Chatswood Skin Cancer Clinic (CSCC)

Around four years ago management at the clinic realised the outdated, paper-based systems the clinic used were becoming too time intensive, holding back expansion and therefore starting to impact the business. The clinic had only a few computers that were rarely used and only stored some of the more extreme or detailed patient information. Everything else, including most patient records and billing, was done manually on paper. This made information sharing virtually impossible, posed a threat of lost or misplaced information, and required a lot of administrative time to capture, update and locate all the information manually.

The clinic was also keen to expand its services into other Sydney locations but the current administrative environment posed a significant challenge to ensuring both clinics had the same access to information.

In deciding to go electronic the clinic's management team faced two key challenges: finding highly reliable and cost effective hardware, and convincing the doctors and other staff to learn new software so all patient records and other information could be digitised. This would also help doctors and staff to better track the course of a patient's medical history, which, in turn assists in better treatment. The new system would also enable more efficient patient bookings and confidentiality.

According to Adriana Santibanez, Practice Manager of CSCC, it was a chicken and egg scenario - in order to go electronic the clinic needed to install new software, however, this would only work with highly reliable and easy to use hardware. It was also critical that the doctors and staff felt comfortable using the new system and could be assured of its reliability.

'Like most small and medium businesses we wanted to provide more efficient services to our patients and reduce our administrative costs,' said Santibanez.

'We turned to INFOTECH who developed a detailed plan that outlined a complete, HP-based solution at a very reasonable price.'

Initially INFOTECH deployed the Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) platform on an HP ProLiant server to provide the clinic with a new network.

HP workstations, HP LaserJet printers and an HP multifunction printer with photocopy, fax and scan capabilities were installed throughout the clinic.

'We chose HP because of the company's broad range of very reliable solutions that are developed to meet the needs of small and medium businesses,' said Shamal Tennakoon, Managing Director, INFOTECH Associates.

'This simplifies implementation from our end and we are able to provide a consistent level of service which helps keep costs down benefiting both the clinic and ourselves.

'The standardisation on HP will easily enable the clinic to expand as the process of integrating new systems becomes so much easier,' said Tennakoon.

The initial transition from a paper-based office to a fully digitised operation took around four months.

'The planning and hardware installation took only a month. Training all the doctors and staff on the new software took the most time but was crucial to the success of the project,' said Santibanez.

A year after the clinic went electronic it was able to open a second practice in Dee Why. As the clinic already had a solid technology infrastructure, the expansion to a second clinic was quite simple.

'The challenge was not setting up the IT infrastructure for the second office, but ensuring that we maintained a low cost base on the existing infrastructure and on-going support,' said Tennakoon.

Citrix MetaFrame running on HP servers was implemented to centrally control information management across both clinics giving staff access to patient records via thin clients. This now meant patients and doctors could visit either clinic and still have access to all the same information.

The new IT infrastructure has significantly simplified how the clinic does business. Everything from booking appointments, to patient records including clinical notes, required tests and the results, to final billing for the services and receipt of payments is now electronic.

With this increasing dependence on e-Businesses processes, high availability of the system is crucial. Downtime has to be minimised and quick recovery of the systems assured if there is a problem.

As a result, the CSCC has an HP Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) to ensure a consistent supply of power and daily backup.

'INFOTECH have been excellent in building a very reliable, mission critical environment and backing this up with amazing customer service from very experienced and responsive technicians,' said Santibanez.

'For added peace-of-mind, we also have an HP Priority Warranty Maintenance option for the servers, though thankfully we have not needed to use this.

'Our HP printing environment quickly churns out around 800 documents per day - from receipts and appointment sheets to letters, medical records, Medicare paperwork and financial information - and it never lets us down,' said Santibanez.

'The print stays sharp and black to the last page and we only change cartridges every few months. Paper jams are minimal and easy to resolve so this reduces work for our administrative staff.'

CSCC has now dramatically changed the way it does business. Key benefits include faster handling of patients, significant workflow improvements, and no loss of paper-based information.

Opting for thin client technology rather than replicating the infrastructure at the Chatswood office saved thousands of dollars in hardware and software costs. It also enabled most issues to be resolved by INFOTECH remotely which made response times much faster and reduced support costs.

These improvements are compounded with time as processes continue to be improved and growth can be accommodated with the system that is currently in place. In fact, the CSCC is hoping to open a third clinic in the future and will simply add more HP hardware to the existing network.

'We couldn't be happier with the HP solution. It has proven extremely reliable and the products are easy for everyone to use. Having user-friendly technology has dramatically cut our training time and associated costs making life easier for all of us,' said Santibanez.

'We are now able to offer more efficient service because our doctors can access all their information regardless of which clinic they are in. It is also a much easier and faster way to access historical information, payment details, Medicare records and so on.

'By providing the technology tools needed to quickly access medical information and streamline our practice, our doctors can concentrate more on what they do best - caring for their patients,' she added.

Industry: Healthcare

Solution: An HP-based thin client infrastructure is providing an easy to manage and cost-effective environment for Chatswood Skin Cancer Clinic's staff.

Hardware: HP ProLiant servers, workstations, thin clients, HP LaserJet printers, HP Uninterruptible Power Supply and HP multifunction devices.

Software: Citrix MetaFrame.

Challenge: Increase staff efficiency, reduce costs and improve patient care with a superior IT infrastructure.

Benefits: The new HP IT infrastructure has changed the way Chatswood Skin Cancer Clinic operates. Improved speed, handling of patient information and workflow management has saved the organisation valuable time and resources and enabled it to expand seamlessly.