Meet Healthcode’s Head of Business Development (ePractice)
Tell us about your role at Healthcode?
I lead the Business Development team that looks after ePractice, our practice management software (PMS) for healthcare businesses. We’ve recently grown and have more roles to fill.
The team is structured to deliver great service and the best solution for all types of customers, from contacting existing users to ensure their ePractice plan still meets their needs, to exploring the features and functionality of ePractice with new entrants to the market.
Everyone looks after their own area but I’m always there in the background to provide guidance and support.
How does your experience of working in the private healthcare sector help you in your job?
2024 marks my 30th year working in private healthcare and I think that my PMS experience is useful for the team.
I’ve met a lot of people in our sector over the years and kept in touch with them as they’ve progressed through their careers. Technology might have reduced the need for people to do business face-to-face but building those long-term professional relationships is still key to our consultative approach. Rather than the hard sell, we prefer to have conversations with customers about how their practice is going, try to solve problems with them and ultimately work together to move their practice forwards.
Can you give an example of how you and your team are able to make a difference for customers?
It’s surprising how many people you can help by simply making them aware of just one feature.
For example, when practices have invoice problems it often comes down to the fact that the patient’s membership number is missing or incorrect which means the invoice can’t be validated. That’s frustrating and time consuming to resolve but we’ve had a clever online shortcut for years called Membership Enquiry. Available in our ePractice Lite and Pro plans, it lets customers check patients’ details against the insurer database, in just a few clicks.
When customers discover Membership Enquiry through one of my team, it’s usually a game-changer, enabling them to get their invoices right first time, without having to spend hours on the phone with the insurer or patient.
How does your team ensure that ePractice continues to meet the needs of customers?
We sit in between customers and the development team who are currently rewriting ePractice from the bottom up and we help channel the useful/great feedback we get.
I recently helped run the pilot for the new Appointments section, inviting customers to join and helping ensure we had a good mix of independent practitioners, medical secretaries, hospitals and clinics to reflect the different ways the PMS might be used. Once participants were onboard, I took them through a demo before switching them over to the new interface, although we purposely avoided giving too much detail because we wanted to find out how intuitive the new version was. During the pilot, we’d share feedback with the developers and also sent out a more structured questionnaire at the end, to make sure we captured everything.
The end result is a brilliant new diary feature with a bright, user-friendly interface and far more functionality than before. However, it’s just the beginning for ePractice and we’re looking forward to the next stage of our exciting journey.
What’s next for ePractice and what are you most excited to show customers?
Now we have the fundamentals in place, we’ll be rolling out the next sections step-by-step. We’re in the process of rewriting the patient management section and we’re also expanding the PMS including the clinical pathways tool and prescribing capabilities.
Customers can expect more tweaks and features for Appointments. They’ll also soon have the ability to publish their diary session to ICE, our secure online booking, enabling them to reach a much wider audience.
It’s brilliant to see each area of ePractice being released with rebranding and the latest technology to really drive the system forward. After all the hard work, it feels like we’re on the brink of something big.
What do you enjoy most about working at Healthcode?
The feeling of optimism. We’ve achieved so much over the last few years – especially with the move to the latest technology platforms – and the sky’s the limit.
It’s also great that private practice itself is booming, as you can see from the volume of claims that are going through the Clearing Service at the moment. After all, that’s what we’re about – helping the whole sector grow and prosper.
And finally, how do you switch off outside work?
I love Formula 1 so I always tune in when it’s on TV. I should support Red Bull as I was born and bred in Milton Keynes but I’m a big fan of Sir Lewis Hamilton and another British driver coming through called Lando Norris. It’s a passion I share with our MD , Peter Connor – I think we’d both love to be racing cars for a living.
Another dream that I’ve long shared with my wife is to have a house with a bit of land. That wasn’t possible where we lived before so we’ve just moved to a cottage in rural Lincolnshire. We’re planning to keep chickens and pigs in the future – the 1970’s show The Good Life is our inspiration.
