This table lists benefits that you might expect from installing new clinical software. The benefits align with your goals (in going through this table you may be prompted to make changes to your goals). Add, delete, or update the rows to best fit your situation.

The third column suggests measurements that you might consider recording to help you assess the effectiveness of the new processes.

Benefits

Current Processes	Expected benefits of clinical software	Measurements for benchmarking
Booking (for software that integrates practice management)	Integrated processes (e.g. between clinical and administration) More efficient appointment management. Better utilisation of clinician time. Facilitates searching Improves effective patient flow Facilitates activity analysis, e.g. which patient saw which clinician and when Tracking to ensure that all patients are billed Facilitates analysing of costs of service delivery.	# FTE pulling/filing patient records # FTE prepping patient records # patients per day/week/month Average waiting time per clinician
Check in (for software that integrates practice management)	Integrated, workflow. More effective patient flow. Capacity for clinic-wide patient management	# patient visits/hour/clinician $ average revenue/patient/hour
Documentation of key clinical details	Improved patient care from: Legible documentation Record once only Capacity to search Alerts	% recorded data (according practice standards)
Review results (incl. images)	Easy and fast access to patient results (including comparisons with previous tests) Medico/legal risk management Reduced repeat visits/tests	# results received / requests made Quality indicators Analysis of clinician referrals
Record of encounter - clinical documentation of history and physical exam, encounter notes	Improved legibility Data available for auto-filling templates Easy searching and reviewing of previous encounters Complete, up-to-date documentation (including drug allergies)	Management of clinical throughput Clinical auditing
Support for health management	Follow ups Recalls & Reminders Immunisation tracking	Clinical auditing
Chronic disease management	Patient health outcomes Facilitation of prospective, planned interventions	Optimisation of revenue streams Regular review of specific chronic disease clinical markers
Care plan management for patients	Enhanced compliance Sharing of information with patient Sharing of information with other healthcare providers	Management (tracking and analysis) of use of MBS item numbers
Medication management	Improved patient safety & compliance Improved viewing and easy analysis of medication history	Management (tracking and analysis) of prescribing patterns
Billing	Accurate tracking of encounters and appropriate billing Ability to track DNAs	$ in lost fees $ Average fee/visit $ utilisation of specific item numbers (e.g. EPCs)
Production of referrals, documents and education resources	Auto-filled templates Easily searchable directory Easily accessible printable handouts Improved patient compliance	Management (tracking and analysis) of referrals and response from specialists (e.g. knowing that patient saw specialist) Better understanding of referral patterns
Quality assurance and improvement, including clinical, financial, and administrative	Facilitation of compliance of standards Simplified tracking of clinical and administrative activity	Measuring general and specific clinical throughput Measuring clinical benchmarks Measuring financial sustainability