Ian Cheong wrote:
Yet Another Download Client
It looks like we will be forced to install another one. Our local
friendly gastroenterology practice has apparently switched providers. If
we want to continue to receive electronic reports (which have been
working fine so far), we will need install GPost.
https://secure.gpost.com.au/GPost.htm
I presume this merry go round will continue until something definitive
happens and some proper standards are legislated.
A year or so ago, I heard that a GP had complained that one of the two
large cardiology groups in Adelaide had started trying to send its
letters using a messaging package that they had had written or had got
from somewhere. The GP's complaint was that she had to enter user names
and passwords to decrypt something attached to an email, then import the
letter etc.
I phoned the cardiology practice's manager to ask why they were doing
this instead of using Argus. He had never heard of Argus and was very
interested. His practice is in the process now of installing Argus, as
a result of the Adelaide North East Division's project, as is the other
large cardiology group in Adelaide, for the same reason.
We have found in the ANEDGP project that many specialist practices are
looking for a method to improve the efficiency of their communication,
and those that thought that they weren't interested suddenly become more
interested when they hear that GPs may be more likely to refer to
specialists who will communicate electronically.
I hadn't realised until I spoke to the cardiology practice manager that
many or most specialist practices don't know that Argus exists or where
to get in touch with ArgusConnect. I have found that the most effective
method to make them aware and to encourage them is to include the
following information as the first two pages of every referral letter
that I write.
****
<<Miscellaneous:Date>>
<<Addressee:Name>>
<<Addressee:Full Address>>
Dear <<Addressee:Greeting>>,
Request for your practice to communicate with us electronically
In our practice we have invested heavily in computerisation, which has
helped us to increase the quality of care that we can provide to our
patients. We no longer write on paper and no longer have paper case
notes in which to store incoming correspondence. We therefore don't
want paper coming into our practice in the form of posted or faxed
letters or reports. To date, we have been scanning in incoming letters,
but this is not satisfactory because it is costing us a significant
amount in staff time and hard disk space and the scanned documents are
often not very legible.
Our practice is keen to communicate with specialists electronically, and
in particular to receive specialist reports security-encrypted that can
be easily imported into our clinical record system. The reports need
to be security-encrypted because ordinary unencrypted email messages can
be read at any of the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) involved in the
transmission chain between sender and recipient. However, email
messages that have been encrypted provide good privacy and security for
this purpose.
There are a number of commercial systems available that provide secure
clinical messaging. They work fairly well but cost significant amounts
to use. The good news is that there is also a system called Argus that
is free to use because its development was supported by public funding.
This advantage is leading to the Argus secure messaging software
increasingly being used by GPs, medical specialists and public and
private health clinics and organisations around Australia. The Adelaide
North East Division of General Practice is encouraging and helping its
members to install and use Argus in order to improve communication
between GPs and medical specialists.
We have installed Argus secure messaging software in our practice and we
would like to encourage our specialist colleagues to consider sending
reports to us using Argus. There are no charges for document sending or
document receipt beyond
normal email costs.
The benefits of an electronic clinical messaging system are:
- Saving the cost of stamp, envelope and staff time for the specialists.
- Reduced cost of scanning letters by GPs.
- More timely receipt of your opinions.
- Much less chance of the letter going astray in the post or in our
practice.
- Swifter GP access to patient information with more timely response to
advice on changes in patient clinical management.
Once you have installed Argus messaging, I suggest that you include a
footer or header in your posted or faxed letters to referring doctors
advising them that you can communicate electronically with them via the
Argus clinical messaging system, advise them to look at
www.argusconnect.com.au and if they are GPs, to contact their local
Division of General Practice.
Some of our colleagues who are now using Argus to communicate with
referring doctors include:
- Adelaide Cardiology at Wakefield Street and Modbury
- Paul Varley, ENT surgeon at Kent Town
- Michael Chia, Peter Robinson, Hugh Greville, Mark Holmes and Ralph
Scicchitano at Respiratory and Sleep SA at Toorak Gardens
- James Sweeney, Matthew Lawrence and Andrew Hunter at East Terrace
Colorectal Surgery
- David Campbell at Wakefield Orthopaedic Clinic
- Philip Game at St.Peters
- Terry Glynn at Campbelltown
All other issues being equal, we may give priority in the future to
those specialists who email correspondence to us. If you are interested
to know more about the option of electronic communication of reports to
us, please read about Argus on the Web site www.argusconnect.com.au.
I hope that we will be communicating electronically soon.
Yours sincerely
************************************************************************
In addition to the above, I have added to our practice letterhead, just
below the rest of the information, the following mini-promotion for
Argus, which goes on every letter written to anybody at all.
****
We prefer to receive your reply via the Argus clinical messaging system
(www.argusconnect.com.au). If you are using Argus, please address your
report to us at: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
****
--
Oliver Frank, general practitioner
255 North East Road, Hampstead Gardens, South Australia 5086
Phone 08 8261 1355 Fax 08 8266 5149 Mobile 0407 181 683
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