

      “My work with Rio Tinto involves looking after patients from Tasmania and remote Queensland. I can train medical staff in the mines to use and read the medical equipment, and then I can read the results from wherever I am. Remoteness has been taken away.”

      Patients can also book consultations on the NetMD website and use the MediRecords app to access test results straight away.

      “The app is the main point of difference,” says Dr Gunaseelan, “I have 3,000 patients, and they all use it and check it regularly. Before, I had a nurse, who was only looking after recalls by phone and mail. Now I don’t need her- I just click a couple of buttons and a text is sent to my patient with a link to make an appointment. It’s as perfectly simple as that.”

      In addition, MediRecords provides health to visitors to Dr Gunaseelan’s general practice.

      “I look after about 15,000 tourists every year,” says Dr Gunaseelan, “In two minutes they have the prescription they need emailed to their phone. They always say, ‘wow, why don’t we have this at home?’”


      Looking Forward

      Dr Gunaseelan is so pleased with MediRecords that he plans to expand the reach of his services.

      “I want to widen the breath of services we offer online, with payments being made available online, and I’m also working to integrate a YouTube channel by the end of next year,” says Dr Gunaseelan, “I want to extend my services to Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Samoa. I want to provide services for people that don’t have access. I have always wanted to do this, I just didn’t know how.”

      “It’s a great program,” says Dr Gunaseelan, “If I could, I would promote MediRecords to anyone. They improve general practice immensely.”

      For more information on NetMD and Dr Gunaseelan’s work visit netmd.com.au.

      To find out how MediRecords can support your organisation to expand into virtual care and telehealth services, you can contact Michael Alldrick on email at michael@medirecords.com.

      Andrew Dyson MR Connect

      Andrew Dyson, Digital Health Business Consultant

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        MediRecords Product Update August 2021
         

        MediRecords Product Update: August 2021

        Fee Bidder - Headshot cropped

        Fee Bidder, Junior Product Owner

        See what we’ve been working on and released over the last month...

        We are excited to announce the recent changes and updates we have released into the Medirecords product. Below you will find a summary of each of the changes we have made. 

        Increased File Size Upload Limit

        The file size limit has been increased across MediRecords, to allow you to upload larger file sizes. This change affects the following areas within MediRecords:

        • Clinical Drawings (Patient Clinical & Resources)
        • Patient Clinical – New Correspondence In
        • Patient Clinical – Correspondence Out (imported documents)
        • Secure Messaging Inbox
        • Secure Messaging Outbox
        • Investigation Results
        • Bulk Scan Upload
        • Referrals

        Provider Number Added to Health Professionals Grid

        You may now view the provider number for a contact from within the Health Professionals grid within Resources. 

        Interested Parties & Usual GP Mail Merge Fields Added

        New mail merge fields have been added to the letter editor, so you may now import a patient’s Interested Parties and Usual GP directly from the patient’s record. These fields are found within the Patient table when editing a template or letter. When using these fields, the following will occur:

        Interested Parties:

        • The Provider’s name and Provider Number will be imported (if recorded against the Contact record).
        • The Category of Referrer will display if the party were recorded in the Referral section in Patient Details.
        • Any notes recorded for the Interested Parties will be displayed in the Details field.

        Usual GP:

        • The Interested Party marked as the patient’s Usual GP in their Interested Parties will be displayed.

         

        Search by Provider Number on Health Professionals Grid

        You may now search by a provider by entering their provider number into the search bar available at the top of the Health Professionals grid. Results will be returned when you have entered a minimum of 3 characters from the beginning of the provider number. 

        Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS21) EPC Template Added

        The DASS21 form is now available as an EPC template within the consultation window. Answering the questions will provide a scoring for each category, and an overall scoring with appropriate diagnosis.

         

        Chronological Appointment Agenda View

        The Agenda view in Appointments will now display all appointments in chronological order, rather than grouping the appointments by provider. This improvement aims to improve the Agenda’s usefulness when looking to see the appointments booked for a certain patient, or provider.

         

        Stickiness Implemented in Contacts Area

        When searching in the Health Professionals or Service Provider grids, you will no longer lose your search term after opening and closing a record. This assists with finding the correct contact record where a contact may have multiple records for different locations.

         

        Stickiness in Filters Applied for Tasks/Activities

        When applying filters within the Tasks/Activities window, you will now be able to apply separate filters for each patient.

        These changes have come about from customers like you, who have given us their feedback.  MediRecords is committed to continuous improvement to allow for ease of use of our product, so if you have any feedback, please let your account manager know!

        See you next month for more exciting new features and functions within MediRecords.

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        Fee Bidder, Junior Product Owner

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          MediRecords Product Update July 2021

          MediRecords Product Update: July 2021

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          Fee Bidder, Junior Product Owner

          See what we’ve been working on and released over the last month...

          We are excited to announce the recent changes and updates we have released into the Medirecords product. Below you will find a summary of each of the changes we have made. 

          Observations Improvements

          Improvements have been made to the Observations function, so that all observations may now appear within the timeline graph view, rather than a selected amount, improving visibility of a patient’s health over time.

           

          Percentile Value Added to Observations Grid

          The PCT value will now display within the Observations grid when the Percentile tick-box has been selected.

           

          Added Hover Information to Timeline View

          Hovering over an entry in the Observation Timeline view will now display the percentile value, the user who created the entry, and the date of entry.

          Appointment Book Username Update

          Provider usernames have been updated within the Appointment Book to display First and Surname. If a status has been added to the provider and their full name exceeds the character limit, then only the provider’s surname will be displayed alongside the status.

          Given Field Added to Immunisations Grid

          The Given Field is now available within the Immunisation Grid, so you may tell at a quick glance whether an immunization was given elsewhere, given within the clinic, or if the immunization was declined.

           

          Practice Wide Patient Chat

          Users may now view all chat threads on a Patient Record Dashboard, regardless of who created the chat message or received it. This ensures that all chat correspondence is available on the Patient Record for all users.

           

          Comments Added to Investigations Grid

          Now when viewing the Investigations grid, you may see any Comments that have been added to a result item. A preview of the comments will be displayed where space allows, and hovering over the preview will show the entire comment.

           

          My Health Record Fields Added to Encounter Form

          Checkboxes have been added to the Encounter Form, for “Uploaded to My Health Record”, and “Health Summary Sent to GP”, for practices using My Health Record functionality.

           

          Activities Filter Change

          Activities will now be ordered by earliest due date first in both the patient record and within the Activities/Tasks window, to improve the prioritisation of Activities.

           

          New Print Letter Button Location within Letter Editor

          The Print button has been moved from within the More menu, to it’s own button above the letter, to improve the speed of printing letters.

           

          Fee Schedule Updates

          The following fund schedules have been successfully uploaded into Medirecords, and are available immediately. 

          • AHSA
          • BUPA
          • BUPA Diagnostic
          • DVA
          • HBF
          • Medibank Private
          • Mildura Health
          • NIB
          • St Luke’s

          These changes have come about from customers like you, who have given us their feedback.  MediRecords is committed to continuous improvement to allow for ease of use of our product.

          See you next month for more exciting new features and functions within MediRecords.

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          Fee Bidder, Junior Product Owner

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            MediRecords Product Update June 2021

            MediRecords Product Update: June 2021

            Fee Bidder - Headshot cropped

            Fee Bidder, Junior Product Owner

            See what we’ve been working on and released over the last month...

            We are excited to announce the recent changes and updates we have released into the Medirecords product. Below you will find a summary of each of the changes we have made. 

            Batch and Expiry Fields Added to Custom Drug Recipes

            When creating or editing a drug recipe, you may now add your own batch number and expiry. Once a drug has passed the expiry date set within the recipe, you will not be able to prescribe this drug again.

             

            Alcohol and Smoking Indicators in Patient Screen

            You may now review the alcohol and smoking status of a patient easily, due to 2 new icons added to the patient field. Provided a patient has their alcohol and smoking status recorded within the Tobacco and Alcohol sections of the patient file, these icons will be displayed beside the patient’s date of birth. Hovering over these icons will provide additional information.

             

            Unchecked Mail within Patient Record

            Now when you click on the unchecked mail icon within the patient record, you will be directed to the appropriate result or secure message in question for quick review.

             

            Additional Claim Type – Scheme – AGC (Access Gap Cover)

            Scheme-AGC has been added as a default claim type within the ECLIPSE configuration window found within Preferences > ECLIPSE. More information on the Access Gap Cover claiming process can be found here: https://www.ahsa.com.au/web/doctors/agc

             

            Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) July

            During July, Medicare released a schedule containing a significant number of item number removals, modifications, and additional items. This has been successfully uploaded into Medirecords, and be used immediately. The majority of the changes were related to Telehealth, Cardiac & Orthopaedic item numbers. For more information on the MBS changes, please view the Medicare website.

            These changes have come about from customers like you, who have given us their feedback.  MediRecords is committed to continuous improvement to allow for ease of use of our product.

            See you next month for more exciting new features and functions within MediRecords.

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            Fee Bidder, Junior Product Owner

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              MediRecords Product Update May 2021

              Product Update May 2021

              MediRecords Product Update: May 2021

              Megan Harker

              Megan Harker, Support Team Lead

              See what we’ve been working on and released over the last few weeks...

              Telehealth Appointments Now Supported by Appointment Widget

              We’ve also introduced some changes to the way our Appointment Widget supports Telehealth Appointments.  These appointments can now be made online and the link for the appointment will be sent to the patient in their confirmation SMS. 
              Please ensure your Telehealth appointments are configured correctly to appear on your website’s widget.  

               

              Free Text Start Time 

              We’ve introduced the ability to free text appointment times when making or editing appointments.  The new function lets you type into the appointment time field more specific start times, and also allows you to use 24 hour time which then converts to an AM or PM time in the appointment book.  

               

              Filter Letters and Templates

              You can now add a filter within the MediRecords Letter Templates search table to indicate that you want to search within your favourites.  This will allow you to create a search within only your preferred resources.

               

              Resources are now Alphabetized

              Letters and favourites are now alphabetized in the letter editor, meaning ease of use for our customers.

              New Fields Added to Provider Billing Activity Reports

              To allow for greater visibility, two new fields have been added to the Provider Billing Activity Report.  ADJ – which shows the amount of adjustments or write offs to the invoice and Outstanding which allows for more visibility of the amount outstanding on the invoice.

              Configure Button Has Moved

              We’ve recently moved the Configure option from the More menu to a button on the sub menu when setting up new users.  This will reduce the amount of clicks needed to configure new staff for practices.

               

              Letter Writer Improvements

              Several new fields have been added to the letter writer mail merge library including reason for visit, notes associated with medical conditions including current, past and selected, preferred name and all providers.

               

              Patient Header 

              The hover state on the patient header is now shown in full without having to scroll up or down.

              Drug Recipe

              Your custom drug recipes now support more than 6 ingredients.

              Unread Mail Indicator

              On the patient record there is now an alert to show if this patient has any unread correspondence in any of the provider’s inboxes.  Click here to learn more.

               

              Prescribing Approval Process

              Prescribed authority prescriptions functionality has been improved with additional information now displayed on the approval screen including: Hotline Number, Patient Name, Patient Medicare Number, Patient DVA, Prescriber Number, Authority Form No and Authority item.

              These changes have come about from customers like you, who have given us their feedback.  MediRecords is committed to continuous improvement to allow for ease of use of our product.

              See you next month for more exciting new features and functions within MediRecords.

              Megan Harker

              Megan Harker, Support Team Lead

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                Feedback from GPs on the Front Line

                Feedback from GPs on the front line:
                How does the budget announcement respond to the challenges identified in the Aged Care Royal Commission?

                Michelle O'Brien Profile Picture

                Michelle O'Brien, Head of Strategy

                Following the Royal Commission into Quality and Safety in Aged Care, $365.7 million has been allocated to improve the care and quality of the aged care system in the 2021 budget

                While the new funding model clearly caters for employment in residential aged care facilities, what is less clear is how it may fund technology in the aged care sector.

                We asked two GP’s, who have been using the MediRecords Cloud EMR, for feedback on some of the challenges they have faced providing care to residents in an Aged Care setting and what they believe needs to change. Both have highlighted the important roles that cloud technology and interoperability must play, by improving outcomes for patients by breaking down barriers to accessing care and to delivering a single source of truth.

                The Doctors

                Dr Paresh Dawda, Principal of Prestantia Health, is a General Medical Practitioner, academic and researcher with expertise in clinical leadership, quality and patient safety improvement. He is piloting video consultations with four residential aged care facilities to enhance access for unscheduled care needs.

                Dr Gaveen Jayarajan has 13 years working in general practice, including four years working in both public and private hospitals throughout Australia. He has experience in both corporate and clinical governance for patient safety and quality care.

                Improvements to Funding Models

                “The funding model of primary care in Australia is predominantly a fee for service model and requires face-to-face visits from the GP. It does not provide much opportunity for a team-based approach to care,” says Dr Paresh Dawda, “A large amount of activity to effectively deliver care of those in residential aged care facilities can be undertaken in a safe way, remotely; however, current funding does not provide rebates for non face-to-face care delivery. This limits the level of innovation we can undertake.”

                “There are definitely improvements that could be made to funding models to assist general practitioners in providing virtual and in-person care,” says Dr Gaveen Jayarajan. “Telephone, telehealth and mental health item numbers have helped, giving a Medicare Benefits Scheme (MBS)-funded option when working remotely, but there is still a lot of non-Medicare rebated work done in aged care that we don’t do as much when working in medical centres.”

                “The use of telehealth for specialist consultations is an opportunity to improve access to specialist for residents of residential aged care facilities,” says Dr Dawda, “The current MBS item numbers for telehealth are too restrictive and not fit for purpose. There is not one right model, so a blended payment model is needed.”

                Aged Care Policies

                Reforms to the policies and processes in the aged care sector have also been called out as an area not funded in the federal budget, but not everyone agrees.

                “The continuity model of care is still the most predominant in aged care, but is increasingly challenging from a financial sustainability and value perspective, “ says Dr Dawda, “Healthcare delivery systems need to be reengineered with care organised around either discrete conditions or in primary care defined population types. This is the model of care that Prestantia Health is evolving.”

                “Altering case conference item number criteria would help significantly and improve family engagement and communication,” says Dr Jayarajan, “An annual lump sum payment to compensate for this work would also help. This would also provide a significant financial impetus for residential aged care facility work. It would have immediate impact, rather than large wide-sweeping changes.”

                Can cloud infrastructure help?

                Cloud infrastructure can deliver better healthcare systems at a lower cost, but funding is again not aligned. This is stopping models of care that lead to better outcomes for patients.

                “We believe that our model of care is having a positive impact and are collating data to evaluate benefits and viability of the model,” says Dr Dawda, “The use of a shared cloud based electronic health record, with reminders and recalls, supports informational continuity of care between team members. Those residential aged care facilities that use electronic records vary in that some can only be accessed on site using a terminal, a personal device if connected to secure Wi-Fi, remotely through complex VPN solutions or using a browser. The latter enables greatest effectiveness and efficiency from a general practitioner perspective as it enables us to copy and paste the clinical record from our clinical system into that of the residential aged care facilities.”

                 

                “I believe the future of aged care is in greater technology adoption across all care settings,” says Dr Jayarajan. “Residential aged care facilities need to move to cloud-based administrative, clinical and medication management software. This software is interoperable with cloud-based general practitioner software and data can seamlessly be pulled and pushed between each other. All of this is built to be viewable on any device, particularly smartphones. Smart sensors are built into every residents room to provide early detection of emerging risks.”

                New Models of Care

                Ideally, the future of the aged care sector will include technology that assists delivery of care, regardless of the setting.

                My vision is for a model of care that includes team based care, is general practitioner led, goals orientated and measured by patient reported measures,” says Dr Dawda, “It uses purposeful interoperable technology, models that value non-face to face activity and is and integrated record with interoperability. Clinical decision support systems that are intelligent, virtual care and a flexible funding model are key.”

                “Remote care through telehealth by general practitioners and specialists becomes more routine and more easily facilitated with technology,” says Dr Jayarajan, “As does the ability for general practitioners to make house calls.”

                What about other GPs?

                As a group, general practitioners are making their views known publically in the hope of influencing reform in the aged care sector. Key recommendations from the ‘Doctors in Aged Care’ Facebook group include:

                1. Formation of local ‘Clinical Governance Committees’ at each residential aged care facility with direct feedback of outcomes and actions to senior management and general practitioner participation
                2. Accreditors to obtain feedback from general practitioners at their visits
                3. Mandatory admission case conference for all new residents followed by an annual case conference thereafter utilising existing Medicare item numbers
                4. General practitioner invitation and involvement in additional case conferences held during the year as clinically indicated, with amendment to Medicare item numbers 735, 739, 743, 747, 750 and 758 to facilitate increased utilisation
                5. All residential aged care providers to move to full electronic health records, with a preference for cloud-based software, for their residents within two years.
                6. Introduction of new Medicare item numbers for general practitioners visiting residential aged care facilities for telehealth consultations directly with facility nurses and family members regarding their patients
                7. Retention in full of the Aged Care Access Incentive
                8. Amending of Medicare descriptors for aged care attendance item numbers – items 90020, 90035, 90043 and 90051 – to allow for the full work required for the consultation.
                 
                 

                What steps does the budget take?

                The 2021 budget announcement aims to benefit more than 240,000 Australians living in residential aged care through a $365.7m investment. This is split as follows, as found here:

                1. $42.8 million to boost the Aged Care Access Incentive from 1 July 2021 to increase face-to-face servicing by general practitioners (GPs) within residential aged care facilities.
                2. $37.3 million in additional funding for the Greater Choice for At Home Palliative Care initiative to expand to all 31 Primary Health Networks, from the 11 Primary Health Networks previously participating in the pilot.
                3. $178.9 million for Primary Health Networks to utilise their regional expertise and on the ground capabilities to support the health of senior Australians. This will enable:
                  • telehealth care for aged care residents
                  • enhanced out of hours support for residential aged care
                  • dementia pathways to support assessment and referral, and
                  • early monitoring and identification of health needs to support people to live at home for longer.
                4. $23.6 million is being provided to build a better data and evidence base to enable the Government to conduct workforce and other planning.
                5. $45.4 million to address widespread issues associated with poor medication management in residential aged care
                 

                Whilst there is some mention of digital health services such as telehealth, and potential references to remote patient monitoring, what is missing is the provision for interoperable patient management platforms. As outlined by Dr Dawda and Dr Jayarajan, connecting the aged care facility, primary care and acute setting will be crucial to providing the required care and keeping patients out of hospital.

                If you are interested in finding out more about how MediRecords’ cloud EMR product, ConnectEMR, can support you, get in touch with me via michelle.obrien@medirecords.com.

                Michelle O'Brien Profile Picture

                Michelle O'Brien, Head of Strategy

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                  MediRecords Product Update March 2021

                  Product Update March 2021

                  MediRecords Product Update: March 2021

                  Megan Harker

                  Megan Harker, Support Team Lead

                  Big things have been happening in MediRecords already in 2021.
                  New year, new staff and new features!

                  Active Ingredient Prescribing

                  The mandatory Active Ingredient Prescribing was instated on Feb 1stMediRecords released its’ new functionality in anticipation of this legislation and user may have found a slight change to their workflows.    

                  Each prescription is now printed with the Active Ingredient of the medication, as well as the brand name if chosen.  There are exemptions from the requirement, and the full article can be found on our Knowledge Base here.

                  Ability to add GAP to Agreements 

                  Users can now add GAPs to Agreement invoices to transmit through Eclipse.  
                  Health Funds such as Bupa and HBF only accept claims through the Agreement channel, and prior to this update, a gap was unable to be added onto the invoices transmitted through this channel.

                   

                  Date of Service field is now seen in Unclaimed Amount

                  Previously the screen only showed the invoice date for all unbatched invoices in this area, meaning the user needs to click into each invoice to check the date of service.  But no more! We’ve updated the screen to also include the date of service as well as the invoice date for ease of use.  

                   

                  Theatre List Report 

                  Specialists have access to a new report that contains information about their Procedures for a particular date. This can be found in More > Reporting > Patients > Theatre List Report. 

                   

                  Investigations Defaults 

                  Users can now adjust their preferences for which menu defaults in Investigations between All Requests and their Favourites. 
                  This can be configured in the user preferences 

                  Changes to Resource and Contact Creations 

                  We’ve made some changes recently to the way resources and contacts are saved in MediRecords.  

                   Previously there were three areas to save your contacts and resources: 

                  • Private – only the creator can see  
                  • Practice – only those in the Practice can see  
                  • Community – All MediRecords users can see 

                  We have removed the ability to create Community resources and contacts to reduce the number of items in the grid when searching for these items.  Community contacts and templates will only be supplied by MediRecords 
                  If you have a suggestion or requirement for a resource that would be beneficial for other MR users, please contact the Support Team. 

                  Changes to Correspondence to the Patient App  

                  We’ve recently made some changes to the way correspondence is sent to patients via the app.  The only correspondence sent to the app will be those that are marked as FINAL.  Anything in DRAFT will not be shared.   

                  Multiple Patient Billing 

                  Did you know MediRecords has the functionality to support multiple patient billing?  A function that would assist our users who service Residential Aged Care Facilities or any other clinics that see multiple patients for Medicare or DVA Bulk Billing.  
                  This function can be found in Accounts > Sales, or can be accessed through the patient grid.  

                  Contact our Support Team if you would like more information about Multiple Patient Billing.

                  Number of Ingredients in Drug Recipes Extended

                  For those practices who use Drug Recipes, you may have noticed that the ingredient listing has been extended to 6 ingredients from the previous 4.  This should make life a little easier for all our practices who use this function for comprehensive extemporaneous preparations.   

                  This change came about from feedback from a valued customer just like you! 

                   

                  If you need any help with any of these new features, or any others, then please don’t hesitate to contact our friendly support team via email at support@medirecords.com, on 1300 103 903 or through the chat function on your MediRecords webpage. 

                  Megan Harker

                  Megan Harker, Support Team Lead

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                    MediRecords Product Update November 2020

                    Product Update Spring 2020

                    MediRecords Product Update: November 2020

                    Product Update Spring 2020
                    Megan Harker

                    Megan Harker, Customer Support Coordinator

                    An Overview of the Spring 2020 Updates from MediRecords

                    You may have noticed in the last few months that MediRecords have been pumping out new features and updates fairly regularly. Here’s a quick overview of just some of the new functionality, in case you missed anything:

                     

                    Appointment Updates

                     

                    Tiles Re-Coloured and Appointment Information

                    We have introduced vibrant new colours in the appointment book to differentiate between appointment status. These can be seen if you ‘Appointment Colour Palette’ is set to ‘Status’.

                    The ‘Appointment Type’ is also displayed as text next to the patient name for extra visibility.

                    We have also introduced ‘Hover State’. This means you can now see the status of an appointment quickly and easily by hovering the mouse over the appointment.

                    Easier Access to Patient Records

                    You can now open a patient record from multiple areas of the appointments calendar, just by clicking their name. This feature can be found when hovering over an appointment, when viewing a provider’s calendar by month, and in the Agenda view.

                    More Appointment Types

                    We have also increased the number of different appointment types you can use. Filtering by ‘Inactive’ will reveal the editable tiles, with up to 60 different types of appointments.

                    You can find out more about editing Appointment Types here.

                    Improved Provider Filter

                    The Provider Filter has been adapted to reduce loading times. You can now easily search and select the providers that you want to see the calendars for by using the search box.

                    For more information on the Provider Filter and how to set your calendar defaults, see here.

                    Patient Appointment Search

                    Alongside the Provider Filter, we have implemented improvements to how you search for a patient’s appointments to include an ‘All Providers’ option, if the provider has not already been selected.

                    This ensures you don’t miss any appointment information.

                    Billing Updates

                    In-Patient Billing

                    Our in-patient billing functionality has had a huge overhaul and is continuing to be improved.

                    Health Fund schedules, including AHSA, being updated have been enhanced and derived items are now automatically calculated. We have also removed the automatically populated $400 gap that was being applied to every item, and keep an eye out for the ability to add a Gap payment to an Agreement early 2021. You can now also bill ‘In-Patient Invoices’ directly from the Calendar and Waiting Room.

                    Additionally, when invoicing from the Appointment screen, the invoice will populate with the service date automatically defaulting to the date of the appointment.

                    Improved Invoicing

                    Invoices have been improved to now include number item lines, and an item counter.

                    You can also choose ‘Immediate’ in your payment terms.

                    If you need any help with any of these new features, or any others, then please don’t hesitate to contact our friendly support team via email at support@medirecords.com, on 1300 103 903 or through the chat function on your MediRecords webpage.

                    Megan Harker

                    Megan Harker, Customer Support Coordinator

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