Those of us who work in the digital health space use the phrase ‘it’s a marathon not a sprint’ often in relation to both building the ecosystem that is ‘digital health’ and also change and adoption.
Medical Software, My Health Record, Telehealth, ePrescribing, wearable technologies – we’ve been steadily building functionality in Australia, piece by piece. There are roadmaps, national, multidisciplinary consultation and there has been progress.
None of it is perfect we say, but it is continually improving. Don’t stop progressing we say, just take the next step at the pace that is right for you.
We encourage practices to focus on technology that will improve health outcomes, save time and money for busy clinicians and improve engagement with patients so they feel empowered and make a continual conscious decision to return to your practice for their healthcare.
‘Patient-centred care’ is the other catchphrase you will often hear from us.
Personally, I predict the practices of the future who thrive will be those who incorporate digital technologies, patient feedback, patient reported ‘measures’ and offer consumer choice.
I’ve always said telehealth should be an option we offer, regardless of the Medicare rebate. We all know it’s not for every patient and every situation, but it should definitely be an option.
Electronic prescriptions should be an option offered to patients.
Those of us who have done overseas study tours in countries more advanced with ‘digital health’ were envious of how doctors could consult via telehealth and also prescribe a medication which the pharmacy would receive electronically and immediately access, dispense and deliver. Read our US study tour blogs here.
Telehealth in Australia
Covid-19 turned our marathon into a sprint. The risk of not providing digital health care became greater.
…10.4 million services delivered to 5.71 million patients by telehealth, with $536.5 million benefits paid, and close to 70,000 healthcare providers have used telehealth services.” Pulse IT
In the past 6 weeks I have trained 2022 healthcare professionals via 25 webinars, mainly on telehealth and MBS billing. Discussions about whether it will remain a Medicare rebatable option for us post-Covid are common and as is common with any digital health change, there are plenty of discussions and concerns. I’m sure you’ve all heard the current concerns about possible telehealth “rorting”. Enforcing the ‘coding’ of a ‘reason for consultation’ is being discussed as a possible way to address that concern. Read the Pulse IT article here.
We will certainly be keeping you up to date with that conversation!
Join me on 11 June when I present a webinar for AAPM and I will take you through the latest data standards and what they mean for your practice.
Electronic Prescriptions take the Lead!
Step 1: ePrescriptions started with the My Health Record system many years ago and it was a relatively easy change which saw a barcode printed on our paper prescriptions and prescribing and dispense information shared electronically. It barely changed our practice workflow yet offers significant benefits. In fact, the additional and relatively new “Medicines View’ within My Health Record offers efficiency I believe many clinicians are yet to discover.
Step 2: In October 2019 our national legislation changed to remove the requirement to print prescriptions. State legislation changes were then required.
Step 3: Covid19 saw the need for ePrescription changes to be fast-tracked. Imaged based prescribing was allowed with measures like photographs of a prescription and faxing of that photograph allowed in order to help keep vulnerable and isolated patients well. Extraordinary times!
Step 4: Legislation changes for all states are very close to being finalised.
Step 5: Starting right now: use of tokens for ePrescriptions.
Step 6: Active Script List (ASL) due end 2020 – stay tuned for more on that.
Last week I presented my first ever ‘ePrescriptions’ webinar. This week I move into training how eScripts will work in our clinical software. Of course as a Best Practice and Medical Director Software trainer, I will start there.
What buttons do we press? What does it look like? What does it mean? How do we educate our staff and patients?
Our focus as always is on efficient use of digital health technologies and how we can use this technology to keep our patients safe and well and maximise efficiency for our businesses.
Keep a look out for our ePrescriptions free resources page coming soon.
This week I will also be presenting with the Heart Foundation for Central Queensland, Wide Bay, Sunshine Coast Primary Health Network on ‘Engaging your active patient population base for safe in-practice consultations’.
Now is a good time to increase patient awareness of the safety focused changes you have all implemented in your practices during this pandemic and remind patients how important it is to return to you for their ongoing care.
REGISTER FOR ONE OF OUR UPCOMING TRAIN IT MEDICAL WEBINARS:
26 May – ‘Telehealth for Specialists‘ – NWMPHN & EMPHN
27 May – ‘Advanced Telehealth & Digital Health Improvements’ – WentWest
28 May – ‘Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions using MedicalDirector’ (including My Health Record)’ – CESPHN
28 May – ‘Engaging your active patient population base for safe in-practice consultations’ Co-presenting with the Heart Foundation – CQWBSC
2 June – ‘Electronic Transfer of Prescriptions using Bp Premier (including My Health Record‘ – CESPHN
3 June – ‘Telehealth for Specialists & Practice Managers’ – WentWest
10 June – ‘ePrescribing, Results & My Health Record for multidisciplinary based care – register via WentWest
11 June – ‘CSIRO – Projects to define data standards‘ – AAPM
23 June – ‘Continuing Quality Improvements in General Practice during COVID-19‘ – CQWBSC
Register and you will receive a link to the webinar recording & resources.
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We see the amazing improvements you are making to keep Australians safe and well.
We are so grateful to each and every one of you.
Please know we are here to support you. #InThisTogether
With love and gratitude to you all
Katrina and team Train IT Medical