Practice Software demonstrations are designed to show a product at its best. That is their purpose, and it is worth keeping in mind before you sit through a practice software demonstration. A good demonstration will show you everything the software can do. It will not tell you whether your practice needs new software at all, or whether the problems you are trying to solve would simply follow you into a new system.
The eight questions below are worth answering honestly, and in writing, before you book that first demonstration. The first six look at how your practice uses the software it already has. The last two test whether a change is genuinely justified and whether the practice is ready for it.
Questions About the Practice Software You Already Have
1. Which tasks are manual right now, and why?
Start with specifics rather than impressions. List the tasks your team completes by hand, such as typing patient details into a second system, chasing referrals from a paper list or building reports in a spreadsheet. For each one, find out why. In some cases the software genuinely cannot do it. In others, the function exists but has never been set up, or the team does not know it is there. The answer tells you whether you have a software problem or a setup problem.
2. Has your current software reached its limits?
Before deciding your current practice software cannot do what you need, confirm it. Review the vendor’s recent release notes and help centre, and ask their support team directly whether the task can be handled within the system. Practice software is often configured once at implementation and rarely revisited, while the vendor continues to add features. A capability that was missing when you set the system up may now be available.
3. Is your team trained on everything the current system already does?
Practice Software capability only matters if the team knows how to use it. When training happened once at go-live, or has been passed from one staff member to the next, gaps are almost inevitable, and from the front desk a training gap can look very similar to a software limitation. Ask each team member to show you how they complete a common task. Differences in method usually point to a training or documentation gap.
4. Is the gap configuration, training, workflow or genuinely the software?
This is the question the first three lead to. Only one of these four answers points to buying new software. Configuration, training and workflow gaps can usually be addressed within your current practice software, often with less cost and disruption than a migration. A new system will not resolve them on its own. They tend to move across with the data.
5. What would change if the process was redesigned before anything was replaced?
Map one problem process exactly as it runs today, step by step, before you change anything. You may find duplicated steps, unclear handoffs or workarounds that were never part of the intended process. Redesigning the workflow can resolve part of the problem on its own, and it shows you what any new system would need to support. How to Map Your First Workflow Before You Go Live on Xestro walks through this exercise using the patient journey, and the method applies to any practice software.
6. What is undocumented and living only in someone’s head?
A software change exposes every undocumented process at once. Exceptions, workarounds and “the way we have always done it” tend to surface mid-migration, when the team is busiest and least able to deal with them. Identifying them now, on your own terms, makes any decision safer, including the decision to stay with the system you have.
Questions That Test Whether a Change Is Justified
7. What would new practice software need to do that your current system cannot?
Be specific. “Better” and “more modern” are not a basis for a decision. A clear, named requirement is, such as an integration with another system you rely on, a reporting need your current software cannot meet, a compliance requirement or a vendor ending support for the version you use. Write these requirements down. They become your test for every demonstration you attend.
8. Who would own the change, and do they have the time it needs?
Moving to new practice software is three jobs, not one: disciplined setup, workflow redesign and change management. Someone needs real time set aside for all three, not just the setup, while the practice continues to run. If that person is already stretched, plan for it before you start. What Makes a Software Implementation Actually Succeed looks at what separates an implementation that holds from one that drifts back to old habits.
If Your Answers Point to a Change
If your answers confirm that new software is justified, prepare before the demonstration so you get the most from it. Many vendors run scheduled or group demonstrations, so the aim is not to change how they present. It is to make sure your own questions are answered before you decide.
- Bring your written requirements. Have your list from question 7 in front of you and note which requirements were shown, which were mentioned and which were not covered.
- Ask about your everyday tasks. Use the question time, or a follow-up conversation, to ask how the software would handle one or two of your common tasks, such as how a new referral moves from receipt to booking.
- Use trial or demonstration access if it is offered. Some vendors provide access to a demonstration version of their software. Where they do, ask the staff who do the work to try a few everyday tasks themselves.
- Ask what transfers and what must be rebuilt. Practice Management Software Migration: What Transfers explains why this matters before you commit.
- Ask what is included. Find out which parts of implementation, training and ongoing support are included, and what is charged separately.
- Involve the people who do the work. Have someone who completes these tasks every day attend the demonstration or try the software, not only the people making the decision.
Before You Book That Demonstration
If a practice software demonstration is already in the diary, or about to be, work through these eight questions with your team first, in writing. The answers will either strengthen the case for change or show you a faster, less disruptive way to fix the problem. Either outcome is better than walking into a demonstration without them.
The Platform Decision Diagnostic turns these questions into a one-page checklist you can work through with your team.
Working With Denise Pacey
If your answers are not clear cut, or you would like an independent view before committing to a software change, a Practice Operations Strategy Call is the place to start. Denise works with specialist, allied health and dental practices across Australia to determine whether the right response is training, configuration, workflow redesign or new software, and build the operational structure that makes any change hold.
About Denise Pacey
Denise Pacey is the founder of Pace MediSystems and a Certified SYSTEMologist with over two decades of experience in specialist medical practice management. She works with health practices across Australia in three areas: practice systemisation, Xestro implementation and coaching and mentoring.
Pace MediSystems. Systemise for Success.
Related reading: 5 Operational Problems Your Health Practice May Be Solving the Wrong Way