IT Management
Do you have a plan in place when it comes to your practice's IT? Take a strategic approach to your IT planning to make sure you get the most out of your investment.
Having a plan to improve your practice’s information technology can help you fix what’s broken, do a better job of helping clients, and give you a bit more certainty about where you’re headed in the future.
IT is just a tool to help you do better what you’re doing now, and figuring out how to use it better doesn’t have to be overwhelming or confusing. Investing some time now could save you a lot of effort and money over the long-term.
ICT planning requires the establishment of appropriate governance arrangements to ensure the application, management and review of the pratice's ICT Plan are consistent with the goals and objectives of the practice.
The creation of an ICT Steering Committee or similar governance mechanism can assist practices to comply with this principle. The governance mechanism should consider the following.
So you've decided to work with a third party IT support provider? Before signing with them, there are some key things you should look for in the contract. These will help give you a better sense of the level and type of support they provide.
Practice IT
Your practice's technology is an important part of how you operate. Making sure you have the right information technology in place and a plan on how it's used is important.
Remote Access allows business owners and their staff to have the flexibility to decide when and where they perform their work tasks. Being connected using the right technology, individuals can potentially work from any location where an internet connection is available. The key component of having a connected business is secure remote access, which means communicating from external devices to the business systems.
Digital Health
Using technology as part of your practice's services can give you the opportunity to care for patients in new ways. Find out how you can use digital health as part of your practice.
Online Presence
Being online is increasingly important for sharing information and being found. Learn about getting started with your website, social media and improving your presence online.
If you have searched for the name of your practice, you may have found that it already exists online – even without you doing anything.
This may happen for a number of reasons. For example, business directories may list you on their site based on public information, social media users sometimes create pages for locations they visit so they can ‘check-in’ and some social networks even recommend their users create pages for businesses they may not already have.
When it comes to your practice’s online presence, your website should be your foundation. Websites are one of the main ways that you can maintain your online presence and how people will discover you online. It’s the place online where you can control what is published, how it looks and what features it has.
Using a website, you will be able to provide better communications with your patients, promote your services in your local area and even provide new services online.
The internet is quickly replacing the traditional directory book (e.g. Yellow Pages) for many people. When they’re looking for a doctor, people may use the internet in different ways to find the information they need. There are search engines such as Google and Bing, social networks such as Facebook and online directories such as Yelp and TrueLocal.
If you’re creating articles or blog posts on your practice’s website, it’s important to make sure that your content is correct, accurate and engaging. Using different types of media (video, audio, images, photos etc) can be a great way to add to your online content.
Want to get noticed online? Paying for online advertising can help you cut through all the "noise" on the internet. The great thing about online advertising is that it can be more targeted to a specific audience. This means you’ll be able reach the right people easier.
How do you know if the time you’re spending on your online presence is worth it? Thankfully, there are ways to track and measure the value of your online presence. Most major social networks provide analytics and statistics for businesses. For your website, Google Analytics is a free and powerful tool for measuring the performance of your website.
Staff Skills
Your practice's technology is an important part of how you operate. Making sure you have the right information technology in place and a plan on how it's used is important.
Practice Coaching is a free e-learning resource for general practice, delivered by South Eastern Melbourne PHN. It also features valuable self-audit tools that can instantly generate targeted training recommendations for your administrative staff.
Topics covered include:
While external training resources can be a cost-effective way to train your staff, there may be times when you want to develop your own material. In some cases you may need to train your staff on topics specific to your practice or need to track how staff are completing training.
Some of the benefits of running your own customised training include:
Security & Risk Management
How secure is your IT? Are you prepared for a disaster? Take steps to protect yourself an your practice from security risks.