What’s happening in health?
 
 
 

July 9, 2024

What's happening in health?

As one of the biggest industries on the planet, there’s always something happening in healthcare. Here’s what has captured our attention recently.

Industry news

Private hospitals are facing tough times as costs of doing business keep rising while a major source of their revenue – private health insurers (PHI) – are seen to be holding tight to profits. The ill-will between PHI and private hospitals is best demonstrated by the battle between the St Vincent’s group and NIB, which is at breaking point.

Suggestions of a crisis in the private hospital sector are underlined by key players co-operating with a Federal Government review. Health Services Daily reports that, “79 facilities — including day surgeries, endoscopy centres, private hospitals, wound care centres, cosmetic surgery centres, dental centres, respiratory and sleep disorder clinics, dialysis clinics and mental health centres — have either closed or revoked their declaration as a private hospital since 2019”.

Internationally, post-pandemic use of telehealth has fallen and major retail chains who leapt into healthcare are back-pedalling. American companies Walmart and Walgreens winding back their health businesses (see What retail titans might do next on health care (axios.com)), makes us wonder how Healthylifeis going for Woolworths, locally.

The pressure to be profitable means most hospitals are searching for ways to reduce the costs of delivering care. Managing patients in their own beds may be cheaper than hospital beds and so the cash-strapped UK National Health Service has committed to scaling up virtual care.

If the NHS needs a success story to use as inspiration, the ever-innovative Cleveland Clinic is hailing its acute hospital care in the home program a success for patients and staff, while acknowledging further improvements are possible. For details, see Lessons from Cleveland Clinic’s 1st year of ‘hospital at home’ (beckershospitalreview.com).

Melbourne’s Austin Hospital has also committed to virtual wards as business as usual, particularly for cardiac and haematology patients.

And the Federal Government is funding virtual careto chip away at a barriers to accessing mental health inpatient care, (partly caused by a shortage of accessible psychiatrists).

Keeping it real on artificial intelligence

Investors seeking share-market alchemy remain bullish on Artificial Intelligence while potential end users want ethical, regulatory and security assurances to precede introduction of these potentially very useful new tools. The American Medical Association offers sensible tips on technology adoption here: In the push for AI in health care, avoid EHR rollout mistakes | American Medical Association (ama-assn.org)

As to the smorgasbord of AI news, here is an aperitif:

 

Source: Future Health Index 2024 Better care for more people

We're all healthcare consumers

We also keep a close watch on consumer health news, in the interest of all of us avoiding hospitalisation. Here are some insights aimed at keeping our engines running:

Evidence is mounting that good gut health boosts mental health and ability to handle stress. Stress: Could a healthy gut microbiome make you more resilient? (medicalnewstoday.com)

Multivitamins, however, might only contribute to expensive and colourful urine. Another Study Finds No Life-Extending Benefit From Multivitamins (healthday.com)

In other product news, the old advice (or excellent marketing) that taking aspirin reduces risk of heart attack appears to have been debunked – unless you have previously had a stroke or heart attack. American Adults Warned Over Aspirin Use Despite Risks – Newsweek

Stanford University research, published in the journal Nature Medicine, has identified six different types of depression, which has implications for better treatment and management of mental ill-health. 6 types of depression identified in Stanford study | CNN

And there are clear reasons to avoid COVID19 because the long form of the illness is particularly nasty. Report: More than 200 symptoms tied to long COVID | CIDRAP (umn.edu)

The last word

Police, prisons and hospital emergency departments are often the professionals most likely to be dealing with people experiencing acute mental ill health. Here’s a good news story of how technology and faster access to treatment can successfully divert people from EDs and custody – https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/outfitting-police-telehealth-ipads-mental-health-program-saves-government-62m?

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Feeling the heat at
Burning GP
 
 

June 17, 2024

Feeling the heat at Burning GP

MediRecords joined the sun-starved throng flocking to the Tweed for the Wild Health Burning GP conference last week.

Here are 10 takeaways from two days of robust and enlightening conversations.

1. GPs are divided on the impact of Urgent Care Centres (UCC)

Are nascent UCCs an attempt to woo voters in outer suburban marginal seats, a means to divert a few people from crowded hospital emergency departments… or an example of government spending that would be better invested in primary care? The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) past president Adj Prof Karen Price also pondered whether UCCs are turning away “non-urgent” patients and referring them back to their family GPs.

2. There’s a great divide between GPs and hospitals

Healthdirect Australia is trialling a way to send NSW hospital discharge summaries to GPs and patients and Queensland discharge summaries are uploaded to The Viewer … but the data disconnect between primary and tertiary care remains vast*.

Associate Professor Alam Yoosuff, the Rural Doctors Association NSW vice president, said GPs were often left in the dark about hospital outcomes for their patients.

“We don’t always know if person has died, been discharged, or been sent home with only six (tablets)… We know the system is not right. It may be better than other countries, but we know it should be even better, given what (governments) are spending.” 

– Associate Professor Alam Yoosuff, the Rural Doctors Association NSW vice president

Judging by the overall vibe at Burning GP, GPs feel much of the government cash spent on shiny new hospitals could be better spent on disease prevention led by community-based primary care practitioners.

3. Workforce scaling

The RACGP warned Australia has a “whole of health” workforce crisis, exacerbated by insufficient medical students coming through, so we’re going to have to import doctors, nurses and specialists from overseas. (The ever-resilient Health Department Assistant Secretary Medicare Benefits and Digital Health, Mr Daniel McCabe, said he preferred “critical juncture” to crisis, triggering a running joke for the entire conference.)

Grampians Health Chief Strategy & Regions Officer Dr Robert Grenfell said the shortage of GPs in western Victoria was so acute he was planning based on having none. He said: “If we have (GPs) I will use them” but it was now prudent to make alternative plans.

4. Medicare misery is multiplying

Several conference panels highlighted the challenges of determining the correct, optimally reimbursed Medicare item codes for complex consultations. Mr McCabe conceded all billable items are due for review, with an aspirational goal of improving access to healthcare for people who can least afford it.

5. Telehealth – supplementary or threat?

If young and tech-savvy consumers keep opting for online access to quick prescriptions, medical certificates and more, community GPs will be left with older, sicker, more complex clients, including those with mental ill health. Whitebridge Medical Centre owner Dr Max Mollenkopf said GPs needed to understand why consumers are switching to digital health companies such as Eucalyptus and adapt fast. He said, “Our old patients who love us will die off and all the young ones will be (Eucalyptus patients) unless we do something different.”

6. The numbers speak for themselves

The Australian National University Associate Professor (and GP) Louise Stone highlighted a 42% pay gap between men and women GPs. She said this was compounded by women GPs shouldering a majority of longer, underfunded consultations with complex patients, (who may have been released from hospital prematurely to reduce bed blockages).

7. But metrics may deceive

Associate Professor Stone cautioned that ‘evidence-based solutions’ in healthcare may not be what they seem. Analysis had shown the typical participant in clinical trials is a privileged white male, the researcher is likely to be a white urban male and even the average lab rat is a white furred male. This means clinical metrics may not be representative … and AI tools risk exaggerating biased data even further.

Evrima Technologies CEO and Founder Charlotte Bradshaw said that 80% of clinical trials are delayed in Australia because eligible people can’t be found and paired with researchers.

8. The My Health Record (MHR) will grow exponentially

Mr McCabe confirmed legislation is imminent to mandate sharing diagnostic imaging and pathology with the MHR. The government will also “push very hard” for every medication event – prescribing and dispensing – to be uploaded. The CSIRO-led Sparked community will need to lead the software industry to a FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) standard to achieve this. Mr McCabe said Australian healthcare was hamstrung by “a lot of technology built in the 1990s that is not fit for purpose”. The recent MediSecure data breach showed, “We need to make sure we set the bar a lot higher than it is today”.

9. Technology knowledge is variable

When you’re a time poor GP, technology is rarely top of mind. You just want it to work. GPs still need reassurance from healthcare influencers that cloud technology is as safe (or safer) than server-driven desktop tech and that switching brings cost and time savings on hardware, hosting, back-ups, security, software patches, electricity and more. As one GP said to us, “You mean I can sack my IT guy?”

As for innovations such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), there’s a sense that while there are time, safety, revenue and efficiency gains to be made, the early adopters and innovators will be waiting a while for their conservative colleagues to join them.

10. Summing up

Based on our conversations and observations at Burning GP, community general practitioners feel underfunded, overworked, undervalued, and under siege from telehealth providers and pharmacists. They’re a resilient mob though, and still passionately defending their role as number one for longitudinal patient care.

*MediRecords new Admissions module means we can provide a longitudinal record connecting primary and tertiary care in one secure, cloud-hosted software system. We can send Discharge Summaries from our Admissions module and store them against the central patient file. Please reach out to us at sales@medirecords.com if you’re trying to solve these types of connectivity problems!

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Solve Healthcare Challenges with MediRecords APIs
 
 

June 13, 2024

Solve Healthcare Challenges with MediRecords APIs

Effective management and secure sharing of clinical data are essential ingredients for providing safe, high-quality patient care.

However, healthcare providers often encounter challenges, from incompatible software systems to co-ordination issues among healthcare teams. In an effort to break down these barriers, MediRecords has developed a comprehensive suite of APIs to streamline data sharing processes and help improve patient outcomes.

FHIR APIs: Elevating data management in healthcare

MediRecords’ FHIR APIs give you better access to and control of your clients’ clinical data by facilitating the management and sharing of patient records. From encounters to prescriptions, allergies to immunisations, these APIs offer a robust way to handle diverse sets of patient information. By enabling interoperability between systems, FHIR APIs ensure that critical data is accessible whenever and wherever it’s needed.

Connect APIs: Seamless integration for enhanced patient care

Complementing our FHIR APIs, MediRecords’ Connect suite of proprietary REST APIs offers a tailored solution for managing patient administrative data and other crucial information. From appointments to practitioner sessions, these APIs facilitate seamless communication and coordination among healthcare providers, resulting in more efficient care delivery.

FHIR & MediRecords APIs

FHIR is the future standard for health data interoperability. MediRecords has enabled FHIR as a mechanism for secure data exchange, including with hospital systems.

MediRecords has various APIs, including:

Patient

Securely exchange patient data with 3rd party systems, import patient records or notes into your database, create surveys and web forms to update the patient database, and update patient files from remote hardware devices or services.

Appointments

Our platform offers medical integration & scheduling with 3rd party booking systems & the ability to sync multiple clinicians' calendars to improve patient flows. We also provide reporting software integration for recurrence & patient 'no-shows'.

Correspondence

Easily filter & arrange correspondence in MediRecords and third-party applications. Initiate reporting, create actions or follow-ups, and use webhooks to push correspondence triggers.

Configuration

Utilise 'custom fields' in patient records to introduce additional patient identifiers. You can also create, update, and delete tags to categorise patient records and improve searching and filtering.

Key challenges MediRecords can address through APIs
  1. Integrated appointment booking: You can eliminate scheduling conflicts and incomplete calendars by enabling patient booking and appointment management across systems. For example, external booking software can be used to populate your MediRecords appointments calendar.
  2. Secure communication of clinical information: Ensure effective and safe communication of clinical information through secure sharing of patient material, including referrals and medical certificates, with data clinically coded to SNOMED standards, aligning with industry best practices.
  3. Unified patient identifier: Overcome the challenge of duplicate patient records by sharing a unique patient identifier across systems, thus ensuring synchronized and accurate patient information. This identifier becomes the key to making sure systems and data are in synch.
  4. Consolidated patient record data: Provide a consolidated view of extended patient details by integrating patient demographics, allergies, conditions, and family history across systems. For example, if a patient’s details are updated in MediRecords, you can use APIs and webhooks to make sure these same details are updated in a separate client management system (CMS).
  5. Closed-loop medication ordering: Enhance medication management by monitoring orders from prescription to dispensing, thereby minimising errors and disruptions in patient treatment plans. An example is the sending of evidence of prescription from MediRecords into a hospital enterprise system, creating a single source of truth for medication history. MediRecords has done this at Northern Health in Melbourne, to support Victorian Virtual Emergency Department prescribing workflows.
  6. Integrated case management and shared care: Improve collaboration among healthcare teams by integrating episode of care details, ensuring a more coordinated approach to patient management. Updating the status of allergies and investigation requests, for example, can increase safety and reduce risk of duplicated procedures.
  7. Flexible data capture and retrieval: Offering flexibility in capturing and retrieving custom data through custom fields within MediRecords, tailored to specific practice needs. 

Learn more about the problems MediRecords APIs can solve here.  

MediRecords’ APIs represent a significant step forward in addressing the complex challenges faced by healthcare providers today. By offering robust solutions for data management, communication, and collaboration, these APIs empower healthcare teams to deliver safer patient care in an increasingly interconnected healthcare landscape. With a commitment to innovation and efficiency, MediRecords will continue to expand our means of securely sharing the data needed for the future of healthcare delivery.

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The power to prescribe:
Who should have it?
 
 

May 22, 2024

The power to prescribe:
Who should have it?

A couple of weeks ago at a media conference, a Pharmacy Guild representative was photographed wearing a stethoscope over his white smock. The image triggered an adverse reaction among GPs; some asked how a pharmacist would use the instrument, others whether the event was a costume party.

The heated response suggests the national conversation over whether pharmacists should be able to extend their limited prescribing rights is gaining heat, rather than cooling. So what’s the debate all about? Let’s look at the key parties and what they say is at stake.

Party one: Pharmacists (represented by The Pharmacy Guild of Australia and Pharmaceutical Society of Australia)

Many pharmacies already offer vaccination services and support for chronic disease management. Trials have been conducted in several states, focused on providing assistance to people with conditions such as urinary tract infections (UTIs).

Pharmacists believe they can do even more to assist Australians who need help with common conditions and will be coming to them to collect medications anyway.

Backed by the Queensland government, the Guild initiated the North Queensland Pharmacy Scope of Practice Pilot, pencilling it for December 2023 and kicking it off in April 2024. Under the pilot, conditions pharmacists can now treat include acne, hay fever and eczema. For the full list, see About the pilot | Queensland Health. 

The Queensland Government has since moved to make the North Queensland pilot statewide.

Party two: Governments

Governments are trying to solve a supply and demand problem. It’s hard to get a GP appointment just about anywhere — and generally harder the further you are from a state capital.

Queensland Premier Steven Miles said: “Our Government is committed to making sure Queenslanders can access good quality healthcare, no matter where they live across the state.

“We know our hardworking pharmacists are more than capable to deliver these services – for common health conditions – and divert people away from our emergency departments and GPs.

“I am really proud that Queensland is leading the nation with this initiative.”

Queensland Health states: “Pharmacists are highly qualified and trusted members of our healthcare teams. Providing pharmacists with additional clinical training and supporting them to practice to their full scope, will enable them to help and support their local communities.”

Party three: General Practitioners (represented by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACP) and Australian Medical Association)

Doctors say that medications cannot be safely prescribed without a holistic, longitudinal view of the patient’s medical history, as best understood by their usual GP. They say the pilot puts vulnerable people at risk and that a previous trial allowing pharmacists to prescribe antibiotics for UTIs led to incorrect diagnoses and serious conditions going untreated, increasing overall healthcare costs.

Party four: Healthcare consumers (represented by you and I)

While most people prefer a long term relationship with a GP who knows you and your family, getting an appointment when you need it isn’t always easy or affordable. Some people go to hospital emergency departments (or virtual versions) for free help.

Other consumers are opting for convenience, using telehealth providers that offer quick access to scripts and more, but might not have time to hear your health history, (if you can remember it). For this group of consumers, getting help from the pharmacy you’re going to anyway, may be a no-brainer. However, the services are not free. Fees of up to $55 per pharmacist consultation may limit take-up.
Those with multiple or complex conditions are likely to have to wait for the next available appointment with their GP and hope for a cancellation to get in sooner.

Sparring partners

Back in March, the Medical Software Industry Association promised a ‘ding dong battle’ between the Guild, the RACGP and government, placing three key representatives on stage together in Melbourne.

Pharmacy Guild Victorian president Anthony Tassone said the prescribing issue was not about “pharmacists being GPs. It’s about pharmacists being the best professionals they can be…. solving problems for patient benefits.”

RACGP past president Dr Karen Price said she was concerned about the ‘taskification’ of general practice, which hindered longitudinal care. Dr Price said it can take 45 minutes to explore a patient’s medication history before writing an appropriate script. She said a UTI is a “retrospective diagnosis where there may be other issues that can’t be picked up by a pharmacist”.

Representing the Federal Department of Health and Aged Care, First Assistant Secretary (Medicare Benefits and Digital Health Division) Daniel McCabe said Australia faced “acute workforce challenges” and governments were trying to unlock the full potential of professionals who could deliver, “true multidisciplinary care”.

Dr Price said multidisciplinary care was great in hospitals and, while desirable, underfunded and challenging in general practice where, “the people who most need care can least afford it”.

Mr Tassone said doctors and pharmacists were all on ‘Team Patient’ but he and his peers were not rewarded for being part of multidisciplinary teams. “Are we part of the team or are we on the bench to make up the numbers?”

He said: “Patients don’t care. They care about getting care when they need it.”
It seems this conversation is far from finished.

Skin in the game

MediRecords provides secure, cloud-hosted electronic health records and prescribing functionality to healthcare professionals across Australia delivering face-to-face and virtual care.

Further reading:

Rollout begins for Australian-first pharmacy pilot – Ministerial Media Statements

What we know about Queensland’s pharmacy prescribing pilot – Medical Republic

The Pharmacy Guild Australia QLD (pharmacyfullscope.com.au)

Unlocking pharmacist’s potential in the QLD Scope of Practice Pilot – Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (psa.org.au)

Queensland Community Pharmacy Scope of Practice Pilot | Health and wellbeing | Queensland Government (www.qld.gov.au)

Queensland Community Pharmacy Scope of Practice Pilot | Queensland Health

North Queensland Pharmacy Scope Practice Pilot will put vulnerable patients at risk, doctors say – ABC News

RACGP – Pharmacy pilot a ‘solution’ that would only cause bigger problems

RACGP – Media releases

Unleashing-the-Potential-an-open-and-equitable-health-system.pdf

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Female-Friendly Federal Healthcare Budget
 
 

May 15, 2024

Female-Friendly Federal Healthcare Budget

Australians can look forward to a price-freeze on medicines, 29 new Medicare Urgent Care Centres, 61 walk-in Medicare Mental Health centres and a raft of cancer, HIV and women’s-health measures, as part of a $2.8 billion health package in the 2024 Federal Budget. 

More virtual care and hospital outreach services are also planned to avoid unnecessary hospital admissions — and enable older patients to be discharged sooner into medically supported, safe, comfortable environments. 

 Older Australians will also benefit from an extra 24,100 Home Care Packages, which are intended to reduce wait times to an average of six months and provide greater access to in-home aged care. 

 Other big-ticket items from the Federal Budget include: 

  • More affordable medicines via a price-freeze on Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) medicines to beat inflation: $318 million 
  • Life-changing and life-saving medicines added to the PBS, reducing costs to consumers: $3.4 billion 
  • Conversion and expansion of 24 existing Head to Health services into 61 walk-in Medicare Mental Health centres across Australia: $163.9 million 
  • 29 new Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, aimed to reduce waiting time at hospital emergency departments: $227 million 
  • Military veterans’ claims processing is prioritised with an additional $186 million for staffing and $8.4 million to improve case management and cyber security. The Government will also provide $222 million to overhaul legislation covering veterans’ compensation and rehabilitation. It will direct a further $48.4 million to Veterans’ Home Care and Community Nursing programs, and $10.2 million to fund medical treatment for ill and injured veterans waiting for liability claims to be processed. 
  • Free bowel cancer test kits for Australians aged 45-49, allowing them to join the over 50s ($39 million) 
  • New Medicare-benefit-scheme tests, including for suspected heart failure and rare cancers, to reduce waiting times and catch health problems sooner. A skin cancer prevention initiative is also included. ($25.3 million)  
  • Improved preventative health measures such promoting health and fitness, including $132.7 million for grassroots community and school sport to encourage participation. 
  • Spending of $44 million will further Australia’s goal of eliminating HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) transmission by 2030. Federal Health and Aged Care Minister Mark Butler said Australia aimed to be the first nation to wipe out HIV. 
  • A boost for alcohol treatment and prevention services, better nutrition programs and organisations supporting people with chronic conditions. 
  • $314.5 million in close-the-gap efforts include $164.3m towards First Nations health infrastructure projects, $54.3m towards training up to 500 First Nations health workers, $45m towards boosting renal services, and water infrastructure works.    

Women’s health is prioritised, including funding for breast cancer treatment subsidies, contraception training for practitioners, and development of a virtual contraception decision-making tool. Other initiatives aimed at women’s health include:   

  • Medicare: Longer consultations provided for complex gynaecological conditions like endometriosis, reducing out-of-pocket costs for women. 
  • Menopause Training: $1.2 million for health professionals’ training to manage women’s health during menopause. 
  • Breast cancer: Cutting the cost of a specific treatment from around $100,000 to $31.60. 
  • Funding for research on menopause, pregnancy loss, and fertility: $53.6 million over four years  
  • Miscarriages and sexual/reproductive health: $8 million for developing data sets 
  • Enhanced antenatal and postnatal care, including mental health screening: $56.5 million over four years 
  • Miscarriage: public awareness program, with support for affected women and families 
  • First Nations Women’s Health: Investments in prevention work for preterm births, stillbirth action plan, and free period products for First Nations communities. 

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Rural Mental Health Conference 2023: Insights from MediRecords

November 10, 2023

Rural Mental Health Conference 2023: Insights from MediRecords

Peer-support workers are the future of mental-health service provision, including in rural Australia, where the need is among the highest and access to services among the lowest, the Rural Mental Health Conference was told this week.

Also, the conference heard that talking openly about mental ill health and suicide is essential to reduce stigma, increase understanding and activate prevention initiatives in communities.

MediRecords was an industry sponsor for the conference in Albury, which was attended by mental health professionals, researchers, advocates and others.

Conference co-chair Professor Russell Roberts, of Charles Sturt University and the Manna Institute, opened the conference by dispelling the oft-made claim that rural towns were dying. In fact, they have been growing for 20 years, boosted further by an increase in relocation to rural Australia during the pandemic, he said.

Speakers highlighted workforce challenges including recruitment and retention, and low mental-health literacy, compounded by the housing crisis for people willing to move and live rurally.

“Peer support workers are the future of mental-health service provision,” said

Dr Chris Maylea, Associate Professor of Law at La Trobe University.

Also, he argued that inadequate mental-health services for rural Australians was a breach of human rights.

“Sub-par services because someone lives in a rural area – we should call that a human-rights violation, not a geographic disparity.”

Mental Health Australia CEO Carolyn Nikoloski called for a national human-rights act – one that embedded mental health into human rights.

Other themes from the conference included:

  • A dearth of mental health services in rural areas means people with mental ill health end up in the justice system. As the documentary film Solstice stated, people in urgent need of mental health care don’t get a helicopter flight to Melbourne like accident victims; the more likely options are a busy hospital Emergency Department or police custody.
  • Telehealth is increasingly essential for providing access to services where few or none are available locally and wait lists are long. The Royal Far West Centre for Rural and Remote Children’s Health gave an example of setting up a farmer with video-call technology so he could join a case conference for his daughter from his tractor. Clean Slate Clinic clinical nurse consultant Fiona Faulkner said the home treatment program enabled people in rural areas to seek support without the fear of being ‘outed’ in their small communities.
  • Kelly McGrath, of the Wesley Research Institute, highlighted the way that services need to adapt telehealth to support individuals, ensuring there is personalised tech help and financial support, and sensitivity to how and where people engage with telehealth – from having kids running around in the background or access at the workplace, where there may be insufficient privacy.
  •  Ruralaid is experiencing a significant spike in demand for its services in Queensland, where farmers have been confronted with floods, bushfires, rising costs and falling returns for produce.

MediRecords is a cloud-hosted electronic health record and client management platform with industry-leading options for secure data sharing. MediRecords supports a broad range of telehealth care providers, including the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department.

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    Innovative solutions: Transforming patient care with next-gen AI

    November 7, 2023

    Innovative solutions: Transforming patient care with next-gen AI

    Using generative AI for almost-instant, accurate clinical notes is rapidly gaining momentum, with smart solutions emerging in Australia and globally.

    And telehealth may be one place this tech shines brightest.

    The fever-pitch buzz around generative AI in healthcare is not surprising, since it was valued at more than $1 billion last year, and poised to reach $22 billion by 2023.

    Documentation burden

    “With clinicians overloaded and staff shortages worsening, improving clinical documentation, workflow and optimisation of electronic medical records is more critical than ever,” as Dr Simon Wallace wrote in The Medical Republic this year.

    A survey last year of 1,000 UK doctors, nurses and allied health professionals revealed they spent an average of 13.5 hours per week generating documentation, up 25% in the last seven years.

    Here and now

    A team of Aussie doctors, designers and engineers at Heidi Health aims to “give healthcare providers superpowers” with their generative-AI clinical-notes tool. It records and transcribes consults, then transforms them into “whatever you need next — specific forms, patient explainers — or something else, just ask Heidi”.

    Being present

    Dr Shiv Rao, a US cardiologist and CEO of a Abridge, a vendor of generative-AI clinical documentation tech, told Healthcare IT News: “ … [Turning patient conversation into highly professional notes with quality and accuracy … [means] that we could refocus our profession on what matters most – being present and listening.”

    “We could all but eliminate the administrative load that has eroded the quality of doctor-patient conversations and has famously broken the spirit of many clinicians,” he said.

    The power of more than one

    Solutions that pair AI with existing tech are booming. For example, APIs have been developed to seamlessly integrate SOAP notes and other clinical notes into workflows and virtual-care platforms.

    Telehealth was fertile ground for AI, according to Kwindla Hultman Kramer, CEO at AI-video-audio specialist company Daily.

    “All audio is already being captured digitally, ready for transcription and summarisation. This makes telemedicine a good starting point for adding new AI tools into healthcare workflows,” he told Healthcare IT News.

    Safety first

    While it is acknowledged that generative AI in healthcare will have to address concerns about whether tools are safe, equitable and adhere to privacy requirements, internationally, countries are co-operating to create a safer future with AI.

    In November, Australia, and 27 countries including the EU, US, UK, and China, signed the Bletchley Declaration. This agreement encourages the safe, ethical, and responsible development of AI, focusing on human-centric, trustworthy, and responsible usage.

    The federal Minister for Industry and Science, Ed Husic, said while there is immense potential for AI to do a lot of good in the world, “there are real and understandable concerns with how this technology could impact our world”. 

    “We need to act now to make sure safety and ethics are in-built. Not a bolt-on feature down the track,” he said.

    MediRecords is an electronic health record and patient management system platform well suited for enabling and underpinning innovative new technology, including AI tools.

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      Eight reasons to embrace cloud technology in healthcare
       

      October, 2023

      Eight reasons to embrace cloud technology in healthcare

      We’ve done the maths. But saving $600K in ten years is just one good reason to switch to the cloud.

      In today’s fast-paced world, healthcare needs to be as efficient and technologically advanced as any other sector. This doesn’t mean adopting the latest technology for the sake of it. It does mean delivering 21st-century healthcare and, by doing it right, reaping substantial, long-term cost savings, and significant workplace and environmental benefits.
      Here are eight reasons why cloud technology is essential to healthcare:

      1. Interoperability is the future
      Interoperability isn’t just a passing trend. Governments worldwide are moving towards legislating information sharing by default and cloud technology ensures real-time information exchange at the point of care. In contrast, non-cloud technologies, including cloud-bridging platforms, introduce multiple risks ranging from data integrity to security and governance issues. Cloud-based EHRs (Electronic Health Records) provide superior interoperability, enabling more coordinated and integrated care.

      2. Cloud technology drives operational efficiency
      From minimised IT overheads to consolidation of services and identity management, cloud technology reshapes how businesses operate. It offers universal access, strengthens data security, supports single source systems, and much more. Adopting the cloud doesn’t just mean upgrading technology; it enables overhauling and enhancing the operational fabric of your organisation.

      3. Unparalleled scalability with cloud solutions
      The adaptability of cloud applications is noteworthy. In a landscape that’s continuously evolving, cloud-based solutions can adeptly manage unpredictable usage patterns, support multi-party usage, and adapt to regulatory changes swiftly. With unparalleled scalability, cloud solutions are equipped to handle increasing data volumes, user counts, and evolving stakeholder needs.

      4. Cost Analysis: Cloud vs. on-premise
      When it comes to the financial aspects of healthcare, cloud solutions offer undeniable benefits. Consider the following costs associated with cloud and on-premise solutions. 

      Click here to view the below table in a new window.

      5. Adapting to the casualised workforce trend
      The post-pandemic period has witnessed a shift towards a more casualised healthcare workforce. The burgeoning telemedicine sector, and changing economic circumstances, have resulted in more flexible work arrangements. Digital platforms are bolstering this change, fostering work-from-anywhere telecommuting and freelance opportunities. Cloud technology stands at the crux of these changing workforce trends, ensuring seamless transitions and facilitating innovative care models for healthcare providers and consumers.

      6. Meeting patient expectations in the post-Covid era
      The Covid-19 pandemic reshaped many sectors, and healthcare wasn’t exempt. Nowadays, patients anticipate digital solutions such as online appointment bookings, e-prescriptions, and quick access to telemedicine. Beyond the functional solutions, they also expect a personalised touch to their care, and more involvement in decision-making. Digital healthcare, powered by cloud technology, enables safety improvements, real-time access to information, and an enhanced patient experience.

      7. Environmental benefits
      According to research, cloud computing can decrease carbon emissions by approximately 60%-70%. This not only reflects more sustainable utilisation of resources like water, but also effective management of waste products when decommissioning hardware. As opposed to traditional data centers, cloud data centers are known to be significantly more energy efficient. [1,2] Transition to the cloud means reducing the carbon footprint of your health business.

      8. Virtual care: The way forward
      With virtual care rising in popularity, especially in Australia, integrated patient data systems are crucial. Cloud-based EHR solutions offer healthcare providers location-agnostic access to patient data, ensuring comprehensive care, whether provided remotely or in-clinic.

      In summary, the transition to cloud technology in the healthcare sector isn’t just a tech upgrade; it’s a holistic approach to meeting modern business challenges head-on. Furthermore, the estimated costs savings over a 10-year period for a 10-doctor practice is over $600,000, not to mention the environmental benefits and peace of mind that come with outsourcing operations to a trusted partner.

      Whether you’re a startup or an established player, it’s time to harness the power of the cloud.

      [1] https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/products-services/the-cloud?energyType=true

      [2] https://aws.amazon.com/executive-insights/content/fighting-climate-change-with-the-cloud/

      This article was written by MediRecords CEO & Founder Matthew Galetto, and originally published by Health Services Daily and The Medical Republic.

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        A clinician’s MediRecords odyssey: unveiling efficient, mobile aged care medicine

        October 23, 2023

        A clinician's MediRecords odyssey: unveiling efficient, mobile aged care medicine

        Here’s the latest in our series on how people use MediRecords. In this Q & A, Dr Gaveen Jayarajan explains why he made the switch to the cloud and MediRecords to power his Doctors in Aged Care mobile medical practice.

        Tell us a bit about your practice.

        I operate the Doctors in Aged Care mobile GP service that visits residents at several Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACFs) throughout metropolitan Melbourne. Our service exclusively does RACF work and is fully mobile and virtual; we see residents in their homes every week. We are committed to excellence in medical care of the elderly using innovative, non-traditional/hybrid approaches to healthcare service delivery.

        Associated with our medical practice, I have built the Doctors in Aged Care (DiAC) Facebook group, which is a community of over 2300 doctors Australia-wide.

        Please contrast MediRecords with the system you used prior to using MediRecords.

        I had used all the common GP clinical and practice management systems working as a GP in medical centres for the previous eight years. Usually clinics would use two different programs, one for clinical use and one for practice management (i.e., appointments/billing/claiming/reporting). When I started working full-time in aged care, I used a popular GP clinical software system which was server-based. This worked okay in a medical centre but was not well suited to mobile work visiting RACFs.

        As a doctor working in a challenging and inefficient setting, I urgently needed a reliable and stable solution. Hence my move to a cloud-based alternative, MediRecords.

        My initial apprehension with using a cloud system was what happens if internet speed and connection were unreliable? To my surprise this was a non-issue. Using mobile broadband devices, which now give NBN-type speeds in some locations, internet speed was not an issue. I could also use my mobile phone as a Hotspot if needed.

        MediRecords is an all-in-one, integrated clinical and practice management system. So, from a single browser window I could access the clinical functions I needed as well as seamlessly view my appointment book, create new appointments, perform billings, view current Medicare claims in progress, and generate reports for total invoices/billings over any time period.

        The third change was no longer having to engage and deal with a third-party IT service provider. Now all of this was handled in the background automatically; updates are   installed remotely with no disruption or major technical issues.

        How does MediRecords enhance your efficiency?

        I use the MediRecords appointment book as a key tool to manage my workload, maximise efficiency and provide proactive rather than reactive care.

        Every time a phone, email or fax request is received to review a patient, the patient’s name is entered into the appointment book for the next weekly visit day (or on the day of request if urgent) with an appointment type depending on the nature of the issue. It could be a “Regular” appointment or classified as for example, “Urgent’’, “Vaccine”, “Wound Review”, “Post-fall Review”, “Health Assessment”, “Phone Consultation”, etc. MediRecords allows multiple appointment types and durations to be created. Every time a patient is seen, a follow-up appointment is also made at an appropriate interval. When done for every patient, I can see with reasonable accuracy what my workload will be like. Unplanned extra patients, or “walk-ins”, can be added to the daily schedule depending on demand that day.

        We further enhance our scheduled care by using the recalls or “Clinical Actions” function. For every new patient we have recalls for core things relating to Medicare item numbers and due dates, e.g., Health Assessments, Residential Medication Management Reviews and Care Plan Contributions.

        Also useful for efficiency is the Tagging feature. I use Tags, along with another existing MediRecords feature of doing multiple patient invoices at once, to reduce the time taken to process daily billings to under five minutes.

        Another recent improvement has come with my API integration of MediRecords with Snapforms. Using Snapforms I created a “New Patient Details Form”. Now when a RACF asks me to take on a new patient, I email them a cloud-based form with a URL link. They complete all new patient details, attach a recent patient health summary or hospital discharge summary and a current medication list. After they hit submit, something magical happens! A new patient file is created in MediRecords with the key demographic data already populated, and a PDF copy of the form and any uploaded health summary or discharge summary and medication lists stored in the Correspondence IN tab in the patient file.

        I use MediRecords on multiple devices including my Surface Laptop, Samsung Galaxy tablet and Samsung Z-Fold 5 mobile phone.

        How does MediRecords enhance patient care?

        MediRecords allows me to operate with the lowest and leanest cost base and make it financially viable and sustainable for the long-term. It enables me to maintain safe and high standards of care that are consistent, repeatable and maximise quality of life for patients.

        What are your tips for people considering changing to MediRecords?

        Have a clear idea and rationale for why you want to move to the cloud.

        It can’t just be about saving money on software subscription costs or on upgrading or buying a new server. Independent GPs working at your practice will not be interested in this. Show them a way forward with a big picture view of how moving to the cloud can change the way they deliver healthcare, creating benefits they are not currently experiencing. Avoid trying to replicate like-for-like every feature of server-based software.

        What are you looking forward to with MediRecords in the future?

        The efficiencies we have been able to achieve by using cloud-based software have been done with an intense focus on optimising processes and managing costs – and without Artificial Intelligence (AI). We look forward to incorporating AI to further drive efficiency and improve patient care standards by automating more administrative processes and providing advanced clinical decision support and insights.

        If you’d like to showcase innovative ways you use MediRecords in healthcare, please reach out to us via sales@medirecords.com.

        Dr Gaveen Jayarajan is an investor and member of the MediRecords Medical Advisory Board.  

        Read more about Doctors in Aged Care on their website.  

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          Critical care: 84% of healthcare workers facing burnout, putting mental health at risk

          October 10, 2023

          84% of healthcare workers
          facing burnout, putting mental health at risk

          On World Mental Health Day, it is timely to remember the importance of supporting the mental health of healthcare workers.

          The latest data from Mental Health Australia’s (MHA) annual survey of the mental well-being of healthcare workers paints a concerning picture.

          The survey found 84% of respondents reported that the pandemic’s demands lead to burnout in 2022.

          The WHO describes burnout as a syndrome caused by unmanaged workplace stress. It includes feeling exhausted, negative about work, and ineffective.

          Burnout is linked to a conceptualised “COVID-19 fourth wave”, alongside psychological trauma, mental illness, and economic strain, according to the US physician, Associate Prof. Victor Tseng.

          Burnout significantly raises the risk of unsafe care by doctors and nurses, studies show.

          In a review of 13 studies involving 20,643 doctors, “physicians with overall burnout had almost three times greater odds of making self-perceived errors,” found a study in the Journal of Patient Safety in 2022. The odds were almost identical for nurses, with burnout likely to providing poor-quality care, a separate study found this year.

          One leading organisation supporting the wellbeing of healthcare professionals is the Black Dog Institute. It established The Essential Network (TEN), which aims to prevent burnout.

          TEN offers practical resources , confidential personalised support and up to five free telehealth sessions.

          “Every Australian has been impacted by COVID-19, but few have felt the brunt of the pandemic more keenly than health professionals,” said Black Dog Institute’s Deputy Director and Chief Psychiatrist, Professor Sam Harvey.

          Mental Health Australia CEO Carolyn Nikoloski said that, for the first time in 20 years, Australia does not have a national mental health and suicide prevention plan. She said: “A national roadmap needs to be developed to address these concerning trends and ensure equitable access to mental health care supports for all people in Australia.”

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