Having a paperless practice is not only environmentally friendly but is a key way to work towards data security and confidentiality while also saving time and money for your practice in the long run.
Genie has many features and functions that have been implemented to achieve a paperless practice. These features and functions reduce the need for external filing and storage outside of Genie, reduce waste, and streamline processes such as claiming through Health Funds and communicating with patients and other providers. To start working towards a paperless future for your practice, you will find outlined below some of the many features and functions that Genie has to offer.
ECLIPSE - Online claiming to Medicare and health funds
ECLIPSE allows you to send secure inpatient claims online through to Medicare and health funds in a matter of clicks that are then processed generally between 3 to 21 business days (sometimes faster)! This speeds up the claiming process and avoids the delay of sending claims via post to be processed, which can take over a month to process from printed to paid.
For more information about ECLIPSE and how it can benefit your practice refer to the Is ECLIPSE Right for Your Practice? article.
You can transmit claims securely to Medicare through Genie using Medicare Online. This allows you to send your Bulk Bill and DVA Claims through to Medicare to be processed and paid in a timely matter. Sending your claims electronically will ensure that there is no delay from sending these claims through the post and that payments are received into the practice’s or doctor’s bank account within 3 to 21 days. For more information about Medicare Online and how to use it in Genie, please refer to the Genie Manual section on Medicare Online Claiming.
It is important to mention that email is not a secure method of communication and as such the sending of sensitive information via email is not advised. Medically sensitive information should be sent using a secure third-party correspondence program such as the ones listed in the section below.
Genie allows you to email recipients who have an email address that you have saved in Open > Address Book for doctors, and patients through Open > Patients. If the recipients do not have an email address in their record, Genie will inform you of this with the message: "The recipient does not have an email address".
You can access the Genie Email Module navigating to Open > Email. Here you can add your email account by clicking the Preferences icon which will take you to the Primary Account window.
This is where you can enter your login details for your existing email account (POP3 accounts only), create an email signature, and make any other changes you require.
For more information about how to configure the Email Module, please refer to the Emailing Correspondence article.
Once you have completed the initial setup of your Email Module, you are then able to use the Email function throughout Genie, which you will be able to access whenever you see the email icon. This includes the ability to not only directly email patients and doctors (either through Open > Email, or through Open > Address Book for doctors, and through Open > Patients for patients and selecting the recipient to open their record and clicking the email
icon next to their Email Address), but to also email letters to patients and doctors, and email the Theatre List.
To send information (such as invoices and quotes) to your patients or doctors without printing, for a Windows computer you can install a PDF printer. This is a type of software which, instead of sending your file to a 'real' printer, will convert it to a PDF type file which you can save to your computer. You can then attach it to an email either in Genie or in an external emailing program if you wish.
If you are using a Mac, then as long as you have Ask for Print Settings ticked in Genie through File > Practice Preferences, there will automatically be an option to Save as PDF in the printer drop-down menu at the time of printing.
Saving documents and emails to a patient's record
You can save and attach files and emails to patient's clinical record by right-clicking on your patient in the Appointment Book and choosing Attach File from Disk, then navigating to the file or document you wish to attach. Click Open and Genie will process the file and add it into the Attachments tab of the patient's Clinical window.
If you have multiple emails saved that you would like to attach at once to many patients, you should save the emails as PDFs into a Process Folder outside of Genie and import them this way. You may also place any other image files/scans into this folder to be imported into Genie. Please see the 'Attach previously scanned documents direct to patient records' section of the Scanning article for instructions on how to do this.
You can send and receive SMS Reminders into Genie for patient appointment/procedure reminders and send standalone SMS messages to patients in your Open > Patient list, and doctors listed in Open > Address Book who have a mobile number listed in their records. You can view all SMS communications to a patient by viewing the patient SMS History. For more information about the SMS Reminder function in Genie, please refer to the SMS Reminders article.
Rather than using post-it notes or paper for sharing information within your practice, you can create a task as a reminders for yourself, or to send notes or reminders to other Genie users.
Please note: To use tasks and to send tasks to the other Genie users, the user will need to have the permission available to them in File > Edit Groups and have View other Users' Tasks and/or Modify Other Users' Tasks ticked. For more information about Tasks in Genie, please see the Tasks article.
Sending letters via third party correspondence
Genie offers the ability to send electronic letters to other doctors via Argus, HealthLink, Medical Objects, or any other third-party correspondence software to remove the need for sending letters by post. However there are a few prerequisites that need to be met in order to do so. Please see the Configuring Electronic Correspondence article should you wish to start sending your letters this way.
Once Genie has been configured with a third-party correspondence software, you will be able to create your letters to send from Genie through the Referral/Reply letter window, accessible via the 'red quill' icon , and receive letters through Genie via the third-party software providers such as Argus, HealthLink, or Medical Objects to name a few.