Don’t let paper slow your specialist practice down

In today’s fast-paced, digital environment, a busy, specialist practice doesn’t have the time to spend on manual, paper-based tasks.

In this article, we take a look why more specialists are going paperless and which specialist software solutions they are turning to in order to digitally transform, boost practice efficiency and enhance the patient experience

Paper-based records are inefficient

While many specialists may still be in the habit of paper-based health records, faxing and printing, effective continuity of care can become a significant problem. Paper-based records may cause particular inefficiencies for providing personalised care for patients with complex medical conditions and chronic conditions, who often have very large records.

Paperless solutions, however, can not only boost efficiency of retrieving and accessing patient records, but streamline the entire workflow process for specialists. For instance, when the Northern Peninsula Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery was looking for a more efficient way of running, it was looking for a solution where it could easily book patients in for consults, book patients into hospitals or in theatre, securely manage patient records, as well as manage finances and accounts.

It turned to specialist software Bluechip, by MedicalDirector, and not only found managing its workflow easier and more efficient, but maintaining the financial aspects of the practice more transparent.

“It’s so easy to generate reports and quickly access patient records,” Practice Manager Chrys Richards said. “From an accounting perspective, you get a clear snapshot of how much you’ve made in a day, which makes managing our financial flow so much easier.”

And with a solution that is quick to set up and use, Chrys said even new team members could understand the functionality and process.

“What’s great is that if a new person is using it, they can pick it up quickly. They can maneuver through all the functionality with ease,” she added. “We’ve also had excellent support from MedicalDirector. We like the fact that the support team are so helpful, calm, patient and always help us resolve our queries.

A paper-based system is not scalable

More specialist practices are now realising a paper-based system is simply not scalable, and is unsustainable as a practice continues to grow.

One example is the allows Respiratory & Sleep Medicine Practice, which first started on a paper- based system. However Practice Manager Melinda Campbell said it was getting harder to manage as the practice became busier.

“The practice started in September 2016 on a paper-based system, but when I started in November 2016, I saw a need for a more sustainable system that could scale with our fast growing patient base,” Practice Manager, Melinda Campbell, said.

After conducting some research into an easy to use, sustainable and scalable solution, the Respiratory & Sleep Medicine Practice decided to implement Bluechip software from MedicalDirector.

Bluechip, an on-premise practice management software solution from MedicalDirector, helped the specialist practice move away from a paper-based system and leverage an easy to use, automated and seamless appointment management solution, freeing up more time to focus on providing specialist patient care.

“Bluechip is definitely a scalable solution that helps a growing specialist practice,” Melinda said. “In terms of manageability, patients and appointments are all managed quicker and better.”

Plus through the software, we’re able to run reports to track our growth as well, and offer that as a spread sheet to the practice owners. This helps give us a true reflection of the growth, and gives us more direction as to which way we should be heading.”

Paper-based systems aren’t secure

We all know patient data security and protecting patient privacy is a top concern, especially with the new NDB scheme now in place.

The right specialist practice management software needs to be stable, reliable and secure. With a solution like Bluechip, you can ensure secure levels of user access, while MedicalDirector’s support team offers high levels of support to ensure your software is robust and reliable.

When Chelsea Heights Day Surgery and Endoscopy switched to Bluechip in 2017, Practice Manager Nina Tong highlighted how easy and secure the migration process was for the practice.

“Switching and implementation was very smooth and only took half a day,” she said. “All I had to do was securely extract my patient records and data from the previous system, and migrate it securely with MedicalDirector’s support onto Bluechip. I would highly recommend the way patient data is managed securely on Bluechip.”