Performance Medicine

Performance Medicine is a large (17 therapists, 8 business roles) physiotherapy practice with two locations in Melbourne and Sydney (Australia) who’ve been using Cliniko to run their practice admin since 2018. The practice specialises in physiotherapy for the performing arts industry, helping performing arts professions from dancers through to lighting crews to treat acute injuries as well as assisting them to condition and maintain their bodies for peak performance. They also happen to be the Australian pioneers in vocal physiotherapy.

Prior to 2018, Performance Medicine was using a server-based practice management software (PMS). And, before that, they were administering their practice using Word documents and paper-based processes for approximately 12 months. Their choice to change over to a cloud-based PMS like Cliniko was driven by the desire to simplify their clinic’s processes and run things more efficiently. They also wanted to enable reporting and analysis of their business, and to improve the client experience.

Here’s the background on how Performance Medicine decided that Cliniko was the best practice management software for their business.

The important PMS features for Performance Medicine

Wayne Jones, myotherapist and practice operations manager, says most important practice management system features for their physiotherapy practice are:

• Treatment notes and the ability for practitioners to create their own templates, such as management plans and assessments that are specific to Performance Medicine’s clients.
• Telehealth (the use of this increased during COVID-19 restrictions).
• Patient management and the patient recalls function, which the clinic uses to ensure that they are providing the best client care and to improve team communications regarding clients.
• Patient cases, which get used for compensable or primary care plan clients.
• Letter templates.

Why did Performance Medicine choose Cliniko?

The team at the practice were really keen to move away from the server-based software model. “It was clunky to login,” Wayne remembers. “We had to have expensive infrastructure and ensure that backing up and security was secure at all times.” As well as tying up one of the computers constantly as a server, there was also the never ending risk of something unexpected damaging the hardware (e.g. a fire or a flood) and leaving the clinic scrambling to get their system back up and running.

Performance Medicine knew they needed to switch to a simpler, cloud-based PMS. Annie Strauch, practice owner and one of the clinic’s physiotherapists, spent time researching to figure out what PMS would be right for the practice – she spoke with colleagues, Clinic Mastery, and chatted to different PMS companies. After trialling several different systems, the team ultimately decided on Cliniko as the best fit for their practice.

Wayne says that the team at Performance Medicine liked that Cliniko “had a logical user interface, and this interface was also mobile/smart device friendly.” Additionally, Wayne notes that “Cliniko had the ability to personalise our appointments, diary, and invoicing. It was very good value for money when compared to other products in the market, and the online help was excellent as were the instructions via the support pages.” And, above all, being secure and cloud-based, Cliniko ticked all the right boxes for the practice.

Is it easy to switch to Cliniko?

“The process was relatively simple,” says Wayne. This is despite Performance Medicine having a database of around 7,000 clients at the time, and over 11,000 items to transfer (notes, attachments, insurance details, ledgers etc.)! Software developer Hagen Dittmer, who now works for Cliniko, helped with the transfer process, using Cliniconnect (which Cliniko subsequently purchased in 2018). As Wayne describes: “Hagen connected our previous system with Cliniko, ran a trial integration and then worked from there. In all, this took approximately a week to analyse and process and then our data was integrated over a weekend. I believe that the process now is even faster.”

Wayne is right, the process is now even faster 🙂.  Transferring your data across is completely free when you sign up for Cliniko and here’s how it’s done:

1. 1.Book your transfer to Cliniko (book here)
2. 2.Export your data from your current PMS
3. 3.Set up your Cliniko account (instructions here)
4. 4.Complete the pre-transfer checklist

Too easy! We’ll help you through every step of the way, so don’t worry if you’re not tech-savvy.

Has using Cliniko improved the Performance Medicine’s business?

“Yes,” says Wayne, “[Cliniko] has improved our ability to complete online bookings, communicate with our clients, and provide a mobile, secure way to connect with our clinic when you are on the go.”

Wayne also observes that there have been some nice surprises from Cliniko since Performance Medicine made the switch in 2018. He  says, “the integration of Medicare into the system has been fantastic. Our business does work in other states of Australia and the [new] ability to set time zones is very useful for our clients.” Wayne adds that, “the recent diary management email to practitioners [was also a helpful surprise].” We’re glad to hear that!

What could be improved to make Cliniko better for physiotherapists?

Wayne told us he’d like to see Cliniko develop the ability for patient cases to link specific notes to the case. This would mean that a practitioner could bring up notes specifically relevant for that issue (rather than scrolling through all the notes for that client). Watch this space! Our development team is always making improvements to Cliniko and taking feedback on board. And we make regular announcements about any updates we make to the software, which you can follow on the blog.

Performance Medicine’s advice to physiotherapy business owners looking for practice management software

If you’re a physiotherapist looking for practice management software, Wayne gives the following pointers for making a decision:

• Look for something that can guarantee your practice’s security and safety.
• Investigate how responsive the help department is and look for the progression of changes a system makes (a good program will always be evolving).Don't just consider how much something costs (although this is an important factor).  If you’re growing your business, look at what it will cost you when you scale (sometimes the bigger you are, the more value for money you receive, – while other times the reverse is true). Think about what you “really need and want” in your business.
• Understand that there is no perfect system. However, what you need is a system that is adaptable enough that you can make it work for you.
• What you put into it is what you’ll get out. Taking the time to set up your system properly and understanding the key features is a must.

Want to try Cliniko for yourself?

If Wayne’s advice has piqued your interest, and you’d like to see for yourself what Cliniko is all about, the best thing you can do is try it – that goes for any physiotherapy practice management software.
You can sign up for a free 30-day trial of Cliniko and access to all of the features in seconds. Enjoy!