Dear Synapse Network,
Welcome to our annual Christmas update.
It’s hard to believe it’s Christmas again but here we are! 2023 was another huge year at Synapse during which we focussed on improving existing services and expanded our consulting service. Top of the exciting new project list was leading a team developing the national non-admitted casemix classification in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In addition, I’ve been busy with media, podcasts and Medicare expert witness work, our two software products, the Synapps MBS and Aircoder, have gone from strength to strength nationally and internationally, we’ve done some really interesting Medicare compliance audit projects, and we have big plans in 2024 to build on all of this as well as launch some exciting new initiatives.
Read on…
In this issue
 2023 Snapshot |  New App Release |  AIMAC & MBS Answers |  International Activity |
Read on for these articles and more…
2023 Snapshot
It’s been a year of growth across our billing and corporate offerings. Our billing platform, the Synapps MBS, continues to keep rejected claims well below 1% and the number of referrals from existing clients has shot up by 60%. So, a huge thank you to everyone who has mentioned us to your colleagues. We believe this has been driven by our mature product offering, a stable core of excellent customer service, leading technology, and amazing results. We are proud to have your trust.
We’ve also been involved in groundbreaking projects in Australia, Saudi and the United Arab Emirates this year, with a national casemix project and two impressive automated clinical coding partnerships furthering our international reach. There’ll be more updates on these projects in January.
In addition, our CEO, Dr Margaret Faux, has been busy receiving instructions from law firms to act as an expert witness in both civil and criminal Medicare matters, and our now very experienced Medicare compliance / data analytics SWAT team has undertaken multiple Medicare compliance audit projects.
It’s been a very exciting and interesting year!
The all new Synapps MBS App successfully launched
In our Christmas newsletter last year, we mentioned that we were planning to update to a completely new and improved version of the Synapps MBS. Well, it’s nearly done. We have successfully moved hundreds of clients onto the new platform and the old app will be decommissioned and removed from both app stores on 31st December this year. No small undertaking!
The app upgrade was necessary for several reasons, chief among them being your feedback. We listened and implemented 16 features that were recommendations from you. Some of the key improvements are: –
- An OCR feature that enables data fields to be auto populated from a photo.
- Dashboard with a Custom Search option.
- Discharge bulk patients with a single click.
- The Dashboard now shows the dollar value against your billings.
- The ‘Billing Type Button’ is highlighted (just like for Surgical Assistants).
- The App shows the initial consult date under the referral tab.
Please keep the feedback coming. We love your great ideas, so when our customer service team contacts you in the next week or so to thank you for your patience, co-operation, and support during the year, please share any feedback or ideas you have with them.
And speaking of customer service, 2023 saw our most Google reviews ever. We cannot thank you enough for your feedback about our services. It makes the entire Synapse team incredibly happy and proud. Here’s a few of our 5-star Google reviews:
“Engaging with Synapse for my medical billing has been a standout experience. Their commitment to excellence is evident, not just in their efficient services but in their personal, friendly touch. They consistently exceeded expectations with timely delivery. Synapse isn’t just about tech-savvy solutions, it’s their genuine care and understanding that sets them apart. Highly recommended for anyone seeking a reliable and caring administrative partner”
“As a first time biller, I found that the Synapse billings team was excellent and helped with all my questions. Friendly, and even responded after hours and on the weekends. They offered a price match, on top of a free trial. All billings were completed promptly. Would recommend.”
“Easy app to use, great team to work with, responsive to any queries or issues, and personalized service.”
Plans for AIMAC and MBS Answers
As all long-term followers of Synapse will know, education has always been a key component of our approach to supporting billing literacy and compliance. Everyone knows the Medicare system needs root & branch reform and this must include quality education.
We’ve been a bit quiet on the AIMAC front recently but have been beavering away in the background preparing for some announcements in the new year, which will include a revamped sister law firm, MBS Answers. Thanks for all your questions submitted to this much needed service. More to come…
International movements
We have also been busy via our international offices. Our footprint in Dubai and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) was advanced in 2023. We are still working on a national project at the Ministry level in KSA developing the non-admitted casemix classification for the kingdom – we affectionately refer to it as “the NACC” – which continues to be a most incredible project and a world first! The data team are working hard on analysis of the collected data and are busy assigning NACC classes, compiling feedback from the field team, and preparing the data specification.
Our CEO, Dr Margaret Faux, also made her return to our Chennai office in November, for our annual celebration and awards ceremony. It was a wonderful few days of meetings, culminating in a beautiful day of fun, colour, friendship, fabulous food (always!) and inspiration spent with the whole Chennai team – the people who make our business great.
And our Dubai based healthcare networking initiative, Advance Health, continued to grow in 2023 with numerous successful events around moving the healthcare needle from digital to smart, medical research and sustainability in healthcare (at COP28) in recent months.
You can watch those sessions here:
https://synapsemedical.com.au/news/2023/09/28/healthcare-innovation-advance-health-session/
https://synapsemedical.com.au/news/2023/11/03/october-2023-advance-health-session/
https://synapsemedical.com.au/news/2023/12/11/advance-health-session-december-2023/
We continue to spread the Australian health sector word across the globe and have plans to expand this network in 2024.
Podcasts
Our Business Development Director, Thom Soutter, appeared on the Talking HealthTech podcast series to discuss our movements across jurisdictions, automated coding, and learnings along the way.
Watch Episode 373 Talking Tech Health
Our CEO, Dr Margaret Faux, appeared on the Surgery Secrets: Beauty’s Dark Side podcast recently to talk all things cosmetic surgery, compliance, and Medicare.
So, thank you again for your support in 2023.
In 2024 Synapse will enter its 15th year of successful operation. Wow! Some of you have been with us for the whole journey and what a ride it has been. But as you may have guessed…we’re only just getting started!
We have some exciting news already lined up while we’re back at Arab Health in Dubai with a few friends in January 2024, so watch this space.
Have a safe and restful holiday season everyone, and we will see you all next year. As always, we will be working throughout the holidays, but with skeleton staff. Anything urgent please email cs@synapsemedical.com.au
