The MasterCare EMR solution will be used by Bass Coast Health clinicians to govern the assessment and management plans of clients, along with the monitoring and measuring of on-going outcomes.

It comprises of a complete EMR and Practice Management solution, with software supporting Minimum Data Set (MDS) collection required for funding, including: Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP); Home and Community Care (HACC); Community Health (CH) MDS; Victorian Alcohol and Drug Collection (VADC) and Victorian Integrated Non-Admitted Health (VINAH) data sets.

MasterCare EMR Product Manager Kye Cherian told HITNA that the decision behind using EMR was to have an integrated clinical and administrative system with a collection of reporting data built into administrative and clinical workflows.

“The solution is integrated with a number of other Australian funding and billing types. Many other Victorian services are either using paper-based records and administrative systems with stand-alone applications to collect their reporting data,” he said.

According to Cherian, more Federal and State funded programs becoming available resulted in Bass Coast Health requiring an efficient data collection software solution, in addition to fundamental features in an EMR.

Having initially used PBJ Software Australia technology, Cherian said the move to MasterCare EMR’s intelligent commissioning framework allowed much of the new program data capture and reporting requirements to be supported through software configuration rather than new development.
The three-month implementation involved interfacing MasterCare EMR to the existing DXC iPM Patient Management System, currently used in acute services around Victoria.

“Global Health… brought a deep understanding of Victorian program workflow and data capture requirements. It resulted in a project where both parties took the time to understand the product framework, business needs and data capture requirements,” he said.

“The outcome was a solution that utilises the product’s configurability to support new programs and streamline workflows with minimal software enhancements required.

“A big challenge was migrating five core and high volume programs and their reporting requirements into the new application. With that being said, items such as data migration, integration and change management had to be amplified resulting in the solution having great end-user acceptance and adoption.” 

Cherian said the increased efficiency of data collection in MasterCare EMR has resulted in “a wide range of benefits” including ease of reporting and a decreased duplication of work.

“It future-proofs Bass Coast Health on a number of levels. The system has framework to support a number of anticipated program structure changes and being integrated with core e-health foundation services has improved processes.”

Moving forward, Bass Coast Health has planned subsequent phases of the project to enhance the applications’ use as an EMR within the service and to integrate additional features within the application.

Cherian said there is also potential for some planned product improvements to strengthen the product’s support for certain programs and services.
“This will enhance MasterCare EMR’s credentials around the state. Both parties remain committed to working collaboratively in order to become a luminary site for Victorian outpatients and community health organisations.”

This article first appeared on Healthcare IT News Australia.