SYDNEY – October 6 2016 – Canberra-based Capstone System has released a comprehensive online solution spanning patient care, financial billing, and practice management.
The richly featured Software as a Service solution also provides critical integration with the broader healthcare sector facilitating, for example, seamless integration with Medicare.
Developed from the ground up to meet the sector’s specific needs, the practice management software is powered by Microsoft Azure and integrates with Office 365 to provide a rich and comprehensive practice management solution with the opportunity to scale nationally and globally.
This approach also removes technology management challenges for practices, allowing them to concentrate on patients, and also provides secure, mobile access to data. Practitioners now enjoy flexible access to patient notes whether they are in their clinic, attending a patient in a hospital, or providing services from a different location.
Tim Madden, co-founder and head of business development for Capstone System, explains that the solution was developed in association with the Canberra Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (CAPS) Clinic, which, beside the specialist clinic, operates a GP unit, a private hospital, and a non-surgical practice. Rather than a piecemeal system for each unit, which could result in fragmented information flows, CAPS sought a unified platform that would provide transparency right across the patient journey and deliver rich data insights for both practitioners and administrators.
Capstone System supports the patient journey from initial consultation, through surgery, then the delivery of after care, as well as additional cosmetic services such as injectables and skin treatments. Capstone is used to manage secure communications between clinic and patient throughout that journey, enhancing patient care and ensuring client privacy. The solution also orchestrates and manages multiple workflows and streamlines access to critical information for practitioners and staff.
The software has embraced the majority of the available Medicare integrations, according to Madden, and work is underway to support clients who have opted into the Government’s MyHealth electronic health record scheme. In addition, Capstone System aligns with the NSQHS (National Safety and Quality Health Service) standards, which promote the quality of health services.
Madden says that the solution has been architected to streamline access to international markets, particularly the US and Asia. “What we have been able to navigate here in the Australian market has set us up well to adapt and pivot to those markets,” says Madden.
Integration with Office 365 also makes the productivity suite available to administrative staff from within the secure instance of Capstone System on Azure. Data within the system also is encrypted for additional security.
“In Azure we can spin up VMs (virtual machines) in minutes. That was a game changer for us – we have to migrate huge amounts of data when we put a client on and need to scale up VMs very quickly for a short period of time,” Madden explains. Other key benefits of Azure include the opportunity to use local data centres, ensuring medical data is retained in Australia, while the platform’s annual security certification delivers practitioners with peace of mind regarding the security of their system and the privacy of their patients.
The secure platform, unified information platform, and flexible access delivered by Capstone System is already proving a major asset for the CAPS Clinic, and Madden says that he and his team of ten are now exploring how to leverage Power BI to enhance practice management data analytics opportunities.
“Power BI offers the ability to access huge data volumes and interpret that data quickly.” The ability to access that information in real time and use easy-to-understand reporting supports practice managers seeking to optimise operations and deliver fresh levels of care.
