Improving patient participation in Heart Health Checks

Healthily and the Heart Foundation are giving 200 practices an opportunity to achieve this while using GoShare Plus, an innovative health promotion and recall tool. 

Background

Heart Health Checks are short preventative health assessments which support the assessment and management of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in people that do not have existing heart disease. Compared to treating individual CVD risk factors, like blood pressure or cholesterol, using an ‘absolute CVD risk’ approach during a Heart Health Check can prevent twice as many deaths from coronary heart disease. However, recent statistics using 2019 MedicineInsight data show that only 17% of eligible Australians had all the necessary risk factors recorded for a formal CVD risk calculation.

Aim

This pilot aims to increase the number of Australians having their CVD risk assessed by providing general practices with an efficient system to recall eligible patients and the supportive tools and resources to conduct Heart Health Checks. Recall activities will be supported by GoShare Plus, an SMS recall tool that is embedded within CAT4. By participating in this pilot, practices will also be meeting the requirements for measure 8 of the PIP QI: Proportion of patients with the necessary risk factors assessed to enable CVD assessment. Eligible patients will also receive preventative health resources by SMS to increase their understanding of CVD risk factors and Heart Health Checks.

GoShare Plus 

Developed by Healthily, GoShare Plus is a SMS patient engagement and reminder tool that aims to assist practices with sending recall and health promotion messages to targeted patients. The advantage of GoShare Plus is that it is integrated into the clinical audit software CAT4, which makes identification of patients easier and simplifies the recall process. 

What will your practice receive?

• Free 12-month GoShare Plus license for the Heart Health Check recall bundle. The bundle will include an SMS message with an embedded link to information videos, fact sheets and other resources.
• Access to the Heart Foundation’s Heart Health Check toolkit which includes practical resources and tools such as management and assessment templates that support the implementation of Heart Health Checks.
• One to One support from Healthily including online training, resources and troubleshooting throughout the project.

What are the benefits for your practice?

• Engage in quality improvement activities to fulfil PIP QI requirements
• Enhance practice systems by accessing an efficient recall and reminder system and increase billing for preventative health checks 
• Increase uptake of absolute CVD risk assessment via Heart Health Checks 
• Improve patient outcomes by supporting the prevention of CVD amongst your patient population
• Develop ongoing systematic approach to Heart Health Checks across the practice team

General Practice Qualifying criteria  

Practices must be using CAT4 with Best Practice, Zedmed, Genie, Medtech, practiX, Communicare, MMEX or PCIS.

Practice requirements

Implementing pilot activities:

• Allow Healthily to enable GoShare Plus in CAT4
• Extract a list of patients in CAT4 using a set patient eligibility criteria (support provided)
• Send out a SMS recall bundle to eligible patients according to pilot timelines
• Manage patient responses and appointments 

Please note that it is the practice’s decision to choose the most relevant billing item available, billing IS NOT limited to the 699 or 177

Reporting:

• Before the SMS recall bundle is sent: Using the supplied CAT4 recipe, report on the total number of patients meeting the criteria to establish baseline data 
• 2 months into the pilot: Using the supplied CAT4 recipe, report on the total number of patients meeting the criteria to obtain data for evaluation
• Option to participate in a post-pilot survey to provide feedback on the process

Approximate Pilot Timeline

Pilot Flowchart - Sequence of Events

Expression of Interest

If you would like to participate, please complete and submit an expression of interest application form. Available spots are limited so please submit your online application form ASAP. Applications close 15^th December 2020.

APPLY NOW

Further Information

If you would like further information, please contact CVDriskteam@heartfoundation.org.au