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Real Time Prescription Monitoring Update

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The rollout of Real Time Prescription Monitoring (RTPM) across Australia is one step closer to completion, with the Western Australian Department of Health recently announcing they are next for implementation. Due for release on the 28th of March.

RTPM provides information to doctors (prescribers) and pharmacists (dispensers) about a patient’s history and use of controlled medicines when they are considering prescribing or dispensing these medicines. The Commonwealth, state and territory agencies are working together to implement the RTPM system. However, each state or territory remains responsible for the management of controlled medicines in its jurisdiction.

The misuse of controlled medicines is a growing concern within Australia, with levels of overdose and accidental deaths rising. RTPM allows healthcare professionals to identify patients who may be at risk of harm due to their medication use. By monitoring prescription data in real time, healthcare professionals can quickly identify patients receiving high doses of opioids or other controlled substances. This information can then be used to develop an appropriate treatment plan for the patient, which may include referral to addiction treatment or the provision of alternative pain management options. RTPM also allows healthcare professionals to detect instances of doctor shopping, where patients attempt to obtain multiple prescriptions for controlled substances from different healthcare providers.

The implementation of RTPM in Australia has been successful in reducing prescription drug misuse and abuse. In Victoria, for example, the introduction of RTPM led to a 30% decrease in the number of patients receiving high doses of opioids. Overall, RTPM is a valuable tool for healthcare professionals in Australia that helps prevent prescription drug abuse, reduce doctor shopping, and improve public health outcomes. Technology developments can help reduce the misuse of medicines listed as controlled substances while ensuring that patients who genuinely need these medicines are able to access them.

RTPM is easy to set up in Bp Premier, but before you can enable RTPM in your user preferences, your practice must be using eRx or MediSecure as your electronic prescription service. For more information on RTPM, please visit our Knowledge Base (F1 and search for ‘rtpm’) or your Department of Health Website.

Want to learn more about RTPM? Watch our explainer video for the rundown!

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What Will the Healthcare Industry Look Like in 2023?

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We had the privilege of interviewing Anita Hobson-Powell, CEO of ESSA (Exercise & Sports Science Australia). ESSA is an organization with a mission to enhance performance, health and well-being through the science of exercise and sport – and it advocates for tertiary-trained exercise and sports science practitioners. ESSA has over 10,000 members across the professional spectrum, ranging from exercise scientists to exercise physiologists and sports scientists to high-performance managers.

With over 15 years of experience, Anita has made a significant impact in her field and has established herself as a leader and influencer in the industry. In this article, we talk about the current industry trends – including technology, data security, and mental well-being. You will also learn about why understanding the patient and delivering quality care is now more important than ever.

Get ready to be inspired and learn from one of the top players in the game.

What are the Current Trends in the Healthcare Industry? 

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The healthcare industry is constantly evolving, and several trends have emerged in recent years that are shaping the future of healthcare delivery. We asked Anita to give us her insights into the four hot topics that that everyone should be thinking about:

  1. “Technology plays a bigger role in the healthcare industry every year. The pandemic significantly impacted the healthcare industry and accelerated the adoption of Telehealth services. Technology has been on the increase. The comfort level of both the patient and the practitioner is increasing.” For Anita, any software that saves time is worthwhile. “Of course, learning a new skill takes time at first, but if it’s an important skill, learn it. With technology, we open up healthcare to more people, and that’s an important step forward.”

  2. The next important topic relates to digital health. “This won’t surprise you, as it is the partner of using technology: data security”, Anita explains. She continues by listing a few questions that should be considered: Where is your data stored? Who has access to it? Is it encrypted? Who in the business need to have access to certain information?” As cyber-attacks are becoming more common, it is vital to protect the patient data. Keeping and managing patient data properly can help the healthcare industry improve quality of care, reduce costs, and grow patient engagement.

  3. Outcomes. “We are seeing outcomes being a bigger focus, and again it links back to technology. If you are providing the service, what data can you show that the person got better or is performing better? You need to justify your service to show that you are doing the right things.” Following outcomes is not only beneficial for the patient, but the practitioner can understand more easily what is working and what is not.

  4. The mental health of the practitioners. Many understand that mental health is a critical aspect of overall well-being that affects how we think, feel, and behave in our daily lives. Good mental health enables people to cope with the normal stresses of life, work productively, and contribute to their communities. In contrast, poor mental health can lead to a range of issues, including depression, anxiety, and substance abuse, among others. “Mental health is being talked about a whole lot more. Are practitioners suffering from compassion fatigue? Are they under financial stress or perhaps under lockdown-related stress? Across the clinical, well-being, and sporting space these things are being talked about, and people are also now asking for help. The fact that this is happening is wonderful to see,” says Anita.
“Practitioner wellbeing is of growing interest in our industry and an important focus for ESSA in 2023.”

An Industry Driven by Patients

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According to LinkedIn Jobs in the Rise in Australia recently released that exercise physiologist was the second highest rising profession in Australia. As the profession is getting more competitive, ESSA will stay busy providing the right tools for professionals to succeed. Anita highlights how the result of this study came to them as a positive discovery, but she is not surprised. “During Covid and lockdown, people started to look after their health more and this resulted in more need for professionals to help people. I am also certain our work affects this growth.”

As we continued the conversation about what was happening in the healthcare industry at the moment, Anita pointed out two key factors that are also current trends, which are related to one another. “One that will affect everyone is funds for accessing services. As the support from the government is dropping a little, people will have to pay for the services more than usual. This will naturally affect consumer behavior and now more than ever consumers are driving the expectations of services.”

“If patient’s are not happy with the service, no matter whether it’s in the clinical, exercise, wellness, or sporting space, they will go to another provider. It’s about understanding the patient and delivering quality care.”

Uncovering 2023

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If we had to summarise our conversation with Anita and what the coming year has in store, excitement would describe it fairly well. The use of technology is growing. More practitioners and patients are adopting digital health. Naturally, data security is a rising topic and more people are keen on outcomes and learning through the data. Now more than ever the patients are driving the expectations of the services and therefore the quality of care is increasing. To come back full circle, mental health is in the middle of it all. Practitioners and other healthcare professionals are more aware of their own mental health and seek help for it. When adding it all up, it sounds like we are going to have an exciting year ahead. Bring it on 2023, we are ready to continue elevating the world’s well-being! 

Did You Know?

Physitrack is your complete digital health tool that consists of exercise prescription, patient onboarding, Telehealth, and messaging and outcome measures. It’s easy to use for practitioners and patients. All in one app.

All data sent to and from Physitrack is encrypted in-transit and encrypted at rest. Keeping patients and practitioners secure is of paramount importance to Physitrack.

Physitrack offers clinical groups powerful and easy-to-use tools that uniquely enable the automated collection, aggregation, and analysis of key data from patients in a clinical ecosystem. Outcome analysis at its best.

Authored by:
Anna Rantala
Marketing Specialist at Physitrack

Article and images attributed to Physitrack. Click here to view the blog.

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Transitioning to a New Software Platform

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It’s no secret that transitioning to a new software platform can be time-consuming and stressful, but if done correctly, it is a rewarding and valuable process for doctors and management staff.

The importance of database technology in healthcare cannot be overstated—it’s crucial for doctors, providers, and management teams to access health data quickly and securely. In what seems to be an ever-changing landscape with new rules and regulations being introduced every year, ensuring your practice uses a software platform that meets your individual needs is paramount.

There are many reasons why a practice might decide to change software vendors. Missing crucial functionality, expensive subscription costs, or maybe your practice has decided to change its business model, and your software is no longer a suitable solution. While the idea of change may be daunting, sufficient research, preparation, and perspiration will ensure your transition is seamless and has minimal impact on your business.

Some fantastic IT tools are now available to convert databases from one platform to another. Trial conversions should always be done to ensure the data quality is maintained and that you don’t run into any unexpected issues once your practice goes live with the new software. Typically, at least six weeks of preparation should be allocated for database migration to minimise risk and prevent any last-minute stress.

Some staff may be hesitant about adopting new technologies but employing the proper change management techniques is undoubtedly the best approach. Reiterating the benefits of the new software platforms should help ease concerns, even if staff may see little incentive to change initially. The right amount of training and support from your new software vendor can increase confidence and get hesitant staff onboard with the change.

Most software vendors offer excellent training services and resources to help equip staff with the tools they need to learn a new system. There are four learning styles; everyone has a preferred method: visual, auditory, reading & writing, and kinesthetic. A problem with remotely delivered training can be that it generally only covers the first three styles of learning – seeing, hearing, and reading & writing. While these styles may work for some, many will feel more confident in their understanding when they can practice what they have learnt as they are learning.

The kinesthetic learning style encourages students to be active in their education and find new ways of solving problems rather than being passive, simply observing and listening to demonstrations. Training staff in real-time and putting them in the driving seat will enhance their skills, knowledge and intuition, allowing them to become familiar with the workflows of a new system quickly.

On day one of using the new software in your practice, staff need to feel supported and know that someone is on the sideline available for help whenever it is required. Best Practice Software has listened to the feedback from practices who have previously migrated from other solutions and developed a new training offering to fill this training gap with Bp Go-Live Support.

This new day-one support service involves a dedicated training specialist and a support specialist being available to practices in real-time so that any issues can be quickly and easily resolved. Allowing staff to receive the help they need as soon as they need, reducing anxiety on their first day of operation using the new software solution. Along with learn-as-you-go training, the training or support specialist can also remotely log in to your network to deal with any complex issues that may arise immediately.

Being able to troubleshoot any issues for a practice on their first day of change is imperative in making sure they start on the right foot. For more information, contact Best Practice Software.

Authored by:

Lucy Saul 
Marketing & Communications Specialist 
at Best Practice Software

Matthew Smith
Training & Deployment Specialist
at Best Practice Software

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MyComms Tips & Tricks for Bp VIP.net Users

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Our Training and Deployment Specialist, Warren Goertz, has some handy tips and tricks to help you use MyComms in Bp VIP.net more efficiently.

1. Communications Preferred View 

Most Bp VIP.net users know outgoing and incoming communications are accessed from the keyboard shortcut Shift + F4, but did you know you can create your own keyboard shortcuts to the MyComms screen using filters? The filters section is on the right-hand side of the MyComms screen. There are over 20 different filter options available.

By default, MyComms shows all outgoing correspondence from the last two weeks. You can change the type of documents shown and the time period using the filter options on the right-hand side.

In the example shown, a user has modified the Providers and Users filters to show only correspondence associated with selected providers and users. The filter options are coloured red to indicate they have been changed. 

Click Save Settings to save your preferences as a shortcut so you can switch to your preferred view whenever you view MyComms. 

2. Filtering Letters By Provider

Are you a practitioner who only wants to see your own letters or a typist who only needs to see a particular doctor’s letters? Select the Providers checkbox on the right of the screen from the filters section of the screen in MyComms and select the providers you wish to see letters corresponding with.

Have you been using a particular filter regularly? Save it! Once the filter is selected, click the Save Settings button from the right-hand panel in the MyComms screen, and give the filter a name and a shortcut. The shortcut is saved to Bp VIP.net for use on any screen or from your Fastkeys menu. 
3. SMS Messages Over 160 Characters

Want to send SMS messages from Bp VIP.net that are longer than 160 characters? Select the Extend option from Facility Preferences for the message to be split into multiple SMS messages. 

Go to Setup > Preferences > Facility Preferences > Communications. The checkbox Extend character limit beyond 160 controls whether Bp SMS allows override of the 160-character limit. This checkbox is disabled by default upon upgrade. If a practice ticks this checkbox, Bp VIP.net will send as many SMS messages as required if the number of characters in the message is more than 160. If this checkbox is unticked, Bp VIP.net will truncate the message to the first 160 characters.

For more tips and tricks, check out our Bp VIP.net Knowledge Base!

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5 Simple Ways Your Practice Can Boost Its Online Presence

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These days, attracting new patients and retaining existing patients requires an impactful online presence. Looking awesome online will work wonders towards building a recognisable brand and reputation for your practice.

In the increasingly competitive healthcare industry, simply having a website is not enough – you need to be dotted across the internet to appear where your patients are searching. Patients now expect medical practices to have an online presence for sharing information, scheduling appointments, managing reviews, and interacting with patients. Here are 5 simple ways your practice can boost their online presence.

1. Put Your Practice on the Map with a Listing on Google My Business

You could have the best practice in the world, with no wait times and a free lollipop with every visit, but nobody would know if they couldn’t find you! Visibility is important.

Patients usually search for health professionals in their geographic area, so linking your practice to Google Maps is vital. This ensures that your practice’s name and location appear on the map when someone searches your city and “doctor” (or whatever your specialty might be).

There’s no denying that Google reigns supreme in digital marketing. Google My Business is a practice’s one-stop shop for directory listing optimisation. Subscribers’ business information appears on Search, Maps, Google+, and Google Places. 

And the best part is it’s free! Create a profile with Google My Business to claim your Google Maps listing. After logging in, you can edit your listing’s contact details, opening hours, photos, and description. You will also be able to see reviews that patients post about your practice and respond to them.

2. Never Underestimate the Power of Social Media

Many practices think they only need to post professional, business-relevant content. Realistically, fun content, relatable memes or photos of practice staff will more likely earn you organic and community-focused engagement. 

Aim to regularly post content that people want to ‘like’ or ‘share.’ Each interaction will expose your post to new potential patients. Remember, you’re trying to connect with patients, so your content needs to appeal to people outside the medical profession. 

Information on social media can directly influence a prospective patient’s decision to choose your practice or even a specific doctor.

Activity on your social media pages can influence where your site appears in Google searches. While the exact SEO impact of social activity is difficult to pin down, there are specific ways to increase your online presence through clever social media usage.

3. Doctor Review Websites = Reputation Management

Many people will search for patient reviews before choosing a new healthcare provider. Online reputation can make or break new patient acquisition. The effort you put into acquiring and managing reviews can lead to acquiring and retaining more patients as well as bringing overall business growth to your healthcare practice.

Online reviews help prospective patients understand the provider’s level of patient care, helping them determine which doctors they should select for their healthcare needs. Practices with a solid online reputation can also help curb a patient’s anxiety, providing reassurance that they are to be trusted with their care.

Encouraging patients to leave reviews is essential for boosting your online reputation. Since unhappy patients may be more likely to share their negative experiences while happy patients continue with their days, the simple act of asking patients for a review can help your practice acquire more positive online reviews.

You might discover your practice already exists on online directories, and people may already be talking about you. Doing a search online will help you find these listings and claim them so you can track what’s happening on them, respond to customer queries, and make any necessary updates. This also applies to some social networks such as Facebook, Yelp, and Google My Business, that allow users to create business listings.

4. Get Into Blogging

Another great way to improve your online presence is to create a blog. Publishing blog posts regularly is a great way to improve your search engine ranking. It also sets you apart by showing off your expertise, which increases your patients’ trust in your service. An engaging blog can also help establish yourself as an industry leader. 

When thinking about what to post, focus on content relevant to your audience and related to your area of expertise. You can add value to your content by targeting high-traffic keywords and building links from high-authority websites and credible bloggers. Another way to drive traffic to your blog is by promoting your blog posts on your social channels.

5. Your Practice Website

And finally, the big one – your practice website!

Having a website for your medical practice serves more than one purpose. It is the most concrete and customisable version of your online presence and can supplement how you care for your patients. Your website can be set up to highlight your teams’ areas of expertise and niches, provide patient resources, and streamline the scheduling of patient appointments.

Can your patients book an appointment at 10pm when they feel a sore throat developing? Including an online booking widget on your website will allow you the capture appointment bookings long after your reception staff have signed off for the evening. 

Building a practice website can seem like a big task, but it is well worth it in the long run. You can hire a professional to create your website or do it yourself. 

Whether the patient has recently moved to a new area or is switching practices for other reasons, people will naturally look online to see their options. If your practice does not have a website, you may be missing out on a precious opportunity to attract new patients.

Authored by:

Lucy Saul
Marketing & Communications Specialist at Best Practice Software

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Bp Premier Orchid Release is Now Available!

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The inspiration for many of the Orchid release features came from your suggestions and ideas. So, keep those suggestions and ideas coming!

Record Multiple Sets of Daily Observations 

Orchid introduces the ability to record Primary and Additional observations. You can include multiple sets of observations when generating graphs, when viewing past BMI and blood pressure data, using the search utility or subpoena tool, and when inserting observations into correspondence in the letter writer.

Selecting the Primary observation and recording multiple observations enables better clinical outcomes

Improvements to Outgoing Emails

We’ve enhanced the outgoing email functionality in a few ways:

  • You can now email invoices and payment receipts directly from the billing history screens and send emails from the word processor. 
  • You can send PDF files as large as 3MB without affecting Bp Premier’s performance.
  • You can also set the outgoing email body for all emails sent out of Bp Premier.

Updates to AIR Functionality 

The direct integration of AIR into the patient clinical record, one of Saffron SP3’s most popular features, is expanded upon in Orchid.

  • Medical exemptions and natural immunities details can now be instantly uploaded to a patient’s AIR record from Bp Premier.
  • You can also filter Immunisations by Disease. 

Along with the major enhancements, there are more exciting new additions in Orchid.

  • We’ve increased the number of parameters you can use to search for patients.
  • You can now search and sort internal messages
  • We’ve introduced a range of new sexuality preferences that can be recorded for patients.
  • Improvements have been made to the ‘Restore missing notes functionality.’
  • We’ve strengthened password security in Orchid.
  • We’ve fixed several bugs.
  • And more…! 

For a complete list of changes, please refer to the Orchid Release notes. Orchid is available now for download from the Resources page on the Best Practice Software website.

Check Out Our Brand-New Orchid Knowledge Base

Our Content Creation team has been hard at work, and we’re excited to launch the all-new Orchid Knowledge Base. It is packed with a bunch of improvements so that you can find the answers to your questions quickly and easily. 

If you’re using Saffron, you can access the Orchid Knowledge Base by selecting Help > Online from inside Bp Premier to open the online knowledge base and search for ‘orchid’.

If you have already upgraded to Orchid, you can access the Knowledge Base by selecting Help > Online from inside Bp Premier.

Watch the Bp Premier Orchid Masterclass

The Orchid Masterclass recording is a fantastic way to familiarise yourself with the new Orchid Release. Watch the Bp Premier Orchid Masterclass below.

As always, Help is available! If you need assistance with anything related to Orchid or any other enquiries, our Support team are available via phone or email, so please get in touch! 

Our support hours for Bp Premier are 7 am – 6 pm AEST, Monday to Friday. You can contact our Software Support team on 1300 40 1111 (Australia) or 0800 40 1111 (New Zealand) and selecting Bp General Products (Option 1/1) on the menu or by emailing us at support@bpsoftware.net.

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TeamBp Spotlight: Danielle Bancroft

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Welcome to our Employee Spotlight series, where we introduce you to the hardworking and talented individuals who make up TeamBp!

If you have recently been to an industry-based panel discussion, you may have heard the name Danielle Bancroft. Danielle is the Chief Product Officer at Best Practice Software, a Non-Executive Director at Halo Connect, a Co-Chair at the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, and a practising Pharmacist.

Having worked on multiple large-scale digital transformation projects, including the implementation of real-time prescription monitoring and the national ePrescribing rollout. It’s no wonder why she has now found herself with a vested interest in interoperability and the ecosystem of health tech here in Australia.

The Australian Digital Health Agency describes interoperability as ‘information that has a consistent meaning and how we move it between people, organisations and systems.’ The challenge we face here in Australia is that our healthcare system has evolved over decades without the forward planning of interoperability. Different clinicians, professions and jurisdictions have developed their own ways of working and different technological solutions to support them. This can make it hard when patients move across different parts of the system or when a clinician wants to understand a patient’s history better.

Recently, I sat down with Danielle to learn more about her as a person and chat about all things interoperability.

If you had to pick a song that would play every time you entered a room, what would it be?

Rick Rolling. It started as an April Fool joke in a 4chan chat and became a viral sensation. So basically, you get sent something and think it’s one thing, but when you click on it, it’s actually Rick Astley singing ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’.

One of my previous colleagues also owned a pharmacy. He was one of our beta testers, and we loved ‘Rick Rolling’ him. We sent out a news link through the news channel, and when he clicked on it, it would take him to Rick Astley singing ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’. There’s a whole bunch of these videos on Instagram at the moment. They’re hilarious.

It’s not the actual song that matters. That’s irrelevant. You think you’re going to get one thing, but when you click on it, you get something totally different. 

How do you like to spend your weekends? Do you have any hobbies or special interests?

It depends on how much time I have, but I do like to go mountain biking. I tend to mountain bike in the summer, and in winter, I like to go skiing if I can get up to the mountains. I always go to the gym. The first thing I do on Saturdays is my workout. I’ve been doing a little bit of powerlifting lately. And other than that, I’m just very into food. If there’s stuff on, we try different restaurants, lunches, and dinners.

What drew you to want to work here at Bp?

I like to challenge myself to learn new things and grow. I’m fortunate to have worked with someone previously who can come up with an idea and make it a reality. But to meet someone who can do it twice, who knows the customer, that can go and build a product that matches what the customers need twice and makes it successful is someone that I want to learn from. That core aspect of Frank (Pyefinch) is just who he is. He’s so ingrained in understanding his customer.

Balancing that with both Frank and Lorraine in the time that I’ve interacted and worked with them on various projects, they’re the kind of people you want to work for. They’re very honest and down to earth. They care about their customer, but they equally care about their staff.

When did you discover that there was an interoperability problem to be solved here in Australia?

My mother was quite young when she was diagnosed with cerebellar ataxia. It’s been a really interesting journey supporting her from the family side. She has to go to the physio, she gets speech pathology, she goes to her specialist, she has a GP, and none of her records are available across the sectors. So, a lot of the time, my dad has to remember, write it out or get printouts. There are delays in getting the data across to the other professionals. It’s far more complicated than it needs to be.

After working on the ePrescribing side, it baffles me. It’s never been a technology problem. It could be built tomorrow. There’s a collective of issues that stop interoperability from happening, but we’re getting to a critical turning point where we need to get it done. Because ultimately, what is suffering at the moment is the patient.

Where does your passion for interoperability come from?

A need for timeliness and accuracy of patient care. From a clinician’s side, the frustration, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to at least see the data in real time.

Hospital admissions is a key one. The delays are caused when you don’t know what medications your patient is taking. Let’s say that they’re unconscious when they come in, you can’t ask them the questions. You don’t know. Sometimes all you get is a dump of what was in the medicine cabinet from the ambulance. It causes critical delays that could impact the outcome for the patient.

I would like to see it resolved in my lifetime, and I think that it can be done. Fundamentally for me, it’s not about competition or competitive advantage. Collectively, if we all put effort into making interoperability work and having data that we can freely exchange for the patient, we all end up better off, commercially and clinically.

I’m very wary of anyone who enters into a marketplace and calls themselves a disruptor. Genuine disruptors don’t need to tell people that’s what they are. Because health is an interesting one, where you need balance, yes, we want to move forward, and interoperability should be successful. There’s no reason why we can’t make it happen, but that shouldn’t be at all costs. You can’t do that and not make sure that you have adequate security and privacy in place for the patient to ensure that they’re still in control of their privacy to make sure that there’s a certain degree of quality in the applications being offered and that there’s some governance there. I think that’s why it’s always been put in the ‘too hard’ basket because you can’t just simply make it happen. You need structure and framework to make sure it’s being done in the best interest of the patient.

What drew you to want to work with Halo Connect?

The reality is Best Practice has an on-premises product that services a large percentage of the Australian market. It’s no secret that we’re also in the process of re-platforming our products for long-term modernisation. Part of that (modernisation) is how you provide an environment for your third parties. Putting in an API that services all of our products really helps us continue to build our future products while supporting our current existing products and supports our partners in all aspects.

The alignment with Halo Connect purely comes down to why they were doing it and what they were offering. It’s a true partnership in terms of working with Chris (Smeed). His reasons for doing it are about the practice as well as the patient.

Minimising the impact on the on-premise software, there’s all this stuff that you have on the server, all these integrations, how can we make that better so that the clinic can function and focus on the patient and not worry about hardware having pressures and supporting all that kind of stuff.

But also, how do you support the partners to ensure that new market entrants can enter? I think often there’s a high cost to have to connect to every on-premises clinic in Australia. You have to deploy and adapt to each one and have a support desk; it’s a lot of resources. Some small companies might have some really fantastic ideas but not enough funding to enter a market of on-premises software.

Being able to provide a central platform that provides an open marketplace that allows anyone to connect and securely provide information. Halo will offer security and privacy management as it’s an extra layer away from the clinic. It can provide throttling and all kinds of things that actually help the clinic keep their database performance and abstract that layer away. But also provides the ability for partners to connect at a lower cost than having to build their own adapters and deploy them.

It was really about the alignment; they were after the same end goal that we were and for the same reason.

Thank you, Danielle, for this wonderfully insightful chat. From a patient perspective, I look forward to seeing the remarkable work that you are doing in this space and what is to come next.

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TeamBp Spotlight: Lindy

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Team Bp Spotlight Image Lindy

Welcome back for another edition of our Employee Spotlight series, where we introduce you to the hardworking and talented individuals who make up TeamBp! 

 

Today, we’re featuring Lindy Johns. In addition to being a long-term Bp team member (she’s been here for eight years!) and an integral part of our Business Improvements Team, Lindy is also a TeamBp culture leader. Organising and promoting a diverse range of charity drives throughout the year. Thanks to Lindy’s coordination, TeamBp has contributed to office morning teas, lunches, awareness initiatives and, most recently, Share the Dignity’s #ItsInTheBag campaign.

 

Share the Dignity is a women’s charity in Australia that works to make a real difference in the lives of those experiencing homelessness, fleeing domestic violence, or doing it tough. They distribute period products to women, girls, and anyone who menstruates and needs support. When someone is doing it tough, the last thing on their mind should be dealing with their period. In 2018, they helped ‘axe the period tax’. After nearly two decades of campaigning, state and federal governments finally agreed to abolish the $30 million a year tax on tampons and sanitary products after Share the Dignity’s Founder, Rochelle Courtenay, decided to lobby for real parliamentary change. They are now working on ensuring that all Australian public hospitals offer free sanitary items to those who need them through #PadUpThePublic.

 

This year marks the second year that TeamBp have rallied together to collect items and donations in November. #ItsInTheBag is a Christmas appeal where every day Australians are encouraged to put together bags filled with essential items to donate to someone in need for Christmas. Bags can be dropped to any Bunnings store nationwide between 18-27 November 2022 and are distributed to over 3,000 charities nationwide. Ensuring women, girls and those who menstruate, who are waking up in a domestic violence refuge or homeless shelter on Christmas feel a little bit of love and hope.

 

For the past two years, Lindy (along with her Bp Brisbane office friend, Jessica White) has been responsible for fundraising, collecting item donations, purchasing additional items, assembling the bags, and dropping them off at the Bunnings collection point.

 

In November 2021, across both the Brisbane and Bundaberg offices, TeamBp managed to drop off 24 bags for women in need. This generous outcome certainly gave a little cheer over the holiday period.

This week, Lindy and TeamBp raised enough money to put together 36 bags, each containing around $60 worth of products. Needless to say, Lindy filled up the Bundaberg Bunnings drop-off box with her donations alone!

To learn more about how you can contribute to #ItsInTheBag, click here – It’s in the Bag (sharethedignity.org.au)

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How Video Telehealth Can Help Practice Sustainability

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Practices are feeling the pressure of increased costs and flat Medicare rebates. This year’s General Practice Health of the Nation report by the RACGP found that only 3% of GPs stated that the current Medicare rebate is sufficient to cover the cost of care.

Using technology to deliver health care has several advantages, including cost savings, convenience, and the ability to provide care to people with mobility limitations or those in rural areas who do not have easy access to a clinic. Medicare data indicates that approximately 20% of GP consultations are conducted using telehealth, and patients still have an appetite for telehealth consults post-pandemic.

There are many upsides for a patient to use select telehealth appointments as their preferred method of consultations. But why should your practice offer telehealth?

Well, there are a few reasons to consider.

Flexibility for Doctors

Firstly, telehealth can offer flexibility to your doctors. They can simply login from home to see patients. This is particularly useful if they, or their family, are sick.

Reduced Cancellations

Because of how easy and accessible telehealth appointments are, your practice will likely notice a reduction of cancellations and no-shows. With enough notice, appointments can be converted to video telehealth appointments which still allow a rich clinical interaction. 

Efficiency

Some telehealth booking platforms can seamlessly integrate with your Best Practice appointment book. This two-way communication between the telehealth platform and Bp greatly reduces the risk of double booking an appointment time slot.

Reduce Practice Costs

Delivering consultations via telehealth can reduce overhead costs for your practice. You can streamline your reception by reducing bottlenecking and busy periods, as telehealth can reduce the number of consults booked over the phone. It also removes the need to verify patient details and in-person check-in upon arrival, as this is all done through the telehealth platform.

Grow Your Radius of Care

Your patients no longer need to live within driving distance of your practice. This can also mean that you can offer consults to people living in rural and remote areas who may not have a local GP.

Stay Competitive

And, of course, the convenience it offers to your patients. Appointments can be easily booked through the telehealth platform. Patients no longer need to organise time away from their regular duties to sit in busy waiting rooms. With more and more practices offering telehealth, you could be losing out on consultations by not offering this service.

Dr Jared Dart, practice owner and GP advocate, recommends that practices do whatever they can to reduce costs and increase revenue and suggests that private billing Video Telehealth may be one such way. 

Welio, a doctor-focused telehealth platform, takes a novel approach to improving practice sustainability by charging the patient and not the practice. This minimal $2 charge per patient telehealth video consult means that there is no out-of-pocket cost to the practice and no lock-in subscription.

Created by Dr Jared Dart, GP and practice owner of iHealth Centre Indooroopilly, Welio provides privately billed telehealth consults through seamless access to secure payments, informed patient financial consent, and flexible post-consult billing options. Dr Dart commented that data shows 20% of iHealth Centre revenue is generated by telehealth.

The platform is private and secure with end-to-end encryption. Any personal data stored by Welio is kept in their secure Microsoft Azure cloud platform. The simple user interface means patients can use their Face ID, fingerprint, or passcode to enter the Welio app, and within three clicks, they are in the virtual waiting room. Using the app means that patients don’t have to click a link to open their video consult – something patients are becoming more wary of.

Payments are taken through the app using the PCI-compliant and highly secure Stripe payment platform. Doctors can choose to charge the expected fee to which the patient has already agreed, an increased or decreased fee, or a $0 charge which effectively allows them to bulk bill. If the patient is bulk billed, Welio does not charge them a fee.

For more information about Welio visit their website – www.welio.com

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Calling Australian GPs and General Practice Staff – Join the Discussion on NBCSP!

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Bp Blog_Daffodil Centre

The MAIL, GP & SCALE project aims to help the Australian population and reduce the burden of bowel cancer. The Daffodil Centre are conducting a co-design with general practitioners and practice staff of an intervention to increase National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) participation.

The Cancer Council Australia recognises the key role that GPs and other primary health professionals play in the success of the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP). As a health professional, you are integral to the success of the program. Evidence shows that a recommendation by a primary health care provider is a key motivator for participants to screen.

Currently, only 44% of eligible Australians complete the free NBCSP home screening test. Following a comprehensive review of the evidence and the publication of the Clinical Practice Guidelines for the prevention, early detection and management of Colorectal Cancer, immunochemical faecal occult blood testing (iFOBT) every 2 years from age 50-74 was recommended for population screening in Australia. Modelling has shown that with current levels of participation, the NBCSP is expected to prevent 59,000 deaths over the period 2015-2040; an additional 16,800 and 24,800 deaths would be prevented if participation was increased to 50% and 60%, respectively.[1]

Modelling has shown that with current levels of participation, the NBCSP is expected to prevent 59,000 deaths over the period 2015-2040; an additional 16,800 and 24,800 deaths would be prevented if participation was increased to 50% and 60%, respectively.

The Daffodil Centre – a partnership between the Cancer Council NSW and the University of Sydney, is inviting GPs and practice staff to take part in a new study that aims to co-design a general practice led intervention to increase NBCSP participation. Specifically, this study aims to:

  1. Co-design a general practice led intervention to increase National Bowel Cancer Screening Program participation.
  2. Identify potential barriers and enablers that may affect implementation of the intervention.

Focus groups will be held online in late 2022 and early 2023, with reimbursement provided.

What Does the Co-Design Process Involve?
  • Eight focus groups with ~5 participants per group from across Australia, conducted from late 2022 to early 2023.
  • Focus groups will be held online and last approximately 60-90 minutes.
  • Participation is voluntary and there will be reimbursement for participant time.
  • Focus groups will explore participants perspectives of an optimal general practice-led intervention to increase bowel screening participation.
  • Focus group data will be de-identified.
  • After the focus groups, participants are welcome to make further contributions or revisions to design of the intervention, but this is not required.

What Happens Next? 

Findings from these focus groups will support the design of a general practice led intervention. This intervention will be piloted in a trial in within 80 general practices across two Australian states.

Click here to see the Participant Information Statement and indicate your expression of interest or contact bowel@daffodilcentre.org if you would like further information. 

References:

  1. Lew JB, St John DJB, Xu XM, Greuter MJE, Caruana M, Cenin DR, et al. Long-term evaluation of benefits, harms, and cost-effectiveness of the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program in Australia: a modelling study. Lancet Public Health 2017 Jul;2(7):e331-e340 Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29253458.

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