Current landscape of private hospitals in AU

Australia’s healthcare system is one of the most competent services in the world, making use of world-class facilities, leading research institutes and skilled specialists. As a result, Australia is often at the forefront of medical advances and care. 

Here, public healthcare consists of a network of public hospitals, medical clinics and practices that are supported by government funding. Services such as ER and A&E can be accessed for free or a subsidised fee through Medicare. 

Private hospitals in Australia function as an extension of an already capable public health system. They largely offer “choice” as the determining factor for those already supported by government funded healthcare. Other factors are access to services, not included as part of the government funded medicare system.

Today, private hospitals account for roughly 40% of hospitalisations across Australia, employing approximately 70,000 FTE staff with the following breakdown of services being offered. 

These services are largely supported through private health insurers, with the remainder a combination of private funding and associations acting on behalf of the patient.

Private hospitals give you choice

While many public hospitals face enormous pressure due to an influx of patients, private hospitals have an excellent doctor-to-patient ratio. This means better personalised care, shorter wait times and easy access to specialists. But by far, the biggest incentive private hospitals offer is “choice”, which enables the patient to select their preferred surgeon or specialist. Choosing the right hospital and clinician are important factors to consider that significantly influence the patient’s experience.

The problem: Paper-based systems and processes 

Although Australia has a very competent private healthcare system, the electronic patient record has not yet fully replaced the paper-based one. Rather, electronic documentation usually is used in addition to residual paper-based records. There are issues with security, reliability and readability among many others that come into play when it’s a paper based system. 

Having paper-based processes also negatively impacts the patient. With the majority of insurance providers requiring primary care supervision to access specialists, printing and mailing records or sending histories and test results via fax or mail can be costly and time consuming, delaying treatment and complicating expeditious diagnosing. 

Given the above issues, lets see how private hospitals can put the focus back on the patient and enhance the patient experience?

Orion Health working in partnership with a NZ private hospital network

Orion Health has been working together with New Zealand’s largest independent healthcare network to  create a paperless patient record by digitising processes. Shifting the patient record beyond paper simplifies access to information and allows for optimised usability, ultimately streamlining the patient journey and improving the productivity of teams.

The solution provides an integrated view of a patient’s medical record; improving accessibility and sharing of information with the team involved in the patient’s care. It aims to minimise the use of paper-based processes by streamlining and digitising clinical workflows. Key capabilities include digital patient notes, electronic bed-side monitoring, medications viewer, electronic checklists, doctor access and clinical assessments. Parts of the record can also be accessed using a mobile device.

Enabling care teams to interact with these applications from one place and on mobile means there is always visibility of the most complete and accurate information, enabling the best clinical decisions to be made for patients, ultimately providing them with the best possible experience. 

How can Orion health help private hospitals in AU?

Orion Health offers private healthcare organisations a solution that optimises patient administration, surgical management, billing and clinical workflow to make the patient journey more streamlined and efficient. With our software, private hospitals can progress to a paperless environment safely, with integrated workflows that help improve information integrity, reduce transcription errors and duplication of information entry. 

In addition, Orion Health can help private hospitals redefine the healthcare experience for their customers with our digital front door solution. Orion Health’s digital front door integrates with the digital patient record and simplifies the referral and pre-admission process, reducing the use of paper and optimising healthcare resources, ultimately ensuring patients have the best possible experience. 

By enabling a paperless patient journey and increasing adoption of digital applications, private healthcare organisations can increase customer satisfaction, save cost and reduce inefficiencies. 

If you are interested in knowing more about how Orion Health can help your private hospitals, reach out to us.

Contact an expert