Utilising Gentu for COVID-19

With the recent and rapid spread of COVID-19, it is essential for medical practitioners to be able to support and protect their patients. Gentu offers a range of functions that can help you to communicate effectively and efficiently with your patients during this time. The following article outlines the built-in functions that may assist in getting the word out. 

The Australian Government has provided documentation relating to the spread of COVID-19 via Health Direct. Any enquiries pertaining to the spread or COVID-19 should be directed to Health Direct, either via their website or hotline. 

Communicating with Patients

Updating Reminder SMS Template

If you would simply like to add additional information pertaining to COVID-19 to your normal Appointment Reminder messages, this can be done via Settings > Appointment SMS Reminders.

In the top left corner of the screen, you will be able to update your SMS Message as needed. You can find detailed instructions for updating the template on the Knowledgebase page for SMS Settings & Message Template. 

Note: the longer your SMS message is, the more likely you are to use more than 1 credit per message. This means you will run out of credits sooner that you may expect. Beneath your SMS Message template, you will see a message advising how many characters are being used, and how many credits will be used in sending the message. For more information, please see the SMS Credits section on the Knowledgebase. 

Including Hyperlinks in SMS Messages

If you would like to share considerable information with your patients, for example, information on COVID-19 symptoms or your clinic policy, you could do so by including a link to a website page. As links can sometimes be lengthy, they can use more characters and, consequently, more SMS credits. A solution for this is to create a shorter link to include in your messages through services such as Bitly. To do so, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to the Bitly website
2. Select Get Started for Free and choose the Free profile
3. Continue through the process to create a new account
4. Once you've created your account you should be directed to a new dashboard like this:
5. Select Create in the top right corner and a side bar will appear on the right. Simply enter the web address you wish to shorten into the Paste Long URL section and click Create. Bitly will generate a shorter link for you that looks something like this: http://bit.ly/38Mr39e
6. Copy and Paste this into your SMS template. This will allow patients to click the link on their phone and be directed to your nominated webpage

Exporting all patients records for external communication

If you would like to create a communication external to Gentu using a third-party provider such as Mailchimp or your email provider, you can export all your patient details from Gentu. For instructions on how to do this, please see our article on exporting the patient list.

Note: This download contains Patient Health Information (PHI). Please ensure appropriate consent and measures are taken to protect the confidentiality and privacy of this information.

Telehealth Consults

In light of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) has released new item numbers for billing. These item have been made available in Gentu from Monday 16th March 2020. You may wish to monitor the Release Notes - 2020 page for updates on the release of this schedule. In the meantime, you can find information on these items from the MBS Online website. 

Adding Reasons for Encounter

If you need to enter new items to be selected in your consults, these can be added in Settings > Reasons for Encounter. For instructions on adding to this list, please see the Knowledgebase page for Consults & Clinical.