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

    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. 

    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.

      Fee Bidder - Headshot cropped

      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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          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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              Benefits of the Cloud for Healthcare: AI & the Internet of Things

              Internet of Things

              Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) technology to support clinical decisions

              Internet of Things
              Michelle O'Brien Profile Picture

              Michelle O'Brien, Head of Strategy

              In my next article, which again looks to demystify some of the tech babble around the benefits of cloud for healthcare, I am exploring what we mean by AI, IoT and how these can be used to support clinical decisions.

              First of all, some clarity on what these terms actually mean: 

              Artificial intelligence: 

              Artificial Intelligence, or AI, refers to computer programs that can think, work and make decisions similarly to humans. The uses are broad, but are already well known to us today.  

              Saying ‘Hey Siri’ or ‘Hey Google’ to your phone brings an AI assistant to life. Plenty of services use AI in a more subtle way, such as Netflix recommending your next show to binge-watch, or Amazon suggesting which item people like you also bought. 

              In healthcare, AI is often used for voice recognition, with doctors using software such as Dragon to convert their speech into text without typing. Clinical decision support tools such as UpToDate by Wolters Kluwer are also a form of AI, interpreting health data to provide clinicians with information to support their clinical decisions.  

              Machine Learning: 

              Machine learning refers to the process AI software goes through to improve automatically through experience, much like we humans learn from our daily experiences.  

              Internet of Things:  

              The internet of things, or IoT for short, refers to physical objects like patient devices that are fitted with sensors or use Bluetooth technology to collect and send data over the internet.

              Some examples you may find at home are an Amazon Alexa speaker that can turn off your lights, a smart scale that sends your weight to your phone, or a Fitbit that sends your steps for the day to an app. 

              Devices like Fitbits and Apple watches are now overlapping into healthcare as they provide health data such as activity levels and heart rates. But more medical focussed devices such as the TGA approved pulse oximeters, blood pressure cuffs and blood glucose monitors are widely available to use at home as well. 

              Remote Monitoring: 

              In a healthcare context, remote monitoring means gathering patient data outside of the traditional bricks anmortar setting, such as the GP clinic or outpatient department. 

              This ties in with the IoT, in that IoT devices can record patient data at home and send this to a patient’s medical record via their phone. But it also includes software on smartphones that do not require physical devices, for example a simple mood diary for mental health patients like Innowell. 

               

              What does this have to do with the Cloud? 

              These exciting uses of AI and the Internet of Things are all reliant on being able to send the data they collect to the clinicians providing care. This is only possible in real time thanks to Cloud EMRs, such as MediRecords, that pull the data together in one place. 

              I explored this ‘interoperability’ of services in my previous explainer article here. 

              What are some examples in Australian Healthcare? 

              There are already a range of products and services available in Australia that exist to help clinicians provide better patient care. 

              iHealth

              iHealth have developed a range of IoT devices designed to help patients monitor themselves at home, including: 

              • Wireless Pulse Oximeters,
              • Thermometers,
              • Wireless Blood Pressure Monitors, 
              • Scales; and 
              • Wireless Blood Glucose Monitors

              These devices share the health data they collect with the patient’s smartphone via Bluetooth, which is then shared with the patient’s cloud based medical record such as MediRecords. 

               iHealth products are approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).  

              ResApp

              ResApp is a remote monitoring smartphone app that can diagnose and manage respiratory conditions such as pneumonia, asthma and sleep apnoea. All of this is possible through ResApp’s AI, which they say can diagnose conditions just through listening to a patient cough using their phones microphone.  

              PainChek

              And PainChek have developed remote monitoring software that uses a smartphones camera to detect if a non-verbal patient is in pain. This works by using AI to read the patients’ facial expression and will allow clinicians to ease the suffering endured by patients unable to communicate. 

              These are just three of many great examples from within Australia, demonstrating that Australia is at the forefront of innovation in AI technology. 

               

              How can AI and the IoT Improve Healthcare in Practice? 

              This is best explained in a theoretical example, in this case a patient who suffers from a chronic respiratory illness. 

              From the examples above this patient could monitor themselves periodically using an iHealth Wireless Pulse Oximeter (IoT), to ensure they were still receiving enough oxygen in their blood.  

              This data is sent from the Oximeter to their phone via Bluetooth, which then sends the data to their electronic health record, for example MediRecords, in the cloud. A dashboard capability could be used within MediRecords to alert clinicians of patients who may need support.  

              A product like ResApp could be used to provide the clinicians with additional clinical decision support in the absence of a face to face appointment which is not always possible. 

              Where a clinician is concerned about a patient, they can set up an appropriate intervention 

              AI used this way supports infection control management in treating respiratory illnesses. This is just one theoretical use case. The range and capabilities of medical AI and IoT devices means similar methods of remote monitoring and treatment are available for a range of conditions. 

              Michelle O’Brien, who is based in our Sydney office, is Head of Strategy here at MediRecords.

              Michelle O'Brien Profile Picture

              Michelle O'Brien, Head of Strategy

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                MediRecords Product Update October 2020

                MediRecords Product Update: October 2020

                Medirecrods team member picture

                Maxwell Holmes, Product Manager

                Improvements coming on 8th October 2020 include an expanded Medication Grid and improved Password Protection

                MediRecords recently announced the introduction of e-Prescribing using eRx. If you are interested in joining our pilot program please email to support@medirecords.com 

                As part of the ePrescribing release there are some changes coming to MediRecords that will affect all our users, including those not using e-Prescribing. 

                New fields on the Medication Grid 

                The Medication Grid will now display the Type and Status of a prescription, as can be seen in the image below. Prescriptions that have not been printed will display as draft. Printing the prescription will update the status to Printed 

                Prescription types are ManualPaperscript and Paperless 

                Manual scripts are any scripts generated using MediRecords without an integration to eRx electronic script exchange; Paperscripts are printed scripts that also contain an eRx SCID barcode; and Paperless scripts are scripts generated using e-Prescribing. 

                Password Policy Changes 

                As part of our ongoing commitment to data security, MediRecords will now lockout any account with five failed login attempts. If your account does become locked out, you will be sent a Reset My Password email and will be asked to create a new password.  

                We have also added options for organisations to enforce password complexity to ensure that password security is taken seriously 

                The defaults for your organisation will stay the same. If you are interested in changing your password complexity enforcement, you can find out by viewing our Password Policy article.

                 

                If you have any questions about these changes, or how they may affect you, then please reach our to our friendly support team on 1300 103 903, or via support@medirecords.com

                Medirecrods team member picture

                Maxwell Holmes, Product Manager

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                  MediRecords Announces ePrescribing Support

                  ePrescribing Token on Phone

                  MediRecords Announce ePrescribing Support

                  eRx script exchange
                  Medirecrods team member picture

                  Maxwell Holmes, Product Manager

                  MediRecords has partnered with the eRX Script Exchange to provide electronic prescriptions directly to patients

                  We are ePrescribing Ready!  

                  ePrescribing Token on Phone

                  MediRecords is proud to announce ePrescribing is here! As a cloud-based solution, we are better able to connect with a variety of other virtual care services, such as telehealth via Coviu, electronic appointment, and now e-prescribing. 

                  As part of our Virtual Care Strategy’, MediRecords has partnered with the eRX Script Exchange to provide electronic prescriptions directly to patients, we have met full compliance for e-Prescribing, as opposed to ‘fast-track’ compliance. This makes our solution much more secure.   

                  What is ePrescribing? 

                  E-Prescribing is a replacement for physical prescriptions given to patients every day. Instead of having to keep hold of the original physical prescription, patients are instead given a unique e-Prescription token via email. The Token is securely stored within the eRx Script exchange. The patient retains control of who can access their prescription. This means a signed piece of paper it is no longer required.  

                  If the patient elects to have an electronic prescription, they will receive a token via email or paper printout for each item prescribed. Once in possession of their token(s), the patient can then provide this directly to a pharmacy of their choice.  The token provides a link to a unique code used by the dispensing pharmacy to access the legal document for dispensing. The patient will automatically receive a new token for any repeats.  

                  This workflow completely removes the need to relay in image based prescribing, such as faxing a paper prescription to a pharmacy then following up with a signed original in the mail.  

                   

                  What are the benefits of ePrescribing? 

                  There are four main benefits of e-Prescribing for practices and their patients. 

                  • Instant patient access to prescription regardless of location of appointment 
                  • Greater convenience for patients thanks to a digital copy of the prescription 
                  • Return power of choice of pharmacies to patients 
                  • Reduction of administrative costs from sending prescriptions via fax and post 

                   

                  We are currently rolling out e-prescribing to select MediRecords customers. If you would like to start using e-prescribing, then please let us know by contacting support@medirecords.com 

                   

                  Alternatively, for more information on what you need to set up e-prescribing you can read this article: https://support.medirecords.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001878536-How-to-Set-Up-for-Electronic-Prescribing 

                   

                  Medirecrods team member picture

                  Maxwell Holmes, Product Manager

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                    Benefits of the cloud for Healthcare: Interoperability

                    Interoperability Cloud icon

                    How can the Interoperability of Cloud Solutions Improve Patient Outcomes?

                    Interoperability Cloud icon
                    Michelle O'Brien Profile Picture

                    Michelle O'Brien, Head of Strategy

                    By giving health professionals easier access to patient data using the cloud, we can improve patient outcomes with less administration.

                    This article is the first of my series that looks to demystify and clarify the benefits of adopting Cloud solutions for healthcare. I hope this series will help save you time wading through and comprehending some of the overly technical information that is out there.

                    In this article I discuss how this is possible, now, thanks to how interoperable cloud systems are when exchanging health information. 

                    We hear the term Interoperability a lot but what does it really mean in a healthcare context? 

                    Often people are unsure what I mean when we talk about interoperability and health information exchange. What we really mean is delivering systems that allow all healthcare providersacross the healthcare continuum, access to a near live view of the patients’ longitudinal health record.  

                    Unfortunately, many of our legacy, server based systems, which around 95% of GP’s still use, keep a patients longitudinal record in a server. As a result information is siloed from other parts of the healthcare system. If the patient only ever goes to one GP over a lifetime, then this may not be a major issue 

                    However, if the patient is in an AgedCare facility, moves to a new state or unexpectedly ends up in the ED, this means the new healthcare provider has no visibility of the patients clinical history. This adds significant clinical risk when treating a patient, especially when the patient cannot communicate their clinical history as is often the case.  

                    A detailed example…

                    Aexample of how our currently disconnected health system impacts on patient outcomes is a palliative care patient in an Aged-Care facility. In this scenario a patient may need shared care, requiring their medical information being accessed by: 

                    1. Their GP 
                    2. Aged care provider 
                    3. Hospital 
                    4. Specialist 
                    5. Psychology and other allied health 
                    6. Mental Health support 
                    7. Private health insurer 
                    8. Family members 
                    9. The Patient/Carers 
                    10. Ambulance services 

                    That is 10 potential stakeholders, who may all need access to some, or all, of the clinical record.  

                    The reality is that in an acute or urgent situation a patient’s data does not move with them; instead each stakeholder has their own piece of siloed information. Transmitting that data to those who need it is currently time consuming and laborious, due to the use of outdated technology like fax, printers, couriers, mail and secure messaging. It’s as if we give each stakeholder a single jigsaw piece, then expect them to know what the completed image is. 

                      

                    If this is how things are done currently – why does this matter? 

                    This is a good question, and one which, for many in healthcare, has an uncomfortable answer. This siloed approach to patient data matters because it impacts on patients care and health outcomes.  

                    If we go back to our palliative care patient in an Aged Care Facility, not understanding their history can lead to patients being unnecessarily transported to an Emergency Department without anyone reviewing their wishes. They find themselves in unfamiliar surroundings, with clinicians who have little background on their condition.  

                    This outcome is distressing for everyone. If the entire care team had a view of the patients record, including their end of life wishes, outcomes for the patient would be so much better. This scenario highlights two main problems:

                    Problem 1: The administrative burden 

                    The infographic below highlights some of the current challenges facing clinicians trying to manage the care of a patient. As you can see the process is stressful, time consuming and very administrative. 

                    The reality is that this sloand expensive process is neither sustainable, nor acceptable for our patients. We need to find a way to manage these administrative costs through improved access to patient medical information for everyone in their treatment circle. 

                    Problem 2: The risk to patient safety due to lack of information  

                    The second problem is the inability to share patient data across the health system. As the patient moves between primary, acute, community and virtual settings, their risk of an adverse event increases.  This is because without a complete view of the patients longitudinal health record clinicians are flying blind. So how can cloud systems solve the interoperability challenge? 

                    All the problems I have mentioned can be fixed. However, it will take time for healthcare providers to understand the value of Cloud and adopting modern healthcare standards to achieve interoperability. 

                    Our vision for the future is that all healthcare professionals will use Cloud systems. This will allow them to log in anywhere, from any device, and directly access their patient’s information.  

                      

                    In summary 

                    The concept of shared, virtual, and immediate multidisciplinary team care has the potential to significantly reduce administrative costs. More importantly it can improve health outcomes through the way we manage chronic disease and mental health, and provide health and social care to our ageing population, whether they are in Aged Care facilitates or in the home.  

                    Ultimately it is the patient who will benefit the most from Cloud technology and interoperability, thanks to the the ability to have their clinical record travel with them no matter where they are in the health care system.

                     

                    Michelle O’Brien, who is based in our Sydney office, is Head of Strategy here at MediRecords.

                    Michelle O'Brien Profile Picture

                    Michelle O'Brien, Head of Strategy

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