For Patients

Patients will be able to search and book an appointment with you online.

Patients can search for a doctor by specialty and sub-specialty, or for an appointment within a specific date range, to find a Specialist appointment that best meets their needs.

A range of Specialist profiles with available appointments are shown to the patient via a directory. These profiles are selected algorithmically versus in a specific order and are influenced via the patient’s geographical location, their search criteria and the first available appointment times.

For GPs

Like patients, GPs will be able to search and book an appointment for their patients online.

GPs can also book directly via their practice management software. After generating a referral, as per the normal GP practice, MyHealth1st’s software can look at the referral, scan its contents and send the referral directly to the selected Specialist.

The referral is electronically transferred to the Specialists practice management software to ensure a seamless, pain free booking experience for the patient.

The system will then automatically notify the GP when the appointment has been made.

For Specialists

To make your available appointments visible on the St Vincent's Priority website, MyHealth1st will integrate their online booking platform with your practice management software.

This will enable the MyHealth1st algorithm to display available appointments in real time. This does not require your Practice Manager to set aside appointments specifically for the website, as the algorithm will scan your diary and only match diary availability to the patients search query within the booking engine.

You and your staff have full control over what you allow MyHealth1st's platform to see. The platform can be customised to reflect the length of your appointments, the number and type of appointments, and the information you wish to provide in booking confirmation emails.

What do I need to do to get started?

The process for participation in St Vincent’s Priority involves the following steps below:

1. Register your interest
2. Make sure you provide details about your practice management software when you register
3. Your local Business Development Manager will reach out to you to schedule a meeting time
4. At that meeting your Business Development Manager and a representative from MyHealth1st will run through a series of questions to better understand your practice
5. MyHealth1st will then follow up to commence your practice set up, including your customisation requirements, collecting information for your profile, and test bookings, before we launch to GPs.

Please stop by the theatre tea-rooms in the coming weeks where you’ll find your Business Development Manager and MyHealth1st happy to answer any questions about this new initiative to grow your practice.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Do I have to reserve appointments specifically for this service in my diary?

No.  Because MyHealth1st’s technology integrates with your practice management software, it looks at your diary in real time and matches diary availability to the patient’s search query. This means there is no chance of a double-booking in the same appointment slot.

2. Will everyone be able to see how much capacity I have to take appointments?

MyHealth1st employs a number of techniques to protect (or mask) your actual capacity. For example, results shown in the first instance don’t show all availability – an appointment from the morning, around midday and late afternoon will be shown if available. Users must manually select ‘show more’ by Specialist to view more availability.

3. What will the service cost me?

On day one, the service will not cost you anything. SVHA are funding the set-up cost and the first six months of participation on the platform as well as marketing investment to grow demand for the platform. After the initial six months, the ongoing cost is $82.50 per month to receive online bookings, as well as an optional charge of $49.50 per month if you wish to send your patient's a follow up survey to get feedback on their experience.

4. When is the service going live?

Exact rollout timing is yet to be defined, but we are aiming for Q2 of FY20.

5. When does the Registration of interest period close?

Registrations of interest to participate in Phase One of St Vincent’s Priority will close at 11.59PM on Sunday 15th September 2019.

6. Where can I register my interest to participate?

You can register your interest to participate here. Once you have done so, your local Business Development Manager and MyHealth1st will be in touch to arrange a meeting with you to answer any questions you have and ask you some questions to help us refine development of St Vincent’s Priority.

7. Who are MyHealth1st?

MyHealth1st is an Australian owned and operated, ASX listed company (1stGroup), with it’s platforms supporting over 9,000 sites/practices across Australia and New Zealand and taking over 9 million appointments online since the company’s platform was launched in 2012. Customers include Medibank, KPMG, Medicross, SunDoctors, and Primary Dental.

8. Are patients actually going to use an online booking service?

Most of us will use online booking services in our day to day lives without thinking about it, like Expedia to book our latest holiday or Ticketek to book concert or theatre tickets. As such, it’s more the norm now to have online services so that consumers can choose to interact with organisations at a time that suits them. Working with MyHealth1st will enable us to capitalise on natural consumer behaviour and give our patients and GP’s more choice about how they access Specialist care.

9. Which practice management software can this platform be deployed with?

MyHealth1st integrates with over 45 practice management software systems to surface real time appointment availability, including Genie and Blue Chip. MyHealth1st is currently developing integrations for Clinic to Cloud, and Shexie, along with other systems. Some practice management software systems in use are either end of life or too old to support integration and as such Specialists using this software will unfortunately not be able to participate in St Vincent’s Priority.

10. Can patients change or cancel their booking online?

Both. The St Vincent's Priority website will have an area for patients to manage their booking and will allow them to change or cancel an appointment with 24 hours notice. This functionality can be disabled for Specialists who would prefer to have patients call to change or cancel their booking.

11. What control do I have over this platform?

Specialists and their staff have full control over what they allow MyHealth1st's platform to see. As each Specialist has their own set of discrete needs, the platform can be customised to reflect:

• the length of appointments
• the type of appointments
• the number of appointments
• the information you wish to provide in booking confirmation emails to patients

12. How will this impact my staff?

St Vincent's Priority aims to give your Practice Manager and staff more time to focus on face to face patient service and less on booking administration. When an appointment is made online, the appointment information is automatically transferred to your practice management software appointment book. Furthermore, an email confirmation is sent to your nominated email address.

13. If I don’t sign up now to participate, does that mean I miss out on the opportunity and the free set up as funded by SVHA?

In Phase One, set-up costs are free and the first six months funded by SVHA to encourage as many Specialists as possible to list on the platform, ensuring it is compelling for both patients and GP’s to use. You can indicate that you would like to stay in touch here so we have your details when we open the next round of recruitment. Unfortunately we cannot guarantee that the set up or monthly fees will be subsidised beyond Phase One in NSW.

14. Can I still be listed on the platform’s directory, even if I don’t sign up to offer online bookings?

Unfortnately not. St Vincent’s Priority is being marketed to patients and GP’s as an online booking service and therefore all specialists listed on the platform need to integrate their practice management software with MyHealth1st’s technology in order to offer online bookings.

15. What will I get out of this?

• Our early efforts with “MySpecialist” in Melbourne clearly showed that an easy and convenient referral service has the potential to grow demand for your practice
• Patients and GP’s are asking us for more choice around how, where and when they engage with us and we’ll be first to market with a service of this kind
• We are actively ramping up our marketing efforts to generate more demand for your services. A specific marketing investment will be made for this initiative, working to drive awareness through PR, digital media and GP roadshows.
• Online appointment visibility will be compelling for patients who are frustrated with the speed with which they can get to care. Being able to see available appointments will help them feel more empowered and in control of the process
• Less admin burden on staff, releasing more time for face to face patient care

16. I have more questions about this, who can I ask?

Please stop by the theatre tea-rooms in the coming weeks where you’ll find your Business Development Manager and MyHealth1^st happy to answer your questions about this new initiative to grow your practice.

Alternately, click on the Register Now link below and your local Business Development Manager will make contact with you to discuss this initiative further.