Best Practice Software Announces Newly Forged Partnership with Lyrebird Health

Lyrebird Health Partnership Blog Graphic

New partnership between Best Practice and Lyrebird Health provides practitioners with increased efficiencies and productivity.

Best Practice Software has partnered with Lyrebird Health; the creators of Lyrebird Scribe, an artificial intelligence (AI) transcription tool specifically designed for healthcare. The partnership will see Bp Premier, Best Practice’s market leading practice management system, be the first to offer a fully integrated generative AI tool to their Australian practitioners.

Co-Founders of Lyrebird Health, Kai Van Lieshout and Linus Talacko said:

“The demand on healthcare has never been higher in Australia and many General Practitioners across the country are stretched to the point of burnout. Through our partnership with Best Practice Software, practitioners across Australia will now have Lyrebird Scribe directly embedded into their software, allowing them to see more patients and deliver a level of care that was previously not possible.”

Lyrebird Scribe works by automatically generating relevant medical documentation during the consultation process, allowing clinicians to spend more time with their patients and less time completing administrative duties.

Doctor and Founder of Best Practice Software, Dr Frank Pyefinch said:

“It’s always been our goal to find new ways to support our practitioners. The Lyrebird Health integration achieves this by allowing practitioners to increase administrative efficiencies and reduce their time spent recording patient notes, both during and post consult”.

By listening to your consult Lyrebird Scribe can automatically generate your patient notes, filtering out all irrelevant information. From there, comprehensive letters and referrals can then be generated from the patient notes and be sent within minutes. Lyrebird Scribe learns from the practitioner’s edits and feedback, so as they continue to use the tool, notes and letters will sound more like them.

Doctor and Clinical Advisor of Best Practice Software, Dr Fabrina Hossain said:

“While AI will never replace the practitioner in making clinical decisions, it can be useful in increasing efficiencies and reducing time spent on administration. Anything that allows practitioners to spend more time providing patient care is appreciated.”

Given the sensitive nature of healthcare information, Lyrebird Scribe utilises AES-256 bit encryption, all information is stored de-identified on Australian based servers, and data is only available to the practitioner.

To find out more about Best Practice Software or Lyrebird Health please visit us online.

For all media enquires please contact:

Danielle Bancroft
Chief of Product, Best Practice Software
danielle.bancroft@bpsoftware.net

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How Forest Hill Family Clinic Increased CDM Billings by 400%

In the bustling heart of Forest Hill, where healthcare meets community, Forest Hill Family Clinic has been a beacon of care for its local community. With a mission to provide top-quality healthcare, they recognise the need to provide efficient access to care through their hands-on approach to chronic disease management (CDM).

The Challenge: Creating a Simple and Reliable Process for CDM

For years, Forest Hill Family Clinic has been providing care for a growing population of patients dealing with chronic diseases. However, their approach to identifying care opportunities wasn’t one that enabled the team to do their best work. As one of their team members put it, “For us, CDM was very ad hoc, if we worked with the nurses they would pick it up, but it would drop off throughout the year.” Forest Hill Family Clinic needed to work with the team to create a simple, repeatable process for easily verifying CDM eligibility and booking those eligible appointments.

Discovering a Solution: What is Everyone Else Doing?

The practice owner, Cass Quilty, began searching for a solution that could align with their goals. Cass had heard whispers of Cubiko’s success from other practices online and decided to investigate further. They were intrigued by the prospect of a software solution that could help them streamline their processes.

Structured Care Opportunities with Cubiko

Forest Hill Family Clinic decided to put Cubiko to the test. They employed Cubiko’s QuickCheck tool to assess patient eligibility before consultations. The results were astonishing. Chronic disease management billings, once a mere 5% of their total billings, surged to an impressive 21%. As Cass enthusiastically described it, “Then along came QuickCheck. Which has been fantastic, a game changer.”

For Cass and her dedicated team, QuickCheck became their trusted ally in verifying patient eligibility before consultations, ensuring that no care opportunity was missed. As Cass elaborated, “What we created is an opportunistic appointments list in Bp. We run QuickCheck each morning, and anyone who is eligible, we make a note on the file what the patient is due for.”

This routine use of QuickCheck goes hand in hand with a thoroughly planned process for providing amazing CDM care, ensuring no patient misses out on the care they are eligible to receive.

Seamless Implementation: Simplifying the Process

The implementation of Cubiko was a breeze for Forest Hill Family Clinic. They simply signed up and began training their team using the comprehensive resources provided by Cubiko. The software seamlessly integrated into their daily workflows, making it an invaluable part of their practice.

User-Friendly Experience: Empowering Healthcare Providers

Cubiko’s user-friendly interface made it easy for the staff at Forest Hill Family Clinic to embrace and utilise the software effectively. Its simplicity amplified the effectiveness of the software, enabling the team to focus on delivering exceptional care.

The Results: Streamlined and Efficient Workflow

Cubiko has not only assisted in growing Forest Hill Family Clinic’s CDM billings but also streamlined their entire workflow. As Cass expressed, “If I don’t have to check PRODA for an item number ever again, that would be heaven. It’s been fantastic; the time we get back from rejections and checking PRODA is so valuable.” Forest Hill Family Clinic saves hours each week through a streamlined process and ensures they are able to bill for the work their team puts in by cutting down on costly rejections.

A Bright Future with Cubiko

In conclusion, Forest Hill Family Clinic’s journey with Cubiko has been nothing short of remarkable. By adopting this innovative solution, they have increased their chronic disease management billings fourfold and transformed their care delivery process. Cubiko has not only helped them improve patient outcomes but also simplified their workflows.

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1 November 2023 Fee Update – Triple Incentives and MyMedicare

From 1 November 2023, higher bulk billing incentives for Commonwealth concession card holders and patients under 16 years of age will be introduced and may be co claimed with the following consultation items:

  • MBS Levels B, C, D, and E face-to-face general attendance consultations (and out of rooms, residential aged care facilities and after-hours equivalents),
  • MBS Level B telehealth (video and telephone) general attendance consultations,
  • MBS Levels C, and D telehealth (video and telephone) general attendance consultations, where a patient is registered with a general practice through MyMedicare and receives the service through the practice where they are registered,
  • Level E telehealth (video only) general attendance consultations, where a patient is registered with their general practice through MyMedicare and receives the service through the practice where they are registered.

Please see the MBS Online Fact Sheet for Bulk Billing in General Practice for further information.

What Do I Need To Know?

The new MBS Item numbers that are being released on 1 November to support the triple incentive items will be made available as part of our planned November Data Update. This update will also include the logic changes that are required to automatically apply the incentives based on the applicable billing workflow, with an exception to the Video and Phone Telehealth consultations.

We are currently unable to automatically add the relevant incentives to the 91801, 91802 and 91920 Video Telehealth, and the 91900 and 91910 Phone Telehealth items as this incentive is reliant on the patient being registered at their practice through MyMedicare. At this stage, a patient’s MyMedicare registration is not stored in Bp and therefore unable to be verified as part of this billing workflow.

For MyMedicare patients eligible for these new incentives:

For Video Telehealth Consultations:

  • The standard 10990 (or regional variant) incentive will automatically be added to the account when created with any of these item numbers which will be unable to be removed,
  • The 75880 incentive item will then need to be manually added to the account,
  • Account to be submitted to Medicare with both incentive items included and then managed using the standard Medicare exception process.

For Phone Telehealth Consultations:

  • The new incentives will not automatically be added to the account, and will need to be manually added by practice staff. (Please note: in this scenario, the 10990 (or regional variant) incentive will not be applied, and will therefore not need to be managed using the standard Medicare exception process.)

The addition of a patient’s MyMedicare registration status is planned to be made available in the next release of our Bp Premier product scheduled for the coming months. The introduction of patients’ MyMedicare status in Bp Premier will remove the need to manually manage these incentives.

Further information regarding these changes can be accessed via the Bp Premier Knowledge Base and via the MBS Online website.

Authored by:

Jessica White
Head of Commercial and Government at Best Practice Software

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March 2024 Changes to Reporting Vaccination Encounters to AIR

The Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) is a national, lifelong immunisation register that records the vaccines administered to all Australians, including:

  • COVID-19 vaccines
  • Vaccines given under the National Immunisation Program (NIP)
  • Privately given vaccines, such as for seasonal influenza or travel.

Reporting detailed vaccination information to AIR enables the register to contain a complete and reliable dataset for monitoring immunisation coverage and administration.

From 1 March 2024, AIR will introduce new mandatory reporting requirements to improve the data currently held. The following information will be required to upload an encounter to AIR from 1 March 2024.

Selecting the Vaccine Type will be Mandatory for Selected Vaccines

If a vaccination provider is both the immunisation and the information provider, and the vaccine was administered on or after 1 March 2024, specifying vaccine type will be mandatory for selected vaccines when uploading an encounter to AIR. Vaccine type could be Antenatal, NIP/Commonwealth, private or state program.

Route of Administration will be Mandatory for Selected Vaccines

If a vaccination provider is both the immunisation and the information provider, and the vaccine was administered on or after 1 March 2024, specifying the Route of Administration will be mandatory for selected vaccines when uploading an encounter to AIR.

Batch Numbers will be Mandatory for Selected Vaccines

If a vaccination provider is both the immunisation and the information provider, and the vaccine was administered on or after 1 March 2024, specifying the Batch Number will be mandatory for selected vaccines when uploading an encounter to AIR.

More information regarding these changes will be made available in the near future. These mandatory changes will be included in the next version of Bp Premier, Orchid SP2. We recommend upgrading to Orchid SP2 as soon as it is available so your practice may continue to meet the mandatory AIR reporting requirements.

Authored by:

Suzi Eley Blog Author Image

Suzi Eley
Training and Deployment Team Leader at Best Practice Software

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Data Accuracy in Real Time Prescription Monitoring

Blog graphic RTPM

Real Time Prescription Monitoring (RTPM) is a clinical tool available in most states to practices running Bp Premier that assists healthcare providers and pharmacists in making safer prescribing decisions for certain high-risk medicines. See Real Time Prescription Monitoring availability for more information.

To maintain the highest levels of patient safety, healthcare providers can take key steps within Bp Premier to support and enhance the data quality of the Real Time Prescription Monitoring system.

Validate the Patient's Individual Healthcare Identifier (IHI)

One of the most important steps in ensuring data accuracy is validating the patient’s Individual Healthcare Identifier (IHI) in Bp Premier. Validating the IHI ensures that the correct medical information links with the correct individual. Incorrect or missing IHIs can result in duplicate patient records, risking patient safety and potentially leading to incorrect diagnoses, inappropriate medications, and medical errors.

To assist healthcare providers in improving data quality and patient safety, Bp Premier has several functions that simplify validating patient IHI numbers. In Bp Premier version Orchid, we added functionality to automatically validate a patient’s IHI number when opening the patient record. When saving patient demographic information, a prompt will also display if the IHI number is invalid against the new identifying information.

Patient IHI numbers can also be manually validated for a single patient from the patient demographics screen or validated in a bulk lookup for multiple patients from the appointment book.

You can find more information about Validating Health Identifiers in Bp Premier in our knowledge base.

Maintain Accurate Patient Demographic Information

Real Time Prescription Monitoring does not rely solely on prescription and dispensing records; it also gathers patient information from other sections of Bp Premier. To reduce the risk of data inconsistencies, ensure that patient details such as last name, first name, address, date of birth, gender, and Medicare/DVA number are recorded and kept up to date.

Record the Patient's Date of Birth

When prescribing or dispensing medication, healthcare providers and pharmacists must record the patient’s date of birth. For prescriptions containing Schedule 4 and Schedule 8 medicines, the patient’s date of birth is a required data element. Recording the patient’s date of birth also helps ensure that accurate data is retained in real-time prescription monitoring systems and reduces the chance of duplicate patient records.

Enter Medicine Information Correctly

Medicines prescribed as free text are more difficult to match in the RTPM system. Healthcare providers should take care when selecting medicines, accurately record dosage and quantity information, and avoid free text entries whenever possible. Real Time Prescription Monitoring relies on the accuracy of this information to generate alerts and notifications regarding at-risk patients.

Real-time prescription monitoring is essential for improving patient safety in the healthcare system. Healthcare providers help improve this tool’s accuracy and effectiveness by actively participating in efforts to improve data quality. Validating IHIs, keeping patient information up to date, and correctly recording prescription information are essential steps in ensuring system quality. By implementing these measures, healthcare providers can uphold the highest patient safety standards while providing more reliable and consistent care to their communities.

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Cybersecurity Revisited – Education for Your Practices

This time last year, we posted an article highlighting the dangers of cybersecurity attacks in the healthcare industry, with some practical suggestions for minimising the risk of an attack on your practice around staff training and behaviour. As we approach October again, the National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NSCAM), we look at what’s changed in the last year, and the work our training team have done to help you introduce your staff to cybersecurity and develop your own practice policies in this critical space.

Healthcare Still The Prime Target

The Notifiable Data Breaches report from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) for the last half of 2022 still numbers Health Service Providers as the most affected industry sector for notifying data breaches.

Chart from the Notifiable Data Breaches Report

With healthcare still the leader for data breach notifications, it remains more important than ever to consider the value of training your staff on cybersecurity concepts like phishing (and now ‘smishing’), social engineering, password strength, and remote login, as well as updating your practice policies to reflect best practices.

The Australian Competitions and Consumer Corporation’s 2023 report Targeting Scams also highlights some trends in scam-related contacts over the last year. The top contact method for scam attempts is now SMS text message, or ‘smishing’, where scammers attempt to impersonate a government agency, like Medicare or the ATO, or a private company such as Amazon or the tolling company Linkt, with a hyperlink to a scam site to enter credential information and potential access to bank account details or personal data.

With SMS messaging a standard practice-patient communications method, and healthcare a prime target for cybercriminals, it’s inevitable that cyberattacks by SMS will become more and more frequent and both practices and patients will need education on how to spot a scam text message as much as a phishing email attempt.

Partnering With You Legal

To help guide your practice in forming its policies around key concepts and processes, Best Practice Software recently partnered with Sarah Bartholomeusz of You Legal to present a webinar titled Cybersecurity at Your Practice.

Sarah went through You Legal’s five-step process for preparing your practice for a cyberattack event, reducing the chances of an attack, and understanding your legal obligations that constitute your response to an attack, including assessment, remedial action, and notification to the OAIC. This is critical information that your practice must be aware of as key targets of cybercriminal activity.

Also presented in the webinar were demonstrations of the Bp Premier features you can use to implement some of the strategies discussed in the first half, such as the use of the backup schedule for disaster recovery, the comprehensive password management options now on offer, fine-tuning lockdown of the clinical record, and using the audit history tool as part of an incident assessment.

An Introductory eLearning Course For Your Practice

The Bp training team are proud to announce a free education resource for all of our practices, called Practicalities of Cybersecurity at Your Practices.

This is an introductory course that will explain some of the terminology and concepts in cybersecurity that are relevant to medical practices. The course also introduces some best practices around staff training on cybersecurity, including how to spot a phishing email, what a social engineering phone call might sound like, and the importance of due diligence around third party integrations.

We’ve provided plenty of up to date Australian government and peak body resources to start creating and updating your own practice policies on privacy and cybersecurity.

 

If you are interested in your staff undertaking this short elearning course, you can email training@bpsoftware.net for the link to get started!

Authored by:

Jay Rose Author Image

Jay Rose
Lead Content Developer at Best Practice Software

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Preparing Your Practice for MyMedicare

MyMedicare is the new voluntary patient registration initiative recently announced by the Department of Health and Aged Care (DoHAC). Registration in MyMedicare is voluntary for patients, practices, and providers, and aims to strengthen the relationships between patients and their primary care teams.

MyMedicare is a hot topic, and information on items like patient eligibility criteria, and workflows for registration is expected to be available soon from DoHAC. Bp Software is closely monitoring this space, and we are committed to keeping you informed along this journey.

What Does MyMedicare Mean For Your Practice?

MyMedicare is progressing with staggered phasing for availability of benefits for your practice and your registered patients. Some key milestones that have been shared are:

  • Practice registrations commenced 1st July 2023,
  • Patient registration commences 1st October 2023,
  • New MBS funding for registered patients for longer telehealth consults commences 1st November 2023,
  • Restructured aged care incentives, chronic disease management, and funding for frequent hospital from mid-2024 onwards.

What Can I Do Now?

While some information is still to come, there are things that you can do today. You can confirm your practice’s eligibility, register providers for MyMedicare, and prepare for questions that patients may have right now.

Practices do not have to actively register with MyMedicare. A practice will be available for selection as the regular practice for a registering patient if some simple eligibility criteria available on DoHAC’s MyMedicare information page are met. If your practice fits the criteria, no other action is necessary.

Providers must be linked to your practice in the Organisation Register for patients to register with them. This Services Australia checklist walks you through the steps to ensure both your practice and providers are registered correctly in preparation for patient enrolments.

Patient eligibility criteria, and instructions for patient registration will be released by DoHAC closer to the 1st October date for registration commencement. It’s expected that to register with your practice, a patient must have visited two times in the last two years and hold a Medicare or DVA card.

In preparation for MyMedicare in October, you may wish to generate lists of patients who would benefit from MyMedicare registration, such as aged care residents, long telehealth consult users, frequent hospital visitors, and patients with chronic and complex conditions.

How Will Registration Work?

Patient registration commences on 1st October 2023, and is a key area where further information is expected to come soon. So far, it’s known that:

  • Patients will be able to register through MyGov,
  • Practices will be able to invite a patient to register through PRODA via the Medicare App,
  • Paper registration forms will be available for patients to complete, and practices to submit through PRODA and retain,
  • Confirmation of a patient’s registration will be visible as a document in My Health Record.

All registration methods will require consent from both parties: a practice must agree to the patient’s request, and the patient must agree to any invitation sent from a practice to register.

For More Information

We understand that MyMedicare is a very new initiative, and that new information and announcements can naturally bring questions. While there may be questions that we are unable to answer at this stage, Bp Software is committed to keeping you up to date with information, and resources that we create to support our practices as they are made available. Access the Bp Premier Knowledge Base, and search for ‘MyMedicare’ to find our resources at any time.

The following Department of Health and Aged Care resources provide more information about MyMedicare, and the upcoming changes regarding telehealth, aged care incentives, and chronic condition items:

Department of Health and Aged Care MyMedicare information page and eligibility

MyMedicare and Practice Registration Frequently Asked Questions (PDF)

Services Australia MyMedicare Overview multimedia (go to eLearning > MyMedicare – Overview)

DOHAC Checklist of Steps to Register for MyMedicare in the Organisation Register (PDF)

Authored by:

Jay Rose Author Image

Jay Rose
Lead Content Developer at Best Practice Software

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The National Prescription Delivery Service is here! What does it mean for you?

The Australian electronic prescribing ecosystem has evolved significantly over the last decade. From the introduction barcodes for paper prescriptions, Real Time Prescription Monitoring, token-based electronic prescriptions, and all the way to the new My Script List functionality in Bp Premier Orchid SP1, the positive innovation has been continuous.

At its core, electronic prescribing in all its forms aims to benefit patients, prescribers, and dispensers alike. Just some of the many ways that this is achieved is through reductions in errors, and improvements in efficiency for prescribing and dispensing medicines, and by providing more modern and secure options for patients to better manage their prescriptions.

The National Prescription Delivery Service Is Available Now

In May this year, the Department of Health and Aged Care announced that Fred IT’s eRx Script Exchange (eRx) was engaged as the single provider for the National Prescription Delivery Service (NPDS). The intention of moving to a single NPDS is to provide streamlined prescription delivery management, and to continue to keep the transfers of prescription information cost-neutral for prescribers and practices, pharmacists, and patients alike into the future.

The NPDS commenced on 1st July 2023, and the deadline of 30th September 2023 for prescribers in your practice to connect to this is rapidly approaching.

What Does the National PDS Mean for my Practice?

To continue prescribing PBS medications, all prescribers in your practice must be registered with eRx Script Exchange, and be configured to use eRx in Bp Premier before the 30th September 2023 deadline.

This advice applies to all prescriptions created in Bp Premier, whether they be:

  • A traditional paper-based prescription that contains a barcode,
  • An end-to-end electronic prescription sent as a QR code via the Best Health App, an SMS or email to your patient, or printed as a paper token.

If prescribers in your practice are yet to register for eRx, you can begin the process today by visiting this website.

It’s also vital that you install the upgrade to Bp Premier Orchid SP1 in time for the 30th September deadline. The new NPDS also includes ongoing funding for providing electronic prescriptions to patients via SMS delivery, with the current funding arrangements set to cease alongside the deadline.

Orchid SP1 contains the necessary changes to switch to this new funding arrangement, so ensure that you upgrade before 30th September to continue to offer SMS delivery of electronic prescriptions at no cost. From 1st October onwards, if you’ve not upgraded to Orchid SP1, each SMS for an electronic prescription will be charged at 4c, and will be deducted from your Bp Comms balance.

What are my next steps?

To be prepared for the 30th September deadline, you should complete the following steps:

  1. Register all prescribers in your clinic with eRx as soon as possible,
  2. Configure all prescribers to use eRx in Bp Premier,
  3. Upgrade to Orchid SP1 to avoid fees for sending electronic prescriptions via SMS.

For More Information

Help, and any further information that you may require is available.

You can access the Bp Premier Knowledge Base at any time by clicking Help, then Online, or by hitting the F1 shortcut key. Simply search for the keyword ‘eRx’ and you’ll find detailed instructions on configuring each of your prescribers in Bp Premier to use eRx, or search ‘upgrade’ to find instructions on installing the upgrade to Orchid SP1. Bp’s Support team are also available to assist on 1300 401 111.

For questions around the NPDS in general, the transition process and timeframe, or anything further in relation to this topic, you can reach the Department of Health and Aged Care directly via EPtransitions@health.gov.au for assistance.

 

Authored by:

Lais Miyasava
Training & Deployment Specialist at Best Practice Software

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Are You Still Using a Medicare SHA-1 PKI Certificate?

Medicare SHA-1 PKI certificates are used for online claiming purposes only. As claiming has transitioned to web services using PRODA, these certificates are no longer required. These certificates are set to expire on 25th June 2024.

eRX Script Exchange also now accepts NASH SHA-2 PKI Certificates.

Services Australia has transitioned away from Medicare SHA-1 PKI certificates due to security concerns. SHA-1 encryption is now considered insecure and poses potential risks of cyber threats and fraudulent activities.

Services Australia has recently communicated with practices who are still in possession of current Medicare SHA-1 PKI certificates. Services Australia has requested these practices participate in a survey to determine how these certificates are being used, so they can understand any potential business impacts when the certificate expires or if they revoke it early.

How do we know if we are using a Medicare SHA-1 PKI Certificate?

To determine whether your practice is using a Medicare SHA-1 PKI certificate, perform the steps below on the Bp Premier Server:

Note: This only applies to active, non-expired Medicare SHA-1 PKI certificates. If your certificate has expired, you are not required to take any action.

  1. Click the Windows logo in the bottom left of the toolbar, or click the Windows logo button on the keyboard.

  2. Click the Search icon (magnifying glass) in the top right to slide in the Search bar.

  3. Type internet options into the Search bar and select Internet Options from the list. The Internet Properties screen will appear.
Medicare SHA-1 PKI Certificate Screenshot

4. In the Internet Properties screen, select the Content tab. Click Certificates. The Certificates screen will appear.

Medicare SHA-1 PKI Certificate Screenshot

5. The Medicare SHA-1 PKI site certificate has the name of the practice in the Issued To column (the first column).

a) If you do not have a certificate with the Practice Name in the Issued to Column, your practice is not utilising a Medicare SHA-1 PKI site certificate and no action is required.

b) If you have a Medicare SHA-1 PKI site certificate and the certificate is expired, your practice is not utilising the certificate and no action is required.

c) If you have a Medicare SHA-1 PKI site certificate and the certificate has not expired, your practice may still be using the certificate. Complete the Services Australia survey and contact Best Practice Software Support on 1300 401 111 for assistance.

How do we know if we are using a NASH SHA-1 PKI Certificate?

  1. Click the Windows logo in the bottom left of the toolbar or click the Windows logo button on the keyboard.

  2. Click the Search icon (magnifying glass) in the top right to slide in the Search bar.

  3. Type internet options into the Search bar and select Internet Options from the list. The Internet Properties screen will appear.
Medicare SHA-1 PKI Certificate Screenshot

4. In the Internet Properties screen, select the Content tab. Click Certificates. The Certificates screen will appear.

5. The NASH certificate is named ‘general’ followed by your practice’s HPI-O number. In 2023, support for NASH SHA-1 PKI certificates will also be discontinued. You can determine if your practice is using a NASH SHA-1 PKI certificate by double-clicking on the Nash certificate and selecting the Details tab.

Medicare SHA-1 PKI Certificate Screenshot

a. The Signature Hash Algorithm field should contain sha256; this shows that your practice uses a SHA-2 Nash Certificate, and no action is necessary.

Medicare SHA-1 PKI Certificate Screenshot

b. If the Signature Hash Algorithm field displays SHA1, this indicates that your practice utilises a SHA-1 Nash Certificate and that you need to transition to a SHA-2 Nash Certificate. Please refer to the Australian Digital Health Agencies’ guide on revoking your NASH SHA-1 and upgrading to a SHA-2.

Medicare SHA-1 PKI Certificate Screenshot

What do we need to do?

If you are no longer using your Medicare SHA-1 PKI certificate, there’s no need for any action on your part. Services Australia will automatically revoke your certificate from 31st of October 2023.

For those using their Medicare SHA-1 PKI certificate with the eRX Script Exchange, the option to acquire a NASH PKI is available through HPOS in the Healthcare Identifiers Service. See the Australian Digital Health Agency’s instructions for requesting or renewing a NASH PKI certificate.

If your Medicare SHA-1 PKI certificate is used for other purposes, Services Australia requires that you participate in their PKI certificate survey by August 31, 2023. Important information is supplied at the beginning of the survey to ensure that you are well-informed if action is required.

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Cardiovascular Risk Assessment in Bp Premier

Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) is responsible for significant morbidity and premature mortality in Australia. An individual’s risk of developing CVD depends on the combined effect of multiple risk factors. Risk assessment, therefore, remains fundamental to the primary prevention of CVD (Heart Foundation, n.d.).

Bp Premier offers a Cardiovascular Risk Assessment tool and the ability to access the Online Cardiovascular Disease Check from the patient’s clinical record.

Cardiovascular Risk Tool

Bp Premier’s Cardiovascular risk tool calculates a percentage probability of developing cardiovascular disease in the next five years based on measurements of several known risk factors.

To access and use the Cardiovascular Risk Assessment:

  1. From the patient record, select Clinical > Cardiovascular Risk.

The Cardiovascular risk screen will appear.

2. Some of the fields in this screen will be prepopulated based on existing observations recorded in the patient’s record. Edit the existing observations or complete the remaining fields.

3. Bp Premier will display the percentage probability the patient has of developing cardiovascular disease.

4. Click Reference to view the formula used to calculate the probability.

5. Click Save and these results will appear in the Observations tab under ’CV risk’ in the patient’s clinical record.

Online CVD Check

The Australian Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance’s CVD risk calculator has been available in Bp Premier since Saffron SP2. AusCVDRisk is a risk assessment, communication, and management tool for health professionals. To learn more about how this calculator works, refer to the Australian Guidelines for assessing and managing cardiovascular risk.

To access and use The Online CVD Check via Bp Premier:

1. From the patient record, select Clinical > Cardiovascular Risk. The Cardiovascular risk screen will appear.

2. Click Online CVD Check.

Selecting this button will open a browser window displaying the calculator.

3. Fill in the fields and click Calculate to display the percentage probability the patient has of developing cardiovascular disease in the next five years.

4. Once completed, the results and further information can be printed by selecting ‘Print these results’ or ‘Print info’ or manually copied into Today’s Notes.

Note: Only results from the Bp Premier Cardiovascular tool will appear under Observations > CV risk. Online CVD check results cannot be added to the CV risk section under Observations.

For more information on the Cardiovascular Risk Tool in Bp Premier, visit our knowledge base article here.

Resources/References

Authored by:

Sarah Mortensen
Training & Deployment Specialist at Best Practice Software

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