Email notifications feature update, OntarioMD funding ends, and BC MSP fees increase

Just a few quick updates regarding the email notifications feature, the OntarioMD funding program, and a recent change to BC's MSP fee schedule. Find out more about the changes below.

Email notifications without online booking

The feature that sends email notifications for appointments is now available for Oscar without needing the online booking module as well! If you'd like to find out more about how this works with Oscar, please get in touch!

OntarioMD funding ends

Going the way of the dodo (like PITO in BC and POSP in Alberta), the OntarioMD funding program has now officially come to an end. Physicians in Ontario can no longer be funded for using an EMR.

MSP fee increase in BC

As of April 1st, 2015, a fee increase occurred in BC, funded from the 2015/2016 fee allocation. The fee increase was implemented on June 4th, with the most current rates available for download as of June 5th.

Any claims that were being processed when the change was made and have been submitted at the previous rates will be adjusted to match the new rates. The explanatory code BG-Amount will be displayed and a retroactive payment will be applied to a future remittance for any services provided between April 1st and June 4th that have been paid using the previous rates.

The MSC Payment Schedule on the MSP website will be updated with the new rates shortly.

Brand new OscarHost site launched + Alberta lab integration fundraiser

We've got a couple of updates regarding our brand new OscarHost website and a fundraiser we've set up for creating an OSCAR lab integration in Alberta. Read more about each below.

Brand new OscarHost website launched!

We've officially launched our new OscarHost website! We hope the updated look will attract new customers while still providing our current clients with the information and high-quality support that we've offered in the past. Let us know what you think of the new site!

Fundraising for OSCAR labs in Alberta

We're working hard to get a lab interface for the OSCAR EMR in Alberta built. Due to the large amount of development time that this project will take, we've created a fundraiser page on gofundme to increase the financial support required.

We've already passed conformance testing for Calgary Lab services and are just waiting for final approval from Alberta Health Services. If you or any of your colleagues would be interested in helping us cover our development costs, please consider donating! Our goal is $7,500 and we're hoping to commit the final product to the OSCAR source code so that more physicians in Alberta can take advantage of this work.

As always, please feel free to also get in touch with any questions or feedback you have for us!

Alberta Lab Interface for Oscar EMR

*Exciting new update on May 15th!
"We just received final AHS approval for our first two offices! Extremely exciting. We're ready to go live once the interface and Oscar version issues have been solved!"


Oscar Host is  creating a labs interface for Oscar EMR in Alberta. We have already passed conformance testing for  Calgary Lab services and the other service areas should be fairly simple to pass once we recieve final approval from AHS. However, there are a couple of issues that will require further work before we can officially release the product.

First, the current version of the Alberta labs importer has been built into the newer version of Oscar 14 which isn't ready for use in most offices. We need to back-port this to Oscar 12.1 which is what most users are currently using in Alberta and around Canada.

Second, due to the way labs are formatted in Alberta and how conformance requires them to be displayed in the EMR there are some user interface issues involving displaying multiple labs on one page that will need to be solved before the system will be ready for in-office use.

We're simply looking to cover our costs for development and testing to launch this new labs interface and we will be attempting to commit this project back to the oscar source code once finished. In the meantime, as Oscar is open-source, should anyone like access to the code we are developing please just let us know.

If you are interested in the continued growth of Oscar in Alberta and throughout Canada please consider supporting this project.

Jordan Visco
CEO - OscarHost
by Cloud Practice Inc.

Don't forget to nominate OscarHost!

Nominate "OscarHost" for Oscar Service Provider "OSP" of the year for the annual OSCAR awards happening at the BC Oscar User Group Conference May 7-8 !

Vote here: http://goo.gl/forms/rNL1ICGWbo 

… because our support is top notch!

Success with Online Booking

Since launching MyHealthAccess.ca in November 2014 we are regularly asked by our users what are some strategies that they can use that will allow them to have the most success with an online booking program. Below are a number of different strategies to get patients to sign-up on their own which are a) easy to do b) high impact c) provide continuous booking stimulation to patients.

1. CHANGE YOUR PHONE MESSAGE
Of all the things you can do to get your online patient booking program jump-started the most important  and effective thing you can do is change your phone message to tell patients to go to MyHealthAccess.ca to book appointments. Patients are currently calling in to book many appointments and putting MyHealthAccess right in the middle of their normal booking path is the biggest thing you can do to change their behavior. A sample message could go something like this:

"Thank you for calling 123 clinic. If you would like to book an appointment with one of our doctors please hang-up and go to www.MyHealthAccess.ca. To continue and speak with a receptionist please press 0."

For an even  greater reponse change your on-hold message to go something like this:

"All of our staff are currently unavailable. If you would like to book an appointment at your leisure please hang up and connect with us online at www.MyHealthAccess.ca"

2. PUT YOUR BUTTON ON YOUR WEBSITE
On your MyHealthAccess clinic dashboard is a small html code snippet that will put a book online button on your website which will direct users to a sign-up/login page that is branded for your specific clinic. This will make it easy for any of your more tech-savvy patients to find your online booking information and get started.

3. TURN ON NOTIFICATIONS FOR ALL APPOINTMENTS
We recently released a great new feature for MyHealthAccess which will allow automated appointment notifications for all patients in your EMR. This means that patients will get emails from MyHealthAccess before all of their appointments which will contain information on their appointment so they show up on time as well as information about how to connect with your clinic online. This provides an on-going stimulus for your patients to begin using the web to streamline their communications with your clinic.

If you have any tactics that have worked well for you in your practice please let us know! 

OSCAR-CON 2015 details and our WestCoast Midwives client profile | OscarHost blog

OSCAR-CON 2015 is here! And so is our newest client profile on WestCoast Midwives. Find out more about who, what, when, and where below!

OSCAR-CON 2015

That time of year is here again! Are you ready for OSCAR-CON 2015?

The annual BC OSCAR User Group and OCUS Meeting will be held in Vancouver onMay 8th and 9th this year. This event will be a full two-day user conference that will cover OSCAR-related updates, discussions about new features in OSCAR, workshops, and more. The Paetzold Auditorium on the first floor of the Jim Pattison Pavilion South at Vancouver General Hospital will be hosting the event.

Registration for the event is now open. For updates on the agenda and information on how to register, please check oscarcanada.org.

We hope to see you there!

Introducing WestCoast Midwives

WestCoast Midwives is a teaching practice that began in 2001 in Victoria, BC. The team focuses on providing quality, compassionate pregnancy care in a comfortable and homey environment.

Kim Millar Lewis started the practice after many years of experience around the world as a nurse in maternity units and a midwife. Since establishing WestCoast Midwives, the clinic has grown into a teaching site for the Island Medical Program and the Family Practice Residency Program. The practice often takes in midwifery students to work alongside the midwives and doulas.

WestCoast Midwives adopted the OSCAR EMR system in 2009. One of the staff's favourite things about using OSCAR is the fact that the clinic is 100% paper-free. Being able to access patient files any time, any where, and from any device is another benefit that Kim and the other midwives in the office greatly appreciate.

Eventually, the WestCoast Midwives hope their healthcare region will use more systems that can connect with EMRs like OSCAR so that reports and files can be sent directly to and from the office quickly. Kim also hopes that new features will be built to cater directly to midwives and their practices as some aspects differ greatly from those in a general practice setting.

While their practice is quite small, the ladies at WestCoast Midwives keep things fun. They have annual events and retreats that help them connect to one another and to their practice and they also host a yearly Garden Party for their clients and their children.

Thank you for your continued support, Kim and WestCoast Midwives!

Send automated appointment reminders right from OSCAR! | OscarHost blog

Would you like to send your patients automated email reminders for appointments through OSCAR? We can help your clinic save time, free up resources, and shift focus to more important tasks with a brand new MyHealthAccess feature that does just that!

Because of its integration capabilities, MyHealthAccess can connect to any patient in OSCAR that has a valid email address saved to their patient demographic, regardless of whether or not that patient has a MyHealthAccess account set up. This feature provides you with two main benefits:

1 - it allows you to send more automated reminders with greater ease, saving time and effort for your office staff and,
2 - the reminder email encourages patients to book their appointments online, saving your staff phone time.

MyHealthAccess connects your clinic to your patients online, making booking management much easier for clinic staff. For a quick demonstration of all of the software's features and how it integrates seamlessly with OSCAR, please check out our demonstration video.



If you are interested in finding out more about how to turn this feature for your OscarHost account, please get in touch and we can get you started!