Genie Solutions, a Magentus company, is helping reshape the way private specialist practitioners and private hospitals coordinate operating theatre bookings for patient procedures via a nationwide roll-out of a new interoperable eBookings solution at Healthscope hospitals.
The solution, developed by teams of technical, clinical and design experts, closely follows Genie’s release of the interoperable eRequests solution at Sonic Healthcare labs, enhancing pathology requests and lab processes through real-time digital tracking.
As the first FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) standard open API electronic bookings solution in Australia, applying the FHIR set of rules and specifications for exchanging electronic health care data, eBookings is driving better collaborative care by streamlining information flow between specialists and hospitals, improving the practitioner and patient experience.
Private practitioners and hospitals have historically relied upon time-consuming archaic manual systems to manage operating theatre bookings for patient procedures, involving multiple phone calls, emails and even faxes.
The new eBooking process saves significant time for practice managers and private specialists by significantly reducing manual processes.
By automating information flows between Genie Solutions products and Healthscope hospitals, eBookings streamlines workflows for hospital theatre booking teams and minimises hospital effort and resource use, improving operating theatre utilisation and patient experience.
Environmental outcomes are also significantly improved via the substantial reduction in paper usage by both practices and hospitals.
Because eBookings enables all procedure and patient information to be securely shared from Genie or Gentu directly to the hospital’s booking system, all essential information is provided prior to planned procedures.
Hospitals receive more accurate information and see theatre bookings instantly, ensuring effective scheduling and resource planning, reducing strain on hospital teams and budgets.
Higher quality procedure information also improves confidence and trust levels and reduces risks of cancellation, improving specialist experiences, patient care and procedure outcomes.
Perfectly positioned
With a 70 per cent market share of private specialists across Australia, Genie Solutions is perfectly positioned to accelerate seamless two-way workflow between specialists and hospitals and support rapid adoption of interoperable solutions across the healthcare ecosystem.
Building eBookings on the FHIR-based cloud interoperability platform facilitates adoption by other hospital groups and enables additional functionality and features to be added over time.
Michele Blanshard, Genie Solutions General Manager, said:
“This partnership marks a new era of transparency and trust between hospitals and specialist practitioners — two previously technologically disconnected sides of healthcare. The interoperability of this solution will open the door to communication improvements across the board and has potential to revolutionise the way Australian healthcare operates, with more efficient processes and services for every party involved.”
Charles Lie, Healthscope Group GM – Revenue Cycle Management, said:
“Doctors operating within Healthscope hospitals, and their practice managers, are already seeing significant improvements in workflows and far more efficient use of their valuable time. Private specialists have been reporting much better experiences when booking their patients into our operating theatres. Teams that support theatre bookings and use are also saving significant time and resources, and the patient experience is better than ever with improved coordination of care, and far fewer cancellations. This eBookings solution is more than a booking service, it is a foundation for building an interconnected health ecosystem — a true example of seamless interoperability driving more collaborative care.”
An early eBookings practice user said:
“Oh my goodness, it has freed up my time and I can now do so many other things I could never get to before. Just easy, a nice workflow that fits into our routine.”
