Eterniumcare

rniesten@eterniumcare.com.au (Rafael Niesten) — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 05:03:26 GMT

Recruitment Tips for Hiring Admin Staff in Your Medical Practice

Cheryl Ladikos — Mon, 03 May 2021 23:52:56 GMT

When you are looking to recruit a Practice Manager or medical administrative staff, the recruitment process is often time-consuming and stressful. In this blog article, Cheryl Ladikos, our Professional Education Manager, interviews external and internal recruitment specialists to uncover their tips to not only save you time and money, but also improve workplace efficiency and reduce turnover.

Emerging technology trends critical to the future of healthcare

rhabib@eterniumcare.com.au (Rafic Habib) — Mon, 12 Apr 2021 23:34:39 GMT

There are a number of critical innovations in technology set to enable medical practitioners to make more informed decisions and assist patients in having a better clinical experience.

Medicare Web Services - what does it mean for your practice with the recent changes to Medicare Online, DVA and ECLIPSE?

Cheryl Ladikos — Sun, 11 Apr 2021 05:30:43 GMT

Services Australia recently announced industry changes which requires software providers to be web services ready by 13 March 2022. In this article, Cheryl Ladikos, our Professional Education Manager uncovers the frequently asked questions including what this means, how Eterniumcare is already compliant, and how it can impact your practice if you aren’t using web services ready software.

Is 5G critical to healthcare innovation?

Gabrielle Benn — Tue, 06 Apr 2021 23:21:44 GMT

5G is not just a tool to help people ‘better stream or download videos quicker,’ it also has significant implications in helping strengthen the capabilities of internet-based products or the Internet of Things (IoT).

Creating Your Pre-Op Checklist and Post-Op Checklist Templates

Cheryl Ladikos — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 20:24:33 GMT

In private surgical practices, pre-operative checklists and post-operative checklists are commonly used by admin staff. It forms an important part of documenting the needs and requirements for a patient who is having an upcoming procedure.

In this article, our Professional Education Manager, Cheryl Ladikos, outlines the guiding principles for having a pre-op and post-op checklist, why it’s important, and how to effectively create these checklists that is tailored for each individual practice.

What is cloud software and how is it different to server in healthcare?

abordignon@eterniumcare.com.au (Adrian Bordignon) — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 05:37:22 GMT

When choosing between cloud or server-based software, there are a number of factors clinics should consider. Read our guide to why cloud-based software is a better choice for medical practices.

When managing a medical practice there are many factors to think about, one of them being analysing cloud vs server software and choosing which one is right for the practice.

If you're still stuck on deciding whether you should choose a cloud versus server, and what the differences are between the two, here’s a quick guide to help make your decision easier.

What is cloud-based health software?

Traditional legacy software systems, which run on hardware or local ‘on-premise’ servers, often involve large server rooms and complex routers and networks. A cloud-based system, however, eliminates the need for a server, as the data can be accessed securely anytime, anywhere via the ‘cloud’ through the internet.

The benefits of cloud technology are transforming the way we access, store, and share clinical and practice information – offering more flexible ways to manage clinical data, engage with patients, process payments, run reports and more.

Because all information is stored and accessed via the cloud, it becomes an agile, flexible, ‘single source of truth’ for the health professional and the patient. From online booking, appointment management, test result management to reporting, information can be shared seamlessly between each of these channels and the staff and patients anywhere – at any time.

It’s no wonder the International Data Corporation predicts cloud will make up 60% of all IT infrastructure and 60-70% of all software, services and technology spending by 2020. Meanwhile, according to Synoptek, Cloud Computing spending in the healthcare industry is estimated to be $9.48 billion by 2020.

A cloud-based practice management solution like Eterniumcare, for instance, has the potential to completely revolutionise the patient experience, boost operational efficiencies and impact the bottom line.

Remote login and managing patient information

One of the biggest frustrations with server systems is its time consuming to log in remotely. For some doctors, it can take up to 40 minutes to remote login, that's four or five consults for a doctor. That's potentially $600-$700 for a solo practice. If you add that up over time, that’s a lot of time and money wasted.

Unlike server-based health software, medical practitioners can log in quickly and have that information at the point of care remotely, on the go, or wherever a doctor is treating patients.

This makes one of the biggest differences; the mobility aspect of cloud software. Being on the cloud means health professionals don’t have to log into a server and have the flexibility to access their patient and clinical data securely on a mobile app. They can also jump onto their laptop using the hospital Wi-Fi and they have the whole practice details available at their fingertips.

As an example, Surgical Oncologist, Head & Neck Surgeon and General Surgeon, Dr Gideon Sandler, recently opened his own practice, and like many busy surgeons, operates out of multiple locations within other medical practices, including Bondi Junction, Westmead, Wollongong and Orange. As such, he needed a solution where he could manage his clinical notes remotely and liaise with various practice sites while on the go.

“I had never used medical software before, but I knew I needed something to help streamline administration and appointments remotely,” Dr Gideon Sandler says. “Some of the practices I was working through were still using paper files and using manual appointment books, which made it all very time-consuming.”

“Because I work across multiple locations, I needed a software platform that was paperless, had a phone app, and operated from the cloud and not a server. Eterniumcare was the only software offering everything I specified."

As another example, GP Allergist Dr Marius Botha has a highly specialised and mobile medical practice based in Mackay, Queensland. Dr Botha’s practice is also highly mobile as he operates his own clinic, as well as works within other medical practices. In several of those practices, he was using different medical software solutions but found them inefficient, hard to access, and unsuited to his on-the-go needs.

“Remote access is very important to us, because of the nature of our jobs,” Dr Marius Botha, adds. “Eterniumcare makes our practice more efficient because we can be working anywhere, anytime. Now, my wife, who is also our practice manager, can make appointments from anywhere in the world, and I can access patient information no matter what practice I work from.”

Cost of maintaining cloud vs server software

While an exact figure can't be fixed as it depends on the server a company uses, the cost of a server can start anywhere from $3000 up to $30,000.

On top of that comes maintenance and backups which are done by IT support - which a clinic would also have to pay for. Now, these are not only expensive but extremely time-consuming and disruptive for the entire practice.

If people took into account what it actually costs to maintain the server, to do your data backups every time there's an upgrade required, or a change in the MBS schedule to make those changes and upload those changes - that's a lot of time, money and resources.

However, cloud health software can cost as little as the price of a coffee per staff member, per day! Having cloud-based software also means not having to run updates and do maintenance checks on your servers - as on the cloud it is all done automatically.

It’s one of the reasons GP Allergist Dr Marius Botha decided against a server-based health software solution and turned to the cloud instead.

Running a highly specialised and mobile medical practice based in Mackay, Queensland, two of the practices Dr Botha worked at only used server-based clinical and practice management software, which didn’t even offer remote access to their systems and were costly to maintain.

“The software solutions were a nightmare because they were running on servers, which would crash, getting outdated, plus were so costly to maintain,” he says. “In fact, a practice I know recently spent $20,000-30,000 on a server, which is working at the moment, but in a year or two years’ time will probably crash again. I didn’t want to outlay that kind of money. I needed something that would seamlessly work wherever I go, and which wouldn’t cost me a lot to continually upgrade.”

Data security on servers versus cloud

Remote servers require significant maintenance, and any data security updates or upgrades need to be done manually. This can cost health practices significant time and money, which is one of the reasons many time-poor practitioners delay updates or upgrades.

Unfortunately, this can open up server-based systems to significant security risk. If a system isn’t regularly maintained, it can easily make a practice vulnerable to data security breaches and open up potential serious medico-legal risks.

Cloud health data, however, is stored online in the cloud and automatic updates mean data security is always maintained. In fact, studies have shown that the cloud is safer than on-premise servers that are susceptible to virus and hardware failure and data loss daily. Here’s another resource outlining how the cloud is more secure than a local server.

Eterniumcare has even taken additional security measures such as Two Factor Authentication and high levels of encryption.

On top of this, with Eterniumcare, all data is stored securely and backed up locally using Microsoft Azure, one of the most robust data storage systems in the world, which spends at least USD$1 billion a year on cloud security.

Microsoft Azure also obtained the ISO/IEC 27017:2015 Certification which is an international standard, this demonstrates Microsoft's commitment to providing a secure and compliant cloud environment for their customers and across a broad range of industry markets including Healthcare.

Microsoft Azure has data redundancies set in place so data is duplicated and stored across multiple sites in Melbourne and replicated in real-time to Sydney. Data on Eterniumcare is also backed up approximately every 5 minutes, almost eliminating the risk of losing valuable information.

This means that at Eterniumcare, data security, storage and management is all taken care of for you, taking the IT burden away from the practice and allowing you to focus on patient care.

Learn about Microsoft Azure and Eterniumcare here.

Switching from server to cloud software

One of the common reasons practices are reluctant to switch from server to cloud software is the misconception it is expensive, time-consuming or simply impractical when dealing with thousands of patient files in a busy practice. However, in reality, practices who have switched have not only found it seamless but the long-term time and cost savings far outweighed staying on the server system.

As an example, in early 2019, the Rodin Clinic decided to switch to Eterniumcare and found that even though they had a significantly large database, the data migration to the new platform was very smooth.

“If you could imagine, we've been in practice since 1997, so we had a massive patient database,” Practice Manager Sharlene Holtom says. “We also had a massive database of imagery, and we were a little bit concerned about transferring that. There were also a lot of templates I had to retrieve from our incumbent software and send over to implement.”

“However, the transition to Eterniumcare went exceptionally smoothly, better than I expected. We also had a particular staff member as well who was a little bit daunted by leaving a program that she'd been working with for years. But you know, the simplicity of Eterniumcare was fantastic, it was easy for everyone to use, and we saw benefits immediately.”

Thanks to Eterniumcare, the team at the Rodin Clinic are now able to provide information and quotes to the patient immediately after consultations, often within minutes, providing the kind of patient experience and service they have always aspired to achieve.

“The turnaround for us was almost immediate,” Sharlene explains. “For example, our reconstructive and plastic surgeon Dr Timothy Cooper doesn't just consult in Perth, he travels to other cities. He found he's able to open up the Eterniumcare app and then take patient imagery immediately and upload it into the file, so nothing is lost.”

To find out more about Eterniumcare’s innovative solutions click here.

Quick guide to software as a service ‘SaaS’ pricing models in healthcare

iturner@eterniumcare.com.au (Ingrid Turner) — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 21:00:00 GMT

What’s the value of a ‘software as a service’ (SaaS) subscription model in healthcare? Ingrid Turner, our Revenue Associate will discuss pricing structures, tier systems and the inherent benefits of SaaS health solutions to help strengthen and scale practices.

Eterniumcare drives patient engagement with its revamped Patient Portal

rhabib@eterniumcare.com.au (Rafic Habib) — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 01:04:17 GMT

Press Release Pulse+IT 24 March 2021

With the Eterniumcare Patient Portal, patients can now use their smartphone to pre-register with a practice, manage bookings, access test results and much more.

Data-Driven Growth Strategies for Private Practice

Rhiannon Moore — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 22:42:10 GMT

Owing partly to regulatory and ethical constraints, it can be difficult to grow your practice in a sustainable and creative fashion… but with overheads rising and new health challenges emerging every day, a data-driven growth strategy is essential to any practice's ongoing success.

Eterniumcare Blog