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Pre-release Enablement Material for Medicare Web Services

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Bp_Blog_Material for Medicare Web Services

Pre-release enablement material for Medicare Web Services has been a key focus for our Training team in the lead-up to the last quarter release of our Medicare Web Services compliant build of Bp Premier, Saffron SP2.

We highly encourage you to share the following pre-release enablement material for Medicare Web Services with staff at your practice.

Medicare Web Services is Coming! Article

This article written by Jess White provides an overview of Medicare Web Services, what is changing, and what it means for your practice. Please share on social media, with staff and those in your network.

Read Article

Introduction to Medicare Web Services Video

This succinct, 5-minute video developed by our Training team provides a helpful introduction to Medicare Web Services and PRODA. Please share this helpful video on your social media channels and with patients.

Watch Video

4 Steps That You Can Complete Now

The following steps, sent to Bp Premier users, can be completed now in PRODA:

Each of these steps were turned into multimedia clips using steps provided by Services Australia on their website. You can view these clips via the button below.

View Multimedia Clips

Preparing for Medicare Web Services Article

This article written by Suzi Eley summarised many of the preparatory steps for Medicare Web Services ahead of the March 2022 launch. Please share on social media, with staff and those in your network.

Read Article

Medicare Web Services and PRODA Webinar

This free, 1-hour webinar is an education and informative precursor to the release of Bp Premier Saffron SP2, due in the last quarter of 2021. Please share this helpful video on your social media channels and with patients.

Watch Video

Medicare Web Services FAQs

We’ve collated a list of questions and answers from each of our three webinar sessions, and they’re available to read below. 

Read FAQs

Is There Something Else We Can Help With?

If you require further assistance in preparing for Medicare Web Services, please don’t hesitate to get in touch below!

Contact Us

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Video: Preparing for Medicare Web Services

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Bp_Blog_Video - Bp Premier Medicare Web Services

This BeInTheKnow Medicare Web Services webinar introduces incoming services to our Bp Premier users before their release in March 2022.

It is intended as a precursor to the release of Saffron Sp2 in the last quarter of 2021.

The webinar will cover the following topics:
(Drag the progress bar in the video below to jump to a specific section)

– What is Medicare Web Services [4:32]
– What are the benefits of Medicare Web Services? [07:27]
– What is PRODA? [10:07]
– How can I prepare now? [11:21]
– What if I get stuck? [16:45]
– What is going to happen next? [17:52]
– Q&A [31:17]

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Favourites in Bp Premier – How Many Do You Use?

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Favourites in Bp Premier Blog Image

Favourites in Bp Premier offer users a wide range of time-saving features, and it’s an area that I personally take a lot of pride in teaching. 

We understand medical Practices are busy, and we try to emphasise all the ways your Practice can save time when training users in Bp Premier. While this may be a little too difficult to convey in a single article, today I’d like to focus on a smaller topic – Favourites.

In the next few sections, I’m going to outline the areas in Bp Premier where you can use the Favourites functionality to your advantage.

Ordering Pathology

Users can create a list of favourite tests to use when ordering pathology. Simply navigate to the ‘Setup Favourites’ option on the left side of the window, and don’t forget that you’ll need to setup favourites for each pathology provider!

Favourites in Bp Premier Ordering Pathology

Prescriptions

One of the most popular favourites in Bp Premier is in the New Prescription Wizard. After searching for a medication, click the ‘Add to Favourites’ button on the left-hand side. You can find your list of favourites at the top of screen by toggling the ‘Favourites’ radio button.

Templates

Your template favourites are listed at the bottom left of the word processor template. Simply click the ‘Add’ button to populate this list.

Favourites in Bp Premier Templates

Fact Sheets

One of the best features of using Healthshare Fact Sheets is your ability to add a list of favourites so you don’t need to search every time you use one! You can find your list of favourites by toggling the ‘Favourites’ radio button at the top right of screen.

Favourites in Bp Premier Fact Sheets

Past Medical History

While less commonly used, conditions can be added to your Past Medical History favourites. If you decide to use this feature, why not load your favourites list every time you use this feature? Simply navigate to your user preferences and tick the ‘Load PMH favourites on opening New PHM window’ under the Clinical option.

Favourites in Bp Premier Medical History Screenshot

eOrdering

For those Practices who have started using eOrdering, eOrdering labs can configure a set of ‘generic’ favourite tests that can be applied to all doctors through the Bp Premier eOrdering portal. Don’t worry, doctor-specific favourite lists are still available if required!

Remember that Favourites in Bp Premier are specific to each user profile, so you don’t need to worry about changing someone else’s favourites list when you start using them. 

For more information on Favourites, check out our Knowledge Base from within Bp Premier, which you can access by selecting Help > Online.

For more tips on improving your efficiency within Bp Premier, explore this article contributed by guest author Dr Stephen Jelbart.

Authored by:

Matt Smith Blog Author Image

Matthew Smith
Training & Deployment Specialist at Best Practice Software

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Asthma Templates in Bp Premier – Now Available!

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Asthma Templates in Bp Premier

We recently partnered with Asthma Australia to develop two asthma templates in Bp Premier, which are now available to your Practice for free. The Asthma Australia Referral and Asthma Action Plan are templates that GPs can populate with patient information from within Bp Premier. 

Asthma Australia Referral

Asthma templates in bp premier - asthma australia referral

Keep your asthma patients on track between visits with free telephone support. 

Refer your patients over three years old to Asthma Australia, and they will receive free support from trained Asthma Educators via the 1800 ASTHMA phone service. This service aims to work with the referrer to achieve improved asthma control in patients by providing additional evidence-based asthma self-management education and support. 

Referring is quick, easy and secure. 

Select the template from Bp Premier and send by Secure Message: HealthLink (asthmaus) or Fax (07 3257 1080). 

Asthma Action Plan

Asthma templates in bp premier - asthma action plan

Every person with asthma should have an Asthma Action Plan.

They are an efficient self-management tool and their effectiveness in reducing the risk of emergency complications is well established.

The Asthma Australia Asthma Action Plan is available as a template within Bp Premier, facilitating the process of reviewing and updating plans at least annually, to ensure patients are maintaining their asthma control between visits.

Both of these templates are resources that health professionals can utilise to assist people living with asthma, providing them with tools to be proactive in managing their symptoms, and reducing the severity of complications. Asthma Australia is a for-purpose consumer organisation with a history of improving the lives of people living with asthma. For more information on Asthma Australia, visit asthma.org.au.

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6 Key Elements of an Online Bio: A Medical Marketing Checklist

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Contributed by Bp Partner Healthsite’s Director, Lachlan McPherson.

Prospective patients in Australia are doing their homework by checking out the background of healthcare providers and their Practices. Are you doing enough with your medical marketing and online bio to win them over?

As the healthcare consumer landscape continues to evolve, patients are making increasingly frequent decisions within the digital environment. Putting your best foot forward online has become critical to attracting new patients and propelling both your organization and personal brand. Most medical Practices today recognise the importance of the usual online must-haves: a powerful website design, a comprehensive online presence, and search engine optimisation. But, sometimes, the simple things get overlooked.

A prime example of an often-ignored aspect of medical marketing is your bio. As a physician or other healthcare provider, you need to tell people who you are and what you do. Chances are you’re already doing that on your Practice website. But how effective are those bios?

Are they interesting? Clear and compelling? Do they assure patients you have the experience to meet their unique needs? Does your online bio give prospective patients a sense of your patient care philosophy or what they can expect from the patient-provider relationship?

Too often, patients find nothing more than a bulleted list of a doctor’s education and training, professional organisation memberships, and more rarely published research. Nothing about the doctor’s approach, specialty or subspecialty focus, and even some personal flavour.

Patients want to know more, and when they find a provider bio that aligns with what they’re looking for, they’re much more likely to move forward with booking an appointment.

The Power of Medical Marketing for Healthcare Professionals

When patients search online to find nearby medical care, the process is simple. They just want answers to their questions, ideally presented by a healthcare practitioner who is a good match for their needs. 

Prospective patients will naturally evaluate the Practices they encounter online, but they also narrow their search down to the provider level. They want to find a doctor who can deliver the care they need, with whom they feel they can connect with on a personal level. If they can gain that confidence online, even before an in-person visit, they are likely to choose that provider for an appointment.

That’s the connection your bio can make after a patient finds your website. But, your online provider biographies also help that person find your Practice’s website in the first place. The information within your provider bios can play an important role in your search engine optimisation, demonstrating to the search engine giants like Google that your providers are worthy of patients’ attention. 

By using keywords that align with the terms patients use when searching for your specialty, online bios can help increase the chances that your website, Practice, and providers rank well on search engine results pages (SERPs).

Checklist: Your Must-Haves for an Optimised Online Healthcare Provider Bio

Your bio has to be more than just an online curriculum vitae. Today’s savvy healthcare consumers are putting in the time and effort to find the right medical provider — and know they have options.

Your medical marketing needs to be a multi-pronged approach. Just as your Google business profile brings your Practice to life and lets consumers know you exist, a well-crafted bio helps prospective patients get to know you. It can affirm that you’re the provider they want to entrust with their health. 

When done right, doctor and provider bios can set your Practice apart from the competition, and contribute to new patient acquisition. How can your provider bios make a memorable impact, and convert more new patients? 

Here’s what you need, from our online bio checklist: 

  • A Professional Headshot Photo
    Ensure you have a warm and friendly smile, and that your providers are wearing their regular professional attire, and are looking directly into the camera. Avoid busy backgrounds or low-resolution photos taken with a mobile phone — this is one instance where investing in a professional photographer is well worth it.

  • Clinical Interests and Areas of Specialisation
    Quickly tell patients you have the expertise to meet their needs. For instance, if you’re a primary care doctor with an affinity for helping patients control diabetes or hypertension, mention that. Be as specific as you can. Highlighting any unique procedures you perform (especially if you’re the only practitioner in your area doing so) or rare conditions you treat. This will also help prospective patients searching for these services find and connect with you.

  • Education, Board Certifications, Fellowships and Years of Experience
    These establish your credibility and help patients identify a good provider match. Some patients prefer a younger doctor on the edge of innovation; others prefer a seasoned professional with decades of experience. Featuring this information will help savvy searchers find the provider they feel is the right fit.

  • Awards and Published Research
    Accolades and industry-recognised publications can offer third-party validation that you’re an exceptional provider. Published research can affirm your expertise in niche clinical areas, while awards can highlight your positive reputation. Both lend credibility and a level of achievement to you and your Practice.

  • A Patient Care Philosophy Statement
    This helps readers understand how you like to work with patients, and can give a sense of your personality and patient care style. Describing your approach to care gives you an opportunity to let patients know you’re a good listener. You may also want to include information on your hobbies, interests, and family, all which help prospective patients feel like they’re getting to know you. Most important, these statements often cut through the rest of the bio, breaking up what can sometimes feel clinical and formulaic.

  • A Link to Online Scheduling
    Linking to this directly from your bio page can make it fast and easy for website visitors to become new patients by scheduling an appointment online. This is of the key interactions patients are requiring by way of digital offerings. With research showing 7 out of 10 patients willing to switch doctors for a better or more convenient experience, these modern conveniences can also support patient retention.

The Bottom Line: Optimised Bios Can Contribute to Practice Success

To sum it up, in today’s increasingly competitive healthcare landscape, Practices that focus on optimising their medical marketing, in which healthcare provider biographies play a significant role, can stand out among the crowd. Professional provider bios demonstrate that your Practice has a top-notch team, while giving prospective patients the information they need to choose one of your providers and visit your Practice.

This article was contributed by Best Practice Software partner Healthsite’s Director, Lachlan McPherson.

For more information on the services they provide, you can visit their Bp Partner Network profile here, or visit the Healthsite website.

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How Bp Premier Features Help to Improve Consultation Efficiency

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Bp Premier Features Blog Article

Contributed by guest author, Dr Stephen Jelbart.

Haven’t we progressed since the introduction of information technology! We doctors can do everything so much more efficiently nowadays, compared to the old days of pen, ink and card records. That’s what we like to think anyway, but have we actually improved? Have you really advanced and improved your efficiency in parallel with the IT? Are you keeping up? Did you know that Bp Premier features a range of ways in which you can achieve that coveted efficiency?

Your efficiency in generating patient notes, documents, and referrals is determined by your knowledge, understanding and proficiency in the use of the attributes of the software available.

Most people use Microsoft Word or something similar, but few people utilize the full power inherent in Microsoft Word. Templates, Macros, Tables, Nested Tables etc. Similarly with Microsoft Excel. I like to think that I can use a spreadsheet reasonably efficiently, but I was in awe and flabbergasted when I saw my friend, a chartered accountant, generate a business plan in Microsoft Excel within one hour, when is it had taken me the best part of two weeks to generate something that was not nearly as accurate and comprehensive! Figures, formulae and calculations flowed from his fingers with amazing speed. He generated a cash flow analysis with a simple ‘copy and extend’ manoeuvre that was not only amazing, but horrifying when he pointed out the long-term effects of ignoring ‘getting the cash through the door’. But that’s another story, a blog for the entrepreneurs to pursue!

Bp Premier is, without a doubt, the best general practice software available on the market in my opinion. However, I hope further improvements can be adopted (are you listening, development team?).

ACRRM and RACGP demand that we take detailed and comprehensive notes to cover all bases. It is also “best practice” for indemnity purposes to maintain succinct, accurate notes and this is where agile use of IT can help us do so. Let’s just take a quick look at how the layout in Bp Premier lets you do that easily.

  • On the left, at the top corner, you have patient name and address. Double-click up there (or F10) and you access patient demographics. I frequently check to see if all that info is accurate as you don’t want to be sending an SMS, for example, to an incorrect mobile number!
  • Moving down sequentially along the left-hand side of Bp Premier, you have the best guide available for ensuring your logical progression through systematic questioning and examination of the patient.
  • Start at the top and move down:
      • Allergies and Sensitivities
      • Current Notes
      • Past Visits
      • Past History
      • Medications
      • Immunisations (accurate documentation is now legally very important with COVID-19 shots)
      • Family and Social History
      • Etc.

It’s all there and laid out in a logical and sensible manner as a reminder to complete a comprehensive examination and history – all extremely important from the dreaded audit and accreditation point of view. 

Always Consult Previous Visits

I open this up and quickly scan through the most recent visits to ensure I’m on the right page when the patient comes in. Saves a lot of potential embarrassment.

Past History should, if data has been entered correctly, give you an idea of the current maladies. Make sure you use the database provided when adding PH. Don’t add free text to the main diagnosis – you can’t accurately search for free text entries! If your diagnosis or ‘Reason for Visit’ needs more detail, add that in the comments box at the bottom. Demote resolved issues to ‘Inactive’ to keep the current problems succinct and Up to Date. Make sure you enter the date of diagnosis when adding a problem – otherwise a long-standing history of Hypertension might appear to have been diagnosed in 2021!

The same is true with medications! Always review the medications list to ensure only current medications are included – otherwise any referral will likely contain a long list of pills and potions that haven’t been taken for years.

Next Up - Patient Notes!

Always look at your patient, listen to your patient, interact with your patient – taking time to do so is always well spent as you pick up ‘non-verbal’ communication that can hone your overall assessment. Let the patient talk and help tease out the main issues early in the consultation so that you can prioritise to ensure you address the important issues. Doing this early in the consultation helps to develop an early rapport and avoids that “… and just one more thing Doc” at the end of the consultation which can quickly erode the 15-minute consultation time allocated to your next patient. When you know all the issues, you can get your patient to make another appointment to address the less important problems.

You’ve now spent some time listening and you need to adequately document the consultation. You can save yourself heaps of time using ‘Autofill’. Spend the time to populate all your favorite notes into Autofill initially, and once they are in place you will save yourself heaps of time.

Let’s say your new patient has Hypercholesterolaemia and Hypertension and needs new prescriptions. You might just add those meds to the list, print them out and say ‘goodbye’, and ‘next please’ but it’s valuable for audit purposes to actually document that initial brief interaction. You can type that out long-hand (correcting your spelling as you go) or using Autofill and type:

‘Rpts’ (to generate from Autofill);
“Patient presents for repeat prescriptions” for
‘hc’ (to generate “Hypercholesterolaemia”) and
‘ht’ (to generate “Hypertension”) –

That’s just 14 characters typed to generate 70 characters. Very efficient!

Consider the patient with the common presentation of a mild URTI.
I type; ‘Li’ (shorthand for “Little to find”) and Autofill completes the following:

Patient presents with URTI symptoms for the past ? days.

On Examination:
Little to find.
No cough.
Dry cough.
Throat not red.
Throat slightly red.
No Lymphadenopathy.
Small upper cervical glands.
Chest clear.
No rash.

Then all you need to do is delete the bits you don’t want to ensure you leave the appropriate documentation. That’s two characters to enable 34 words! Not bad, eh? It does take a bit of practice to remember the short-cuts but after a week or so, you’re off and running.

Here’s another:

‘Knex’ (shorthand for Knee Examination)
This Autofill serves as a reminder of the elements of a comprehensive knee examination.
Add / Delete or modify after your examination.

Examination of the Knee: LEFT / RIGHT
Normal gait / limp?
Any swelling or deformity / inflammation
Full and free Range of Motion? Active / Passive
Flexion limited by pain / stiffness to …Full extension?
Patella tap – No effusion / Small effusion
Patella crepitus – present / none
Anterior draw test; -ve / +ve
Lachman test; -ve / +ve
McMurray test for integrity of the meniscus
Tender on palpation? Joint line pain?
Varus and valgus stress to assess collateral ligaments
Pivot shift for ACL; -ve / +ve

So, there are a few ideas with some Bp Premier features to get you started if you haven’t already established a repertoire in Autofill.

Given that many GPs move around a lot nowadays, particularly the Registrars, it would be very handy (once again, development team take note!) to have the ability to download Autofill to a flash card to make all your hard work on developing software efficiency with Autofill, portable for your next Registrar assignment!

Authored by:

Stephen Jelbart Author Image

Dr Stephen Jelbart
Guest Blog Contributor for Best Practice Software

Dr Stephen Jelbart is currently practising at Plaza Medical Centre in Kalgoorlie, WA.

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Video: Prescribing in Bp VIP.net

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Bp_Blog_Bp VIP.net Video

This BeInTheKnow session aims to provide clinicians with a comprehensive overview of all facets of prescribing within Bp VIP.net.

The webinar will cover the following topics:
(Drag the progress bar in the video below to jump to a specific section)

– Registering and Installing MIMS Integrated and NZULM [1:32]
– Setting script paper printer/tray defaults [02:55]
– Setting individual prescribing defaults for each doctor [04:15]
– Prescribing in Bp VIP.net [06:41]
– AIP, My Health Record & SafeScript [18:03]
– Saving and maintaining dosages [21:19]
– Repeating Prescriptions [25:00]
– Creating pre-set Medication protocols for different conditions or procedures [25:42]

Watch the video and join our expert trainer Warren Goertz to learn about Prescribing within Bp VIP.net!

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Creating Your First Practice Website – 10 Essential Tips

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medical website design blog image

When it comes to medical website design, it’s important to remember that your Practice website is the single biggest online asset that connects all of your business efforts. With the growing number of patients browsing the internet for anything and everything, it makes sense for your Practice to leverage a website, otherwise you miss a huge opportunity for reaching new patients, and for keeping existing patients informed and connected to your Practice. With 73% of Australians surfing the internet for treatment and medical advice, having a Practice website is crucial to your identity and growing your business.

A good website shows you are serious about your business and that you care about your visitors. It’s all about perception – if it looks like you don’t care about your Practice website, then maybe you don’t care about other aspects of your Practice.

Practice Website Benefits Include:

  • A reduced workload for staff
    A detailed and easy to use website can do a lot of work for you, and save your staff time answering frequently asked questions on the phone. This time can be spent on more pertinent Practice matters, so that time can be more efficiently spent in the core focus of serving patient needs. Patients no longer have to call to make appointments or to ask how comprehensive your services are – all they need is to visit your website to get what they’re looking for!

  • 24/7 access to appointments and other online services
    Your website never sleeps, and your patients will be able to make appointments, request scripts and referrals, and access other online services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The expert website developers at Healthsite have helped hundreds of medical Practices around Australia take the first step into the digital marketplace. We have put together this list of hints and tips for creating your first Practice website, or updating an existing one.

Tip #1 - Know Your Target Audience

Before you start building a website, ensure that you understand your target audience. Your target audience will affect the website’s design, content, usability, and navigation. In short, your website revolves around your target audience.

At Healthsite, we help guide you through this process and start from the ground up to lock in your basics, such as the kind of patients you want to attract, your strengths and weaknesses, and the things that set you apart from your competitors.

Tip #2 - Mobile-Friendly Medical Website Design is Essential

More and more internet users are accessing websites on their phones and portable devices, with about 52% of webpage views coming from a smartphone. 

Because of this, it is important that your Practice website displays correctly and provides a great user experience on mobile devices. Mobile friendly design (sometimes called “responsive design”) is non-negotiable in 2021. Not just for user experience, but also for search engine optimisation – Google rewards websites that are mobile friendly (among other things). Many websites we manage have up to 75% of website visits occurring from a mobile device.

Tip #3 - Easy Navigation and Clear Calls to Action

There is nothing worse than trying to find information on a confusing website. People are time poor and will bounce off your website if they are unable to find what they are looking for quickly. You need to make sure your website is well-organised, easy to navigate, and has clear Calls to Action (CTAs).

Calls to Action, or CTAs are the things that encourage visitors to take an action, like booking an appointment through “Book Online” buttons, calling the Practice with “Call Now” buttons, downloading a document, or encouraging content sharing.

Not all CTAs are made equal, but those of great importance should be VERY easy to find on your Practice website. For example, a “Book Appointment” button should stand out and be easily accessible at all times.

The same can be said for phone number CTAs – this is especially important on mobile phones, as many people will click the phone number to call your clinic. It’s essential to make sure all phone numbers on your website are clickable, so people can easily call your number with a simple tap.

In terms of information organisation for navigation, the basic rule of thumb is to have important information a maximum of 2 clicks deep. i.e. the user has to click a maximum of two times to find what they are looking for.

Tip #4 - Put Your Most Important Content 'Above the Fold'

When a new visitor hits your website, you don’t have much time to make a great first impression. And the best way to do this is to make sure you are effectively utilising the space “above the fold” on the homepage of your website. “Above the fold” refers to the area at the top of your homepage before a user has to scroll.

Every medical website design is different, but we recommend including the following elements above the fold:

  • Practice name and location
  • Book Online button
  • Phone number (clickable)
  • Address (physical location or service areas)
  • Value statement/slogan/short description of what you offer: e.g. “GP Clinic servicing the Bathurst Community for 25 years”

Tip #5 - Design is Important!

Along with being easy to navigate, your website also needs to look good. This might seem like an obvious statement, but many people underestimate the impact of an attractive and professional design.

Yes, quality content is crucially important, but visitors to your Practice website are absolutely influenced by the design. They might not even realise it consciously, but we see it time and again, great looking websites that also do the fundamentals well, consistently outperform other less attractive websites.

The trick is, the website must not sacrifice usability for style. And therein lies the challenge of great medical website design – the perfect mix of looks and usability is the holy grail we are always looking for.

Tip #6 - The Need for Speed

How fast your website loads will have a great impact on how successful your site is. No one wants to wait around for a slow website to load, and this year Google has released an update that will punish slow loading websites. Knowing how to make your website fast is a skill that requires expert knowledge, however there are some basic guidelines that will help you avoid slow loading times:

  • Make sure you optimise your photos for their size they will be displayed at – photos on websites should be compressed in size and, where possible, are no larger than 100kb –  taking into consideration how many images are displayed on any given web page.
  • Use video carefully. Video is a great thing to have on your website, but it needs to be implemented to minimise slowing down your web page. A way of doing this is integrating via a hosting platform such as YouTube or Vimeo.
  • Make sure your hosting is up to scratch. You can do everything right, but your efforts will be wasted if your web hosting is too slow (see next point for more details).

Tip #7 - Get a Host with the Most

Once you have your beautiful new website ready to go live, you will need to find somewhere to host it. We cannot make this point strongly enough – DO NOT skimp on web hosting. There are some very cheap options out there, and unfortunately most very cheap options are cheap for a reason (they are lacking in many aspects).

Finding the best web hosting provider comes down to 3 things; speed, security and support. And if one of these is lacking, then you can run into problems quickly. Most agencies (including Healthsite) offer hosting and support packages. It’s vital that you have support because the website will require updates every month. Website maintenance is widely misunderstood, websites need to be backed up, updated, and managed, so they are protected against security issues, or performance problems.

Tip #8 - Don't Be Content with Bad Content

Well-designed and engaging content is crucial to strong medical website design. It drives brand awareness, demand and revenue when it’s done right; everything an ideal website would strive for.

Creating engaging content requires you to understand the needs of your patients, which can be generated with thorough research, proven medical information and statistics and searching for relevant keywords and key phrases.

Some basic guidelines for developing content include:

  • Make sure your content is well-organised and informative. Add FAQs if you think it will help the user.
  • Write for a wide audience and try to avoid using terminology that the average website visitor might not understand. Using clear and simple language is always desirable.
  • Break your text into smaller, easy to read chunks. This makes it easier to skim information quickly and allows the reader to find what’s important to them.
  • Include images with your text. Images can also help to break up large blocks of text as people scan your content to determine subconsciously its readability and will help with SEO
  • Include information about your doctors, AND photos of the doctors. We know how hard it can be to make this happen, but it is really important. The photos don’t have to be amazing, but including photos of smiling doctors puts a welcoming face and an authenticity to your Practice.
  • Take interior and exterior photos of your Practice, and ‘action’ shots to incorporate into your website, alongside the use of stock photos. It helps with authenticity and connection to visitors.

Tip #9 - Choose a Domain Name That is Unique and Brandable

Ideally, your domain name should reflect the product and services you offer. Choosing the right domain name is crucial for Practice growth. Try and avoid acronyms if you can. Domain names like www.tgpmc.com.au might seem like a good idea, but you are far better off choosing something that is easily recalled, includes your business name and your location if at all possible. 

For example, if you have a skin clinic in Dubbo, then a good domain name would be: www.dubboskinclinic.com.au as opposed to something like www.dsc.com.au.

Tip #10 - Be SEO Ready

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is both a science and an art. It’s an ongoing process of research, analysis and educated experimentation in telling search engines what kind of searches you want to show up for. You can have the most beautiful website in the world – but if no one can find you, it may as well not exist.

It’s unrealistic to expect great SEO results in the first few weeks of your website. This is because search engines like Google need to first ‘index’ your web page, which is the process of organising all the information contained on it. This needs to happen before any other metrics are assessed, and it takes time.

SEO is something that you may want to consider undertaking seriously after your site is launched. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get a head start, by building your website with SEO in mind from the outset. Some basic guidelines include:

  • Write good content and organise it logically
  • Ensure your content is well laid out, with images and headings breaking up text
  • Delete old pages before you go live
  • Make sure your site can be indexed
  • Add page meta descriptions
  • If you are updating your existing website, make sure you redirect old URLs. If you don’t, people will see the ‘page not found’ error or similar – which should be avoided when possible.

Wrapping Up - Consider Hiring an Agency for Your First Practice Website

These days, medical website design can be done by just about anyone. But doing it well, with all its nuances, subtleties, and performance functionality requirements, you will get a far superior result if you hire professionals to build it for you.

Seriously consider hiring a professional or agency that has experience in medical or other healthcare-associated industries. Ideally, they’ll know the AHPRA guidelines and have wide-ranging healthcare industry experience.

Look for agencies that offer ongoing website support and are open to responding quickly to website changes. E.g. adding notices for modifications to Practice entry or booking procedures during the pandemic.

Make sure the agency you choose has proven SEO expertise and builds the website accordingly and choose one that has a broad range of skills to future-proof your web presence, which can be the difference between success and failure.

Finally, ask what else they offer that can help you. Most agencies have a range of complementary services that can help promote and expose your business to a broader audience.

This article was contributed by Best Practice Software partner Healthsite. 

For more information on the services they provide, you can visit their Bp Partner Network profile here, or visit the Healthsite website.

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Feature Requests & Enhancements – What Happens to Them?

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Best Practice Software Feature Request Process

Best Practice Software product enhancements and feature requests are received frequently from our engaged user base, and often fuel our development roadmap. From time to time, we have users enquire about the request they’ve submitted and how it’s progressing.

As a customer-centric organisation, we highly value engagement with our customers and the insights it provides us. In a similar vein, we’ll shed light on our internal, end-to-end process for receiving, reviewing and prioritising these requests, to demystify what happens when you submit a request.

Being a Customer-Centric Organisation Means Listening to Users

First let’s talk a bit about what it means to be a customer-centric organisation. 

From the very first line of code that was written at Best Practice Software, customers have been at the heart of what we do. Our founders set out to solve some of the challenges our customers and Practices experience each day. It’s the reason why our motto, ‘designed by a doctor, for doctors’ is a key pillar in our organisation.

A lot has happened since that first line of code was written in 2004, but our customer-centric ethos has remained unchanged. So, let’s talk more about how we listen to our valued customers and what we do with the insights, feedback, enhancement and feature requests that we receive.

You Tell Us, We Listen - A Multi-Channel Approach to Receiving Requests

The world keeps changing, and new challenges arise, which consequently generates new ideas and requirements. This is also why product development does not stop. A great way for us to keep up with change and understand the ever-changing needs of our customers is to listen.

Listening to the voice of our customers is not a “single lane” approach. It takes multiple channels and methods through different interaction points that occur between us and the users. The important piece that ties everything together is that the feature enhancements are logged into the same product review backlog. Here’s an example of what a multi-channel approach means to us.

Multi-channel Approach to Listening to Customers:

  • Sales
    • Customer enhancement requests that we receive through sales interactions and account management are logged and placed into review.
  • Support
    • Like sales, feature requests received by support also get logged into the same review process.
  • Marketing
  • Beta testing customers
    • Feedback from beta customers is incredibly important, as it not only provides us with feedback on new features, it serves as another channel for us to receive suggestions and ideas for feature enhancements as well.
  • Product customer interviews
    • As part of our product development processes including User Experience (UX), we conduct interviews to gain insight on how customers use our products, potential pain points they experience, and to identify how we can best improve a feature in development. Feature enhancement requests in this channel are either incorporated directly into the design, or if the enhancement suggestion relates to another feature, we’d then log the request and/or provide it directly to the team members who manage that area of the product.
  • Product feedback tools
    • Some of our products provide a mechanism to submit feature enhancement requests directly from the product, or a link to send us the feedback.

Reviewing, Determining Value and Prioritising Feature Requests and Enhancements

Feature enhancement requests are incredibly important to us, as they not only provide us with an opportunity to improve a feature, but they also give us new insights into how customers are using the product, which changes alongside evolving user needs.

Every feature enhancement request we receive is carefully reviewed and considered by our Product team. While some make it onto our development roadmap, others are added to a log for future consideration. This is always a balancing act, as we need to evaluate whether a feature enhancement suits the majority of users, a user discipline or a user group. Sometimes an idea can be great, but it may only suit a very specific need and could potentially impact other users. When reviewing and prioritising requests, we take the following steps:

  1. Validation
    • Review the problem being solved and why it should be built
    • How will the request enhance / improve a feature and how it will help users?
  2. User Patterns
    • Does the feature enhancement help the majority of users, a discipline, user group, or only one/specific user?
  3. Clinical review (if applicable)
    • If the feature enhancement is clinical, then our clinical committee needs to assess risk and any other clinical factors involved.  
  4. Requirements & Scope
    • Identify the requirements needed to build the feature enhancement.
    • Determine scope of the feature enhancement.
  5. Feasibility & Effort
    • Estimate the effort and feasibility of building the feature enhancement.
  6. Value and backlog priority
    • Based on the factors above, determine a value for the feature enhancement and prioritise it with other requests in the backlog.
  7. Decision
    • Based on the above, make a decision whether the feature enhancement should be approved, rejected or flagged to be reviewed and considered again in the future.
    • If approved for development, establish its priority in relation to other approved items on the roadmap.

All requests, whether they are approved or not, are maintained in a log, allowing us to revisit them anytime, and to identify any growing trends for a certain feature requests. What might not be feasible to build or prioritise right now, might still be a relevant enhancement down the track. 

Our staff also contribute valuable ideas and suggestions, based on their interactions with customers, industry insights and/or product expertise. 

One of the key challenges of any software development organisation is determining value and prioritising the backlog. The priority of each feature enhancement request needs to be evaluated against other features already in development, features sitting in backlog, bugs, regulatory changes, industry, and government initiatives. This determines when a feature enhancement can be built.

Keep Them Coming!

I hope you enjoyed this insight into how much we value customer feedback, listen to our customers’ requests, and our process for reviewing and actioning your suggestions. To send us enhancement suggestions, new feature requests, or let us know about any challenges you may be facing, utilise this enquiry form on our website. 

Keep helping us improve our products, which are ultimately built for you!

Authored by:

henry vesander feature requests blog author image

Henry Vesander
Manager of Product Management at Best Practice Software

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Information Prescriptions: Integration Partnership with the National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS)

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information prescriptions in Bp Premier blog image

Recently, we partnered with the National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS) to make a range of NDSS Information Prescription templates available in Bp Premier’s Word Processor.

To help raise awareness among GPs and Practices, and to help you get started, we’ve created an overview below of each of these new templates. They are all available for free, however when it’s available, you will need to run the August Data Update. Links to do so are available on our downloads page.

What Are Information Prescriptions in Bp Premier?

Information Prescriptions are templates which can be personalised to specific patients. They are easy to read and have individual goals to help prevent diabetes health-related complications.

In the case of these new Information Prescriptions, they are designed to give people with diabetes the information that they need to understand, engage with, and improve on their health targets.

NDSS Information Prescriptions Available in Bp Premier

There are ten different Information Prescriptions available that we’ve added to Bp Premier in partnership with the NDSS. Three core prescriptions focus on blood pressure, cholesterol and HbA1c. They focus on the three key health markers that influence someone’s risk of diabetes health-related complications, where less than 50% of people with diabetes achieve the RACGP recommended targets.

The ten Information Prescriptions available are:

  • Diabetes and your cholesterol
  • Diabetes and your feet low risk
  • Diabetes and your feet moderate or high risk
  • Diabetes – keeping your kidneys healthy
  • Diabetes and kidney disease
  • Diabetes, contraception and pregnancy
  • Improving your diabetes knowledge
  • Diabetes and your blood pressure
  • Diabetes and your HbA1c
  • My emotions and diabetes

Each of these Information Prescriptions allow health professionals to record personalised information and test results, set individual goals to improve diabetes management, can be used to support the annual diabetes cycle of care, and are useful in quality improvement activities.

Each template is designed to support care planning. Health professionals can use the Information Prescriptions to engage with the person with diabetes and record personalised goals and give them a resource to take home and use. 

Diabetes and Your Cholesterol

This Information Prescription explains what cholesterol is, and why it is important to manage. You can record recent cholesterol results and gives you the opportunity to discuss the documented strategies to improve cholesterol levels and set two health activities or goals that the person can work towards.

information prescriptions diabetes and cholesterol screenshot

Diabetes and Your Feet - Low Risk

This Information Prescription describes why footcare is particularly important for people living with diabetes. It explains how damage can occur and provides strategies to use to maintain healthy feet. It gives you the opportunity to discuss the documented strategies to maintain healthy, low risk feet and set two health activities or goals the person can work towards.

information prescription feet low risk screenshot

Diabetes and Your Feet - Medium to High Risk

This Information Prescription identifies why it is important to manage footcare and helps explain the higher risk to the person living with diabetes. It also provides a link for health professionals to access up to date information at footforward.org.au. It gives you the opportunity to discuss the documented strategies to maintain healthy feet and set two health activities or goals the person can work towards.

Information prescription feet high risk screenshot

Diabetes - Keeping Your Kidneys Healthy

This Information Prescription explains how kidneys can be affected by diabetes and strategies that promote healthy kidneys. It explains the role of blood and urine checks and the importance of having regular screening. It gives you the opportunity to discuss the documented strategies to maintain healthy kidneys and set two health activities or goals the person can work towards.

information prescriptions keeping kidneys healthy screenshot

Diabetes and Kidney Disease

This Information Prescription explains how kidneys can be affected by diabetes as kidney disease progresses and strategies that promote healthy kidneys. It explains the role of blood and urine checks and the importance of having regular screening. It prompts consideration for management issues including blood pressure targets and medication review. It gives you the opportunity to discuss the documented strategies to improve kidney health and set two health activities or goals the person can work towards.

Diabetes, Contraception and Pregnancy

This Information Prescription explains the importance of planning for pregnancy and preparing for a healthy pregnancy with diabetes. It prompts consideration for management issues including medication review and screening needed prior to pregnancy. It also prompts referral to the diabetes health care team. It gives you the opportunity to discuss the documented strategies to consider at this time and set two health activities or goals the person can work towards.

information prescriptions contraception and pregnancy screenshot

Improving Your Diabetes Knowledge

This Information Prescription explains the importance of understanding what diabetes is and how it can affect the body. It promotes the benefit of accessing reliable information to make healthy lifestyle choices and when and where to seek support. It also prompts referral to the diabetes health care team. It gives you the opportunity to discuss the documented strategies to consider at this time and set two health activities or goals the person can work towards.

information prescriptions diabetes knowledge screenshot

Diabetes and Your Blood Pressure

This Information Prescription explains what blood pressure is and the importance of managing blood pressure with diabetes. It prompts consideration for management issues including medication review and screening. You can set a target blood pressure and it gives you the opportunity to discuss the documented strategies to consider at this time and set two health activities or goals the person can work towards.

information prescriptions blood pressure screenshot

Diabetes and Your HbA1c

This Information Prescription explains what HbA1c is and its importance in managing glucose levels and reducing the risk of diabetes related complications. It prompts consideration for management issues including medication review. You can set an individualised target and it gives you the opportunity to discuss the documented strategies to consider at this time and set two health activities or goals the person can work towards.

information prescriptions hba1c screenshot

My Emotions and Diabetes

This Information Prescription explains the importance of recognising that living with diabetes can affect emotional well-being and identifies triggers that people are more likely to experience and changes to how they feel. It provides steps to discuss and promote wellbeing and it gives you the opportunity to discuss the documented strategies to consider at this time and set two health activities or goals the person can work towards.

information prescriptions my emotions and diabetes screenshot

Each of these Information Prescriptions are invaluable tools that health professionals can utilise to empower people living with diabetes to monitor their own condition and set goals to be proactive in their own care.

The NDSS is an Australian Government Initiative administered by Diabetes Australia. The NDSS has adapted the Diabetes UK Information Prescriptions for Australian use.

For more information on the NDSS, go to ndss.com.au.

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