Timely News for Australian

Medical Practice Managers

December 2013

Christmas Greetings from Medical Directions!

e would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy holiday season.

Thank you to all our valued clients for their support this past year - we have enjoyed working with you and look forward to working with you again in the future.

LATEST NEWS!

WorkCover Queensland

The new Schedule of Fees for WorkCover Queensland can now be downloaded from their website.

Check out the WorkCover Update Newsletter which is full of interesting information such as Legislative Amendments and Work Guide for General Practitioners ... read more

GPs Can Now Order Subsidised MRI Services

GPs can now request four new Medicare eligible MRI services for patients over 16 years of age - services which previously were only able to be ordered by specialists ... read more

Warnings for Your Patients

Safety Alert - Syringe Dosing Device for Children's Panadol

A warning for your patients with young children. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has become aware that some measuring syringes supplied with Children's Panadol Baby Drops are incorrectly marked and this has the potential to lead to accidental overdoses ... read more

Sport and Dietary Supplement Warning

Queensland Health is warning people who use sports and dietary supplements to exercise caution if they haven't sought medical supervision when using them. Two cases of acute non-viral hepatitis have been reported in body builders with potential links to the use of sports and dietary supplements ... read more

More Affordable Medicines On the Way

The Government has announced that it will be honouring its election promise of making more affordable medicines available to Australians by fast-tracking approvals of medicines that have received a positive recommendation for funding by the independent Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee ... read more

Emergency Response Planning Toolkit

RACGP has developed an Emergency Response Planning Toolkit (ERPT) to assist general practices in the event of emergencies and pandemics. The tool has planning templates (where you can enter your practice's information) that can be saved and used to create an emergency response plan ... read more.

There is also a link on knowNOW! > Non-Clinical / Practice Management / Resources.

Medical Benefits Schedule (MBS) Online

The 1 January 2014 MBS files are now available to download ... read more. Please note that this is not applicable to Pracsoft users.

FEATURED PRODUCT OF THE MONTH

New and Unique Service

Cryptexonline has a new service with particular relevance to medical practices and allied health practices. The service is called CARE and it provides your practice with superior protection against loss of data and loss of business as a result of computer failure or practice disaster.

The CARE range includes:

Data Backup
Business Continuity
Disaster Recovery
Test Restores

CARE satisfies the RACGP Computer and Information Security Standards in the areas of data backup, test restores and also toward business continuity, disaster recovery and security of patient data. Remember the storm season is approaching so to find out more please click here for the brochure or contact Adam McGill on 0419 397 477.

TOP TIP FOR ACCREDITATION

Criterion 5.3.2 - Vaccine potency

Our practice maintains the potency of vaccines

Your practice must have a person who has the primary responsibility for cold chain management within the practice and this should be defined in their Position Description.

Your practice must perform an annual audit of the vaccine storage procedures. The latest edition of Strive for 5 has a useful template - Appendix 2: Vaccine Storage Self-Audit

RACGP Standards for general practices (4th edition) - Criterion 5.3.2 Vaccine potency

RESOURCES ON KNOWNOW!

Did you know that there are many direct links on knowNOW! that may be useful to your practice:
Non-Clinical > Practice Management > Resources e.g:

Sign up today to receive a month's free trial of knowNOW! and once you realise how much it will help your practice it's just $38.95 per month which includes unlimited users!

Click here to register for your FREE 30 Day trial of knowNOW!

ARE YOU READY FOR ACCREDITATION?
Is your practice coming up for Accreditation?

Do you know all the changes from the 3rd to the 4th standards?
Have you actually implemented and documented the new procedures?
Is your practice team aware of these changes?

Medical Directions can help! We can customise a package to meet your practice needs.

Visit our website or contact Kathryn on 1300 978 897.

WHATS ON?

25 December: Christmas Day
26 December: Boxing Day

RECIPE OF THE MONTH

Berry Merry Christmas from Coles!

Who couldn't resist these cute little Santas in the December issue of Coles magazine!

Ingredients

Large strawberries

1 packet of cream cheese

3-4 tbsp icing sugar

Method

Mix the cream cheese and icing sugar together and then watch the video to see how to assemble these cuties.

ENJOY!

Kathryn Davis

Is there someone else in your practice that would like to receive our newsletter? Click 'Subscribe Now' at the bottom of this newsletter and sign them up too!

I would love to hear your feedback on my newsletters or if you have a story to share or a question to ask please email me.

Until next time ... take care!

P: 1300 978 897 | E: kathryn@medicaldirections.com.au | W: www.medicaldirections.com.au

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