AutoMed Systems: What is the Practice of the future?
At a recent webinar conducted in June 2020, 50% of GP-owner attendees indicated that they currently earn less than their subcontractors.
The 5 challenges confronting every Practice Manager today are;
- Solvency
- Making General Practice the central point of health delivery
- The rebate freeze while Practice costs continue to increase by up to 30%
- Incursions by pharmacists, health funds and recent popup Telehealth “providers” that remove your patients from comprehensive, quality and continuing healthcare.
- The increasing demands for patient education, and involvement in their health care
Is the answer for the GP to work faster, or charge more?
No. The answer is to embrace technology.
The patient journey begins with making a complex, accurate appointment online or via phone, which includes all the necessary resources in the correct sequence with pre-payments where required, and simultaneously being able to provide health information and Practice marketing.
By using integrated caller identification, staff costs can drop by $2 per appointment. Having patients book online, arrive via a concierge and using a comprehensive kiosk will decrease staff requirements by up to 50%, or $120K per annum for a medium sized Practice.
15% of all data is incorrect leading to failed communication, extra staff costs and legal risks.
A kiosk needs to check all demographic data, in multiple languages and be able to process payments efficiently. This eliminates the need for patients to return to the desk to pay for Gap fees, consumables and vaccines, halving staff requirements.
Moving from bulk billing to private billing can be costly with the increase in front desk demands, whereas a billing kiosk can perform the function at no additional cost. Loyalty schemes via the kiosk can increase gross income by up to $80k with just a $10 patient contribution.
AutoMed Systems provides the ability to communicate with patients via a fixed price SMS solution leading to better informed and engaged patients, better utilisation of time and resources, and decreasing DNAs by 90%. One DNA daily adds up to $15k per FTE.
Technology must be flexible, provide access to new services such as Tele/video consultations, eRx, loyalty programmes, vaccination management and include reporting tools to assist with accreditation.
In short, the practice of the future must be flexible, sophisticated, up to date with IT and be completely supported by a reliable and reputable Australian based support team – which is exactly what AutoMed Systems prides themselves on being.
Please contact support@automedsystems.com.au for more information.