Author: Lauren Turner

No Hidden Costs – Licences

Posted on by Lauren Turner

What do we mean when we say that our speech recognition and digital dictation solutions have no hidden costs?

This is the fourth article in our ‘No hidden costs’ series, where we’ll be detailing 5 areas that you shouldn’t be paying extra for – or paying for at all – when you have a speech recognition or digital dictation solution at your practice. In this post, we’ll be talking about licences.

Charging a licence price per user is a common model, and one we use ourselves here at Dictate.IT. Our clinical correspondence workflow tool, Swift, is available for £23 per month, per user. If you add Live, our dictate-to-cursor solution, that price is £30 per month, per user.

However, we recognise that ‘authors’, i.e. users that dictate, are utilising the products the most, and we therefore don’t charge for administrative licences. So, if you have a practice of 5 clinicians and 3 administrators, you’ll only pay for 5 licences.

This is particularly relevant with our clinical correspondence workflow tool, Swift. Free of charge administrator licences have full access to the solution and can view and edit letters as required.

So, when you’re looking for a solution at your Practice, it’s worth considering the total cost of licences, rather than the individual licence price. It’s another reason we can say that our pricing is unrivalled.

Keep an eye out for final article, which will detail what else in included in our licence price. And if you’ve not read our first three articles, about microphones, training and updates, go back and read them, too!

No Hidden Costs – Updates

Posted on by Lauren Turner

What do we mean when we say that our speech recognition and digital dictation solutions have no hidden costs? 

This is the third article in our ‘No hidden costs’ series, where we’ll be detailing 5 areas that you shouldn’t be paying extra for – or paying for at all – when you have a speech recognition or digital dictation solution at your practice. In this post, we’ll be talking about updates. 

It’s common for apps and tech solutions to include upgrades to the service as standard. But this hasn’t been the case in healthcare technology, and we want to change that.  

We have development teams constantly working on enhancing the solutions that we offer, whether that’s adding new features or researching the industry to ensure our products continue to serve healthcare teams effectively. 

Our solutions come with mobile apps at no extra cost – we don’t believe in charging for convenience. 

When you purchase Dictate.IT’s speech recognition and digital dictation solutions you pay one price, which includes all the functionality of our product. So not only are there no hidden costs, but our pricing is unrivalled as a result. 

If you want to know what we mean by unrivalled prices – our clinical correspondence workflow tool, Swift, is available for £23 per month, per user. If you add Live, our dictate-to-cursor solution, that price is £30 per month, per user. 

Keep an eye out for our next two articles, which will detail what else in included in that price. And if you’ve not read our first two articles, about microphones and training, go back and read them, too! 

No Hidden Costs – Training

Posted on by Lauren Turner

What do we mean when we say that our speech recognition and digital dictation solutions have no hidden costs?

This is the second article in our ‘No hidden costs’ series, where we’ll be detailing 5 areas that you shouldn’t be paying extra for – or paying for at all – when you have a speech recognition or digital dictation solution at your practice. In this post, we’ll be talking about training.

Training can be costly, both financially and by taking up significant time within your practice. Dictate.IT offers intuitive speech recognition and digital dictation solutions, as well as accessible training resources.

Many speech recognition solutions require voice training, meaning time needs to be invested into the software before it’s able to accurately transcribe text. Dictate.IT’s speech recognition solutions require no voice training and are 99% accurate from first use. Once you have been given your login details and completed our easy install process, you can be dictating within seconds.

Our product is designed specifically for medical terminology ensuring confidence in correct spelling of medicines, treatments and procedures.

Suppliers of speech recognition and digital dictation solutions often charge for training time, during which Practice team members will be shown how to use the products. Here at Dictate.IT, we’ll happily train your staff and support you fully throughout the trial while you get up-to-speed, for absolutely no extra cost.

Besides, training required for Dictate.IT’s speech recognition and digital dictation products is minimal – our solutions are intuitive and simple to use. We pride ourselves on our customer focused approached and have designed our dictation solutions to be as intuitive as possible, as confirmed by one of our customers:

“GP’s all agree the dictation software is the best we’ve used, intuitive and could be used with little training.”

Simon Bagley, IT Manager, The Ridgeway Surgery

Keep an eye out for our next three articles, which will detail what else in included in our pricing. And if you’ve not read our first article, about microphones, go back and read that, too!

No Hidden Costs – Microphones

Posted on by Lauren Turner

What do we mean when we say that our speech recognition and digital dictation solutions have no hidden costs?

This is the first article in our ‘No hidden costs’ series, where we’ll be detailing 5 areas that you shouldn’t be paying extra for – or paying for at all – when you have a speech recognition or digital dictation solution at your practice. In this post, we’ll be talking about microphones.

Many speech recognition and digital dictation providers require the purchase of specific, and often costly, microphones for use with their products, in order to get the most accurate recognition. This additional equipment can double the cost of the software and render the solutions ineffective if not purchased. It’s a hidden cost that you don’t consider when procuring a digital solution.

Which is why there’s no specific hardware required with any Dictate.IT solution. Our speech recognition and digital dictation tools either integrate with existing equipment, or utilise the microphone on your mobile phone using our free app. Modern mobile phones have excellent microphones built-in, so there’s no need for expensive equipment when you likely already have a great solution sitting on your desk. It also means no more fighting with your colleagues for equipment that’s in short supply, especially when they’ve taken it home accidently.

If you would prefer a headset or microphone however, we suggest you get a reasonably-priced one on the internet. There’s no need to spend hundreds of pounds – it’s simply not necessary.

But how can we do this when others can’t? Our speech recognition solution is AI-powered and intuitive. It’s designed to understand medical terminology. As long as you’re in a reasonably quiet place and you speak clearly, the speech engine is 99% accurate using a mobile phone or microphone.

And talking of those unrivalled prices – our clinical correspondence workflow tool, Swift, is available for £23 per month, per user. If you add Live, our dictate-to-cursor solution, that price is £30 per month, per user.

Keep an eye out for our next 4 articles, which will detail what else in included in that price.

Q & A with the My Aged Care team

Posted on by Lauren Turner

Kylie Sauer,

Director of My Aged Care Online Services and Information Section at the Department of Health and Aged Care

 

In this interview, we delve into the impact of e-Referrals on My Aged Care, the entry point into Australia’s aged care system. Before the implementation of e-Referrals, GPs faced numerous challenges when referring patients to My Aged Care, including manual data entry, fax forms, and time-consuming processes. Recognising the need for a streamlined solution, the My Aged Care team sought an efficient and secure system that would integrate seamlessly with existing Practice Management Software. Partnering with HealthLink and introducing e-Referrals, GPs can now easily refer patients for an aged care assessment of their needs, saving time, reducing errors, and ensuring the secure transmission of information. We had the privilege of speaking with Kylie Sauer, the Director of My Aged Care Online Services and Information Section at the Department of Health and Aged Care to gain insights into the benefits of e-Referrals, the feedback received from GPs, and the successful collaboration with HealthLink.

 

Can you tell us about the challenge the My Aged Care team faced before e-Referrals were developed?

Before the e-Referral solution was implemented, we heard from GPs that the current options for referring their patients to My Aged Care wasn’t as streamlined as it could be as it required much more manual data entry either via the fax or digital form or calling the contact centre with the patient present to undertake the registration and screening process.

These all presented barriers as to why GPs weren’t referring more patients to My Aged Care for an assessment of their care needs.

The feedback we received is GPs wanted a solution which was interoperable with their existing Practice Management Software, would pre-populate as much information as possible and could be easily saved to the patient’s record.

 

What impact have e-Referrals had on how My Aged Care assessments are processed?

The e-Referrals solution enables GPs to send a referral directly to My Aged Care on behalf of their patient for an aged care assessment which, as long as all the information has been provided in the referral, can be sent straight to an assessment organisation.

The key benefit is that as the majority of information is pre-populated, this means that there are less likely to be errors or the need for the contact centre staff to process fax forms, which often require the need to follow-up with the GP or the patient to clarify the information in the form. e-Referrals means there is a fast, easy and secure way for GPs to refer their patients for an aged care assessment of their care needs and determine their eligibility for services.

 

How do you think My Aged Care e-Referrals benefit GPs?

The main benefit to GPs is the time saved due to e-Referrals pre-populating the form with the patient’s information, this also reduces the possibility of errors when manually entering patient information. The form is also accessed directly from the GPs Practice Management Software, meaning there is no need to switch between systems and also means that a copy of the referral is saved to the patient’s file. e-Referrals also provides the assurance that the information is being sent securely.

 

What feedback have you received from GPs regarding the move to e-Referrals?

GPs that are using e-Referrals have advised that the form is quick and easy to use, that it is intuitive as it pre-populates available information and saves them precious time which can be better spent with their patients.

 

What are the general benefits of the e-Referral form?

The benefits of the e-Referral form are:

  • Fast, easy and intuitive form for GPs to complete;

  • Interoperability with their existing PMS, meaning pre-population of patient information and the ability to save the referral instantly to the patient’s file;

  • A secure means to send patient personal and medical information; and

  • Reduces the possibility of errors from manually entering data or processing written fax information.

 

What key characteristics were you looking for when searching for a service provider?

We were looking for a provider that understood the market and the needs of GPs in the digital referral space with an existing network which could be leveraged for implementing the solution, but also raising awareness and usage.

A trusted provider with a proven ability to design, develop and deliver similar solutions which provide a secure means for GPs to refer their patients for services. Also, a provider that we could partner with for the ongoing operations and maintenance of the form, as well as facilitate communications and engagement opportunities to increase awareness and usage.

 

How have you found working with the HealthLink team to implement the My Aged Care e-Referral SmartForm solution?

HealthLink are easy to work with, they are responsive, open and flexible to our requirements and willing to work collaboratively to achieve the best outcome.

They are always looking for new ways to promote and raise awareness of the e-Referral solution to ensure the benefits of the project are being realised.

 

What are some of the positive results / outcomes/ changes you’ve achieved since starting your work with HealthLink?

The main outcome since partnering with HealthLink is the increase in referrals to My Aged Care from GPs on behalf of their patients which is ultimately what we set out to achieve.

This has been the result of a) designing, developing and delivering an intuitive digital form that provides a fast, easy and secure means for GPs to refer their patients and b) ongoing work to identify opportunities to raise awareness and usage of the solution, including regularly seeking feedback from GPs on their experience using the form along with seeking to understand any barriers to usage and how these could be addressed.


National Referral Service to decommission the use of fax referrals

Posted on by Lauren Turner

National Referral Service to decommission the use of fax referrals:

My Aged Care Paves the Way for Digital Transformation with e-Referrals

The Department of Health and Aged Care has announced a significant milestone in the digital transformation of Australia’s healthcare system. On July 31 2023 the nationwide referral program, My Aged Care, will bid farewell to fax referrals, marking a crucial step towards a more efficient and secure referral process.  

e-Referrals, powered by HealthLink SmartForm technology, offer an alternative referral pathway to fax and are integrated into Best Practice, Genie, MedicalDirector, Medtech Evolution, Shexie and Zedmed practice management systems (PMS) and are free of charge for HealthLink customers. Decommissioning the use of the My Aged Care fax number (1800 728 174) will streamline a client’s aged care journey by removing manual processing of client information ensuring it is fast, efficient, and secure. Unlike fax machines, e-Referrals enable pre-population of information in a complete and legible manner, providing confirmation of receipt and expediting the progress of patients through their aged-care journey. e-Referrals significantly reduce errors and the need for My Aged Care Contact Centre staff to clarify information with patients or GPs.

Other referral pathways exist for those who don’t have a compatible PMS. Patients can be referred to My Aged Care for an assessment via the phone, the “Make a Referral Form” on the My Aged Care website or the MyHealthLink Portal, a web-based solution for sending My Aged Care referrals free of charge. 

Director of the My Aged Care Online Services and Information Section, Kylie Sauer, encourages health professionals to embrace e-Referrals to save time and provide the best service to their patients. Sauer says, “e-Referrals have improved healthcare workers’ experience by offering better integration into their existing workflow, taking away the need to exit their PMS to send a referral.” 

General practices throughout Australia are increasingly adopting SmartForm technology and are leaving fax machines behind.  

HealthLink’s unique business model and extensive network, eliminates commercial, privacy, security, or technological barriers associated with the usage and adoption of integrated SmartForm programs. Several organisations in Australia have already mandated the use of HealthLink’s SmartForm technology and Secure Messaging service as the only means of communicating patient information within the health system. 

Feedback from healthcare professionals using My Aged Care e-Referrals has been overwhelmingly positive. Dr Eric Davey, a GP from New South Wales, saves approximately 10-15 minutes per referral using e-Referrals. He expressed his satisfaction, saying, “I can ensure the information I feel is important is included, and I’m confident the information is going directly to My Aged Care. The e-Referrals are also confidential and easily amended.” 

Emma Zanker, a practice nurse coordinator in South Australia, regularly uses e-Referrals to refer patients for a My Aged Care assessment. She recommends other practices adopt My Aged Care e-Referrals due to their ease of use and the substantial time savings of approximately 20 minutes per referral compared to previous methods. 

HealthLink are continuing its SmartForms modernisation journey with plans to approach Cloud-based Practice Software vendors later this year. This ongoing effort will ensure that the benefits of e-Referrals are accessible to an even wider range of healthcare providers, further streamlining the referral process and enhancing patient care. 

The national shift towards e-Referrals marks a significant advancement in the Australian healthcare system. By embracing this approach, referrers can enhance efficiency, security, and the overall patient experience. The phased elimination of fax referrals demonstrates the commitment of the Department of Health and Aged Care to leverage technology for the betterment of healthcare services across the country. 


Outpatient eReferrals expanding to the majority of NSW Local Health Districts

Posted on by Lauren Turner

Electronically referring patients to public outpatient services is about to get a whole lot easier in New South Wales with the expansion of its Engage Outpatients digital referral management solution to Local Health Districts (LHDs).

NSW Health’s Engage Outpatients Electronic Referral Management System (eRMS) and HealthLink’s SmartForm and Secure Messaging Technology will be rolling out to lead sites at LHDs. Following this initial installation, the SmartForm solution will be expanding to many GP referrers in NSW.

HealthLink and NSW Health have signed an agreement to begin a phased roll out of the transformative technology following successful trials in localised districts over the past few years.

HealthLink’s SmartForms and Secure Messaging Technology (used in practice management software such as Best Practice, Medical Director, Genie, Medtech, Zedmed and Shexie) will be utilised to support two-way electronic communications between referring doctors and NSW Health’s outpatient clinics for the initial submission and progress of outpatient referrals through the eRMS system.

As part of the eRMS expansion, NSW Health will develop 40 eReferral forms which will meet new state-wide Referral Criteria across key specialty areas. These will be automatically deployed to GP referrers as their outpatient clinics are onboarded to the eRMS across each new Local Health District (LHD).

There are 11,000 outpatient clinics across NSW. Outpatient and community health services are the largest area of clinical service delivery across NSW Health, providing more than 21 million outpatients services each year, and referrals are an essential and integral process in that service.

 

Benefits of electronic referrals

Electronic referrals save time, offer superior quality, increased accuracy, and certainty in delivery. They also ensure all necessary clinical and personal information is being safely and securely exchanged between different healthcare settings.

HealthLink chief operating officer Dave Young says HealthLink has a trusted relationship with vendors, GPs and NSW Health and it’s great to see the solution expanding state-wide.

“We support this ambitious move by NSW Health to create a state-wide digital capability for better health outcomes. We’re delighted to be playing an important role in the evolution of referral management across the state.”

There are thousands of NSW Hospital outpatient clinics and general practices that will be able to take advantage of the technology, which uses Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) as the standard to exchange communication between NSW Health and external healthcare providers.

The NSW Health eRMS will centralise all referral data and referral modes (electronic, fax, paper, phone and walk-ins) collected by, and sent to, NSW Health LHDs in a single, accessible store, reducing and removing the reliance on paper-based referral records.

HealthLink’s national manager of health services Jean-Christophe Meunier says the state-wide roll out will have a massively positive impact.

“The result is huge business efficiency gains and time-savings for both external referrers and NSW public hospital outpatient clinics, as well as facilitating a fantastic customer experience for patients who are transferred into NSW public hospitals via the eReferral process.”

HealthLink CEO Mike Weiss says this is another example of HealthLink making health connections easy for a better healthcare experience for health providers, patients, and families.

HealthLink is part of Clanwilliam, a wide network of healthcare enterprises across the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia and India, working collectively to create safer, more efficient and better healthcare for everyone.

 

For more information contact:

Maggie McNaughton

Clanwilliam Australia and New Zealand publicist

maggie@healthycomms.co.nz

(0064) 021 613198


Dictate.IT Attends Primary Care and Public Health 2023

Posted on by Lauren Turner

Dictate.IT attended Primary Care and Public Health 2023 at the NEC Birmingham, on Wednesday 17th – Thursday 18th May 2023.

This was Dictate.IT’s first year attending Primary Care and Public Health, the UK’s leading event for NHS and private clinicians working in primary and community care. 2023 was the shows 31st year and the theme was Showcasing Innovation and Best Practice in Primary and Community Care.

Visitors to the Dictate.IT stand had the chance to try the speech recognition solution for themselves, plus a chance to win a Fortum & Mason hamper worth £140 or 2 months of the speech recognition solution completely free.

Dictate.IT was extremely honoured to be awarded ‘Best Small Stand’ by the event organisers on the second day of the show, with the win being credited to the stand design and upbeat manner of the Dictate.IT team members.

We couldn’t be happier with how our first year at Primary Care and Public Health went – we met lots of clinicians that are struggling with the growing administration burden faced by healthcare teams. It was a pleasure to show them a genuine solution to some of these challenges. It was also a real surprise to win Best Small Stand, we were all very proud.

Siobhan Moll, UK Marketing Manager, Clanwilliam

10 Things to Consider When Implementing Speech Recognition at Your Practice

Posted on by Lauren Turner

As speech recognition becomes more popular within general practice, it can be hard to know what to look for when selecting a solution. Whichever solution you decide to use, make sure you consider these 10 important factors ahead of implementation.

  1. Integration: The speech recognition solution you choose should be compatible with any existing systems in use within the Practice, from the clinical system (like EMIS or SystmOne) to Microsoft programmes like Word and Outlook.
  2. Hardware: Some speech recognition solutions will require specific hardware, which may require additional cost and time to implement throughout the Practice. It may be more efficient to select a solution that can be used with existing microphones, foot pedals and headsets. If you don’t have existing hardware, select a solution that comes with a mobile app that can utilise the phone’s microphone.
  3. Accuracy: Trial the speech recognition solution for at least a couple of weeks before you commit to a purchase. The solution should have accuracy rates above 98%, especially for medical terminology. It should also have the ability to understand all accents, so make sure you test out the solution on a variety of different team members.
  4. Costs: It’s important to get more than one quote and compare ‘hidden’ costs, such as upgrades, hardware (as mentioned above), training and ongoing support. Another consideration is exactly who you have to pay to have access to the solution – at Dictate.IT we only charge for clinical users, for example.
  5. Word of mouth: Find out what other Practices are using, or ask potential solution providers for contact details of existing customers that you can speak to.
  6. Usability: Practice staff are busy enough without needing to spend hours understanding the quirks of a new system. An intuitive, user-friendly solution will also ensure maximum buy-in across the Practice. Equally, you don’t want the solution to be so basic that it’s not useful – check for helpful workflow features, such as canned text and voice navigation.
  7. Training: Not only should you receive training on how to use the product, but it’s important to understand how much voice training is required before the speech recognition is accurate. Some providers, like Dictate.IT, require no voice training.
  8. Access: Solutions can either be server- or cloud-based, so consider which would suit your Practice the best. Server-based will likely only be accessible from one computer in one location, which might not be appropriate for GP’s that work from more than one Practice. Cloud-based solutions can be accessed from anywhere using a login via a web browser.
  9. Security: Any solution that you implement within your Practice should comply with NHS security standards and ensure that patient data is safe and secure.
  10. How to best spend all the time you’ll be saving!

People Make Clanwilliam: Georgia’s information security project

Posted on by Lauren Turner

Georgia Hodgson, Test QA for Bluespier, explains why leading a information security project was a great professional development opportunity, what to expect from an ISO audit, and how the journey to certification resulted in some surprising internal culture changes.

Bluespier products are used by healthcare professionals in over 40 NHS Trusts and hospitals, serving millions of patients across the U.K.  The NHS is demanding more from their technology suppliers in regards to data security, and an ISO 27001 certification is becoming an increasingly mandatory standard for software supplied to the NHS.

“At first, leading the project was a bit daunting,” said Georgia.  “As a healthcare tech product it’s so important for us that customers have complete trust in how we handle and look after their data so it was crucial the accreditation process went smoothly.”

“I’ve always had an interest in information security, but to know that  our leadership team trusted and supported me to deliver on this was a huge confidence boost and professional development opportunity for me.”

To begin, Georgia attended an ISO accreditation training course, to obtain crucial training and learning around the details, the approach and what to expect from the audit.  She also had access to the Clanwilliam ISO network, which included colleagues who had already been through the process, to ask questions and share experiences.

“That training and network was invaluable. It became clear that this is not just an information security piece but a cultural piece – my role was to guide the process but the end result is that whole team needs to be equally responsible for self-auditing and thinking ‘ISO’ in every project we do.”

The comprehensive audit itself was rigorous, with the team undergoing six months of self-assessment against a certification test plan, followed by a detailed audit by the certification body.

Georgia explains; “Information security spans so much and a project like this really helps to focus your policies and procedures around actual real life examples.  We were tested on anything from how you’d maintain business continuity if you couldn’t access the office unexpectedly – which actually did happen to us one time when the key broke in the lock!! – to the steps if there is a patient data breach, how to correctly version and provide robust audit trails, and everything that helps maintain structured, proactive data safety.”

In December 2022, Bluespier was awarded its accreditation – joining three other Clanwilliam accredited product lines, Dictate IT, Informatica and Medisec. Clanwilliam can provide further assurance to its NHS customers that their data, and the data of their patients, is managed to the highest of standards.  But the work doesn’t stop there.

“Now it’s about living out our procedures and processes and ensuring we’re keeping data security at the front of our minds at all times so our customers have one less thing to worry about,” says Georgia.  “It’s made us work better as a team and as a software partner as we have such confidence in our approach – our culture has completely shifted and we work together in a completely different way which has been an unexpected by exciting output!”

“It’s a really proud moment to see processes that I’ve helped shape working in real life.”

Bluespier is part of Clanwilliam, serving our UK portfolio of healthcare customers.  The clinically driven software suite helps to transform and modernise workflows in theatres, pre-operative clinics, virtual clinics and stock management in NHS Trusts and hospitals.  To read more about how Bluespier’s products are transforming clinical care in theatres and beyond, visit: www.bluespier.com