We have revamped and refreshed our online space to cater for the information needs of the widest user field ever, some of which are seen for the first time in the medical software community. 
Users can view Bp software products by their area of practice – General Practice, Allied Health Practice, or Specialist Medical – and be immersed in the user benefits, key product features, training and online learning opportunities, and new engagement tools on a single page.
Bp launched phase one of the project this week. The popular Bp Forum is still undergoing development and will be included as soon as possible. The website can be accessed here. You can also check out the launch video here.

Have you recently renewed your subscription for Bp Premier ‘Clinical Only’ and noticed we have included Bp Management free of charge? 
As at July 2017 with the release of Lava SP1, ‘Bp Clinical’ was no longer available as a stand-alone product. We have been notifying practices who have renewed on or after July 2017 that the Management component will no longer be sold separately and, in preparation, we have included the Management component free of charge as a once-off renewal benefit for 2017.
If you use ‘Bp Clinical’ only we urge you to start preparing to move over to Management as your next subscription renewal in 2018 will include the Management component fee.
For more information please call our friendly sales team in Australia  on 1300 40 1111 and listen to the prompts – “Bp Premier” (press 1), then “Sales, Licensing and Training” (press 2)

Bp Allied (formerly known as MyPractice) for Allied Health professionals continues to grow. One of Bp Allied’s strengths is the Support Team, who have a great relationship with their customers around Australia and New Zealand.
When you phone the Australian Support Number you’ll be speaking to Stephen and Ryan.
When you phone the New Zealand Support Number you’ll be speaking with Peter, Nicholas, Virginia and Fraser.
If you would like to contact our Bp Allied team in Australia please call 1300 40 1111 and select option 3.  If you would like to contact our Bp Allied team in New Zealand please call 0800 40 1111 and select option 3. Or you can simply email our friendly team here.

A data update for November is now available for Bp Vip.net customers to download. Your download of this data update will help ensure your access to the most up to date MBS and Health Fund fee data. You can view the changes by clicking here.

This month’s update includes an option to update your Prostheses List and can be found in the Live Update. You will need to download this data update in order to apply it to your version of the software.
Ensure you have imported any new items before running the MBS and Health Fund data update. To obtain the data update please view the full instructions guide by clicking here.

Instructions for manually updating MBS and Health Fund data using the files provided in the following links are also listed in the instruction guide above.
MBS file for manual update can be accessed here.
Health Fund file for manual update can be accessed here.

For further information or advice on this notification, contact our Software Support team on 1300 40 1111 (in Australia), or 0800 40 1111 (in New Zealand), selecting Bp Specialist Products at the menu (Option 2).

And if you haven’t updated to Bp Vip.net 514 yet, please contact the Support Team if you need assistance or have any questions.

Important information for Australian users of Bp Premier

From 1st December 2017 a new National Cervical Screening Program will replace the current state-based screening registers.  As part of the new program, the Pap smear will be replaced by a combination of cervical HPV testing and Liquid Based Cytology.  Screening will change from 2 yearly starting at age 18 to 5 yearly starting at age 25. 

Medicare payments will no longer be paid for Pap smears.  To ensure that Medicare payments are paid appropriately, additional clinical information will need to be provided on the pathology request form.  If a test is performed within 5 years of a previous test and this information is not provided, the patient may not be eligible for a Medicare payment and will have to bear the cost of the test. 

To accommodate these national changes we are pleased to announce that we will be releasing Lava Service Pack 3 to assist practitioners with providing the correct clinical information on the request.
 

These changes will include:

• Pathology Request Screen: removal of the “Pap smear” and “Cervical cytology” test names from the test list
   
• Pathology Request Screen: addition of new test names “Cervical Screening Test”, “Co-test (HPV & LBC)”, “HPV test” and “LBC only”. 
   
• Pathology Request Screen: additional Cervical Screening details have been added and are activated on requesting the new tests
   
• Patient Record: Cervical screening page in the patient record has been split into two sections displaying the old pap smear results in the top half of the page and the new CST results in the lower half.
   
• Recording a Screening Result: The data entry window for entering screening results has been modified to allow entry of both older pap smear results as well as the new data elements that are included in the new reports.
   
• Patient Record: Changes to the Preventive Health alert (TBC- This may need to be removed)
   
• Patient Record: New standard Reminder Reason ‘Cervical Screening’ with a 5 year default interval (TBC- This may need to be removed)

Other changes also occurring in this release include support for clinics participating in the Healthcare Homes trial and support for the uploading of Pathology and Radiology results to My Health Record.

Our popular free webinar series Bp Masterclass will also be returning with classes starting soon. Click here to secure your place now.                                              

Further information and updates will be provided throughout the next few weeks so make sure you keep an eye out for any emails from Team Bp and check out our brand new website www.bpsoftware.net.

Team Bp are travelling to Melbourne to deliver their final stint of LAVA SP1 training for the year.

Held at Rydges in St Kilda, join our experienced trainers face-to-face from the 13th to15th November.

Learn how to navigate through our latest LAVA Service Pack 1, highlighting substantial reporting functionality enhancements made to the software and much more.

There are four courses on offer including:

Monday 13th November | 9.00am - 4.00pm | Bp Premier Clinical Essentials
This course is suitable for new users of Bp Premier and those requiring a refresher.

Tuesday 14th November | 9.00am - 12.00pm | Bp Premier Management Essentials
This course is suitable for new users of Bp Premier and those requiring a refresher.

Tuesday 14th November | 1.00pm - 4.00pm | BP Premier Advanced Management
This course is suitable for users looking more information on managing their practice effectively using Bp Premier

Wednesday 15th November | 9.00 am - 12.00pm | Bp Premier Dollars and Sense
This course is suitable for longer term users and new adoptees of Bp Premier

Register online as places are limited and filling up fast or call us to express your interest today on 1300 40 1111.

Visit our website to find out more here

Make yourself a tea or coffee, sit back, relax and have a read of some of this month's hepful tips from the Bp Support Team.

Over the past few weeks numerous practices have had their clinical database corrupted by a virus (eg. crypto virus).  When this occurs it is important that the practice has a recent restorable Bp backup to minimise downtime and data loss.
Here are some key points to help with your emergency recovery plan:
• Make sure the database is backed up frequently - daily at a minimum
• Make sure a Bp backup is always performed. Even if your IT support provider has set up another backup method (ie. bare-metal or cloud-based backups) we suggest performing a Bp backup as Support will be unable to assist in restoring a third-party backup. 
• Make sure your backup is stored in several locations, including off-site
• Make sure you regularly test your backups on a stand alone machine so you know the backups are successful. You could also use this stand alone machine as a temporary server in an emergency, should your main one fail.

As always, the Bp Support team are here to help: 1300 40 1111 in Australia and 0800 40 1111 in New Zealand.

Reports from a top US government cybersecurity watchdog has issued a warning to users to update their devices to protect against a potential vulnerability that affects wi-fi networks.

The flaw known as KRACK (short for ‘Key Reinstallation Attacks’) allows attackers within range of a vulnerable device or access point to intercept passwords, e-mails, and other data presumed to be encrypted by the nearly ubiquitous wi-fi encryption protocol.
This has the potential to affect not only computers, but phones and wi-fi routers/modems.

Microsoft released a patch recently for their operating systems, more details here. Various other manufactures are also releasing patches for their hardware devices.
What you can do to help prevent this attack and others like it…
• Ensure all of your devices have the latest security patches applied.
• If you are running Windows 7, 8 or 10 and have the Windows Automatic Updates enabled.
• Avoid using wi-fi for vulnerable access points until patches are available. Instead opt for wired connections.
And as always:
• Be wary of unsolicited emails and do not open suspicious attachments.
• Ensure you have an Anti-virus software installed and it is up-to-date.
• Have an anti-virus program that can scan files before they are downloaded, block secret installations and look for malware that may already be on a computer.
• Note that Windows Vista has not been supported since April 11 2017.
To ensure you have the latest Microsoft security updates, open up your Computer Settings, go to Windows Security and Update and check that you are up to date.
Alternatively you can contact your IT provider to ensure you are running the latest patches/updates for your computer systems, software and devices.

There are now three options to choose from when you’re making a call to our friendly Best Practice Support team.
Option 1 – General products covers all the Best Practice Software products for Australian GPs (Bp Premier, Bp Clinical, Bp Management, Bp SMS, Bp Learning including Bp Lava and Bp Summit editions)
Option 2 – Specialist products covers our VIP software (Gold, 2000, Bp Vip.net and Memotext)
Option 3 – Includes our Bp Allied product previously known as MyPractice
The Australian support number is 1300 40 1111
The New Zealand and overseas number is 0800 40 1111
If you are unable to contact us by phone please email us.
Option 1: General Bp products support@bpsoftware.net
Option 2: Specialist Bp products Australia: support.spau@bpsoftware.net. For New Zealand: support.spnz@bpsoftware.net
Option 3: Bp Allied products alliedsupport@bpsoftware.net

We look forward to assisting you with your enquiries.

Join our free Bp Masterclass as we take you through our latest release Lava Service Pack 3, containing some important changes including support for the new Cervical Screening Program,  Introduction of Healthcare Home features and a new ‘Opt Out’ functionality for the upload of Pathology and Radiology tests to My Health Record. And you don’t even have to leave your PC to do it! Our next Bp Premier Masterclass starts 27th November. Book here.

We recently ran a competition for everyone who has been part of the Bp Premier Masterclasses. Sue Whyte from Winchelsea Medical Clinic has won the Fitbit Charge 2. Congratulations Sue! And thanks to everyone who took part.

Team Bp is once again supporting the Movember Foundation Australia as a collective group! We're having prizes for Mo Bro’s and Mo Sista's with an internal competition for best natural and best fake moustache! We're looking to raise as much as possible for Men's Health in supporting mental health awareness, prostate cancer and testicular cancer among men. Please support our team here

Surgical Partners now integrates with Bp Premier

Having supported clients of Bp VIP.net for many years, Surgical Partners can now offer its accounting integration solutions for users of Bp Premier.

Surgical Partners’ solutions have the ability to save Medical Practices time and money by automatically entering Best Practice financials into any of the major accounting systems. This includes the calculation and journaling of Doctor share of billings, including generation of Tax Invoices and integration into accounting systems used by the contracted Doctors themselves. Distribution percentages can be different for each billable item, even for different Doctors within the same practice.

Probably the most valuable feature is bank reconciliation. That is, Surgical Partners consolidates receipts from Best Practice by payment type, and integrates them for unique reconciliation with the bank statement feeds into accounting systems. This leverages the powerful matching features of modern bank reconciliation screens, ensuring that all your Best Practice receipts are entirely consistent with your bank account – digitally, and on a daily basis.
Surgical Partners works with leading accounting solutions Xero, MYOB and Quickbooks, and has been heavily piloted with multiple Best Practice sites. Any user of Bp Premier Lava can now benefit from the solutions with confidence.

Visit www.surgicalpartners.com.au or call 1300 911 672 for further information.