Choosing the right PMS for your practice

The decision to update practice management software is one of the most significant change programmes practices are currently facing. 

It can’t be overstated: the human aspect of change and bringing people along for the journey is just as important as the technology decision.

One of the first things to consider is whether your business and staff are ready to go through a significant change process, and all that entails. 

Ready, set…

Once you’ve assessed your change readiness and are ready to get started, there’s a lot to think about.

Long-term business plan

One of the biggest factors in choosing a PMS is your long-term business plan. Your PMS is a critical enabler for the model of care you deliver, so keep this top of mind when reviewing the features and benefits on offer. For example, consider how the PMS will support GP triage and integrated care.

To be, or not to be cloud

There are many published articles on the benefits of cloud and a quick Google search will return an extensive reading list. We encourage you to do some research on the topic. Some of the key themes in favour of cloud include:

• fit for future/best practice
• consistent delivery
• cyber security
• scalability and cost
• service levels
• agility in speed of introducing improvements
• more emphasis on end user experience. 

IT infrastructure and connectivity

You may need to refresh your IT infrastructure to enable the move from a legacy system to a more modern PMS. Make sure you understand the IT requirements to successfully run your chosen PMS, and especially look at internet connectivity and speed capability for cloud solutions. This would typically involve a discussion and information exchange between your new PMS software supplier and your IT service provider.

Systems support process

Make sure you have a robust and detailed conversation about how the PMS will support your existing business and clinical processes, and whether any of your processes will need to change. Consider both your current and future requirements.  

Function and features

You should expect modern practice management systems to be function and feature rich (and therefore difficult to accurately and completely describe in marketing material). This is where our first recommendation of booking a product demonstration and Q&A session for your practice comes in. 

Allow plenty of time for product demonstration sessions, and don’t shy away from requesting multiple sessions to answer all your questions. 

Different practice roles, such as clinicians and administrators, will have a different experience of using the PMS so ensure your evaluation takes into account their different perspectives. Ensuring all decision makers and users groups are involved in feature evaluation will ensure a thorough assessment and is an important part of the change management journey.

Money isn’t everything

Pricing is an important aspect of procurement decisions for any business, and while it is not necessarily the driving force for general practices, in our experience it still ranks highly. With pricing it is important to get a clear understanding of what you are purchasing, especially in relation to features and functions. Some pricing structures for licence fees will be all inclusive, and others will stack up as you add features, functions and third-party integrations. 

• Make sure you are comparing apples with apples. 
• Get clear direction on what is included and excluded from base licence fees, and which functions and integrations carry additional costs. 
• Ensure you have a view of total costs. For example, if you are choosing an on-premise solution instead of cloud then think about the cost of server provisioning and maintenance, software updates and who is responsible.

…Go

Once you have decided on your preferred new PMS and managed the commercials and contracting, then the fun starts.

Transition and implementation

Ensure you have seen and been consulted on the project plan for your transition, and that everyone has a good understanding of who will do what. Changing PMS is resource heavy on practices, so make sure you’re comfortable that expectations on your practice team’s time and resources are reasonable and can be met. This is your change project, and for best results you’ll need to establish change leadership within your practice. 

Make sure you have a commitment from the vendor or reseller for migration, user and super user training to be completed before your go live date, and that sufficient onsite support is made available during the go live phase of your transition.

Ongoing support

Confirm the support mechanisms and service levels that will be in place after implementation, once you are in business as usual operating mode. Ask about ongoing training opportunities, user forums, and access to subject matter experts. Make sure you understand how to report issues or suggest improvements, and check your expectations on response times.

Release cycles

Understand the development and release cycles for bug fixes, improvements and version releases, and make sure you know how you will be notified of releases and where to go to for release notes.