CRM, Automation & Patient Follow-up

No. Your practice management and booking systems stay at the centre of clinical care. A CRM sits alongside them to manage enquiries and marketing communications, and we connect the two where it makes sense.

The two systems do different jobs. Your practice management system holds clinical records, appointments, billing and patient history, and it is designed for that purpose. A CRM handles what happens before and around a booking: tracking new enquiries, reminding your team to follow up, recording where enquiries came from and managing consented marketing communications.

Where it makes sense, we connect them so information doesn’t have to be entered twice, for example passing a confirmed booking back so the enquiry is marked as converted. How much can be connected depends on your systems, as some practice software is more open to integration than others. Either way, detailed clinical information stays in your practice management system rather than the CRM. We’ll look at your current setup first and recommend what fits.

With the right setup, yes. We choose systems with appropriate security, keep detailed health information out of marketing tools wherever possible, and configure access so only the right people can see enquiry details. Your privacy policy should also explain how enquiry information is handled.

Enquiries can contain personal and sometimes health information, which the Privacy Act and the Australian Privacy Principles treat with particular care. In practice, that means collecting only what you need, storing it securely, limiting access, not keeping it longer than necessary and being open with patients about how it is used. Enquiry forms can be designed to ask for practical details rather than inviting people to describe their condition at length.

We also look at where data is stored, how logins are protected and who in your team needs access. Your practice remains responsible for how patient information is handled, so we’ll explain the setup clearly and help you update your privacy policy where needed. We are not lawyers, so complex privacy questions are best taken to a health lawyer or your indemnity insurer.

Yes, within limits. Automation can send confirmations, reminders and helpful information, but it shouldn’t give clinical advice. We design automated messages to be practical and friendly, and route anything that needs a human to your team quickly.

Good uses include acknowledging an enquiry as soon as it arrives, confirming an appointment, sending directions and parking details, reminding patients what to bring, or explaining what happens next. These messages save your team time and reassure patients that their enquiry hasn’t disappeared.

Anything clinical, urgent or sensitive goes to a person. Automated messages can’t assess symptoms, recommend treatment or respond to an emergency, so we include clear wording that directs urgent concerns to appropriate care, and set up alerts so your team sees messages that need attention. Content is checked against the advertising rules, and marketing messages only go to people who have consented, in line with the Spam Act 2003. We agree the wording with you before anything goes live.

We can, where they genuinely help, such as answering common practical questions about hours, location and booking. They must never give clinical advice, must be clear they’re automated, and must hand over to a person when needed. We’ll help you decide whether one suits your practice.

For some practices, a chatbot or AI receptionist eases pressure on the phones by handling routine questions outside hours or when reception is busy. For others, the volume of enquiries doesn’t justify it, or patients clearly prefer talking to a person. We look at how enquiries currently arrive and what your team spends time on before recommending anything.

If we go ahead, we set clear boundaries: the questions it can answer, the topics it must hand over, and the wording it uses for anything urgent. Privacy matters too, so we check where conversation data is stored and avoid collecting health details it doesn’t need. Responses are tested before launch and reviewed regularly, because these tools can make mistakes. Your team stays in control throughout.

It keeps every enquiry in one place, reminds your team to follow up and shows which sources produce bookings. For a small practice that mostly means fewer missed calls and forgotten messages.

Without a CRM, enquiries tend to arrive in several places at once: phone calls, website forms, emails, social media messages and voicemail. Some get answered quickly, some wait, and a few slip through when reception is busy or someone is away. A CRM brings them into a single list, shows who has been contacted and flags anything still waiting for a reply.

Over time it also shows where enquiries come from and which ones turn into bookings, which helps you decide where to spend your marketing budget. For a small practice, we keep the setup deliberately simple, with only the features your team will actually use. The aim is less admin, not more, and a clearer view of how new patients find you. We’ll recommend a system that suits your size and existing software.

A little. Someone needs to check and update the system. We keep it simple, train your team and avoid adding work that does not pay for itself.

The main change is usually a habit: recording each enquiry, noting what happened, and marking it as booked or closed. For phone calls, that might mean a quick entry or a check of calls the system has logged automatically. Many practices find that once the routine is in place, it actually saves time, because reception no longer has to search through inboxes, notes and voicemails to work out who still needs a call back.

We design the process around how your reception team already works, rather than imposing a new one. Training is practical and focused on the few tasks they’ll do every day. After launch, we check in to see what is working and adjust anything that feels like unnecessary effort. If a step doesn’t help your team or your patients, it shouldn’t be there, and we’ll take it out.

That is fine. We track calls too, so phone enquiries appear alongside forms and messages and nobody gets left out. Many patients, particularly older patients or those with urgent questions, still prefer to pick up the phone, and your system should reflect that.

Call tracking typically records when a call came in, where the caller found your number, for example your website, Google Business Profile or an ad, and whether it was answered. Missed calls can be flagged for a call back, which is often where practices lose new patients without realising. Your team can then add a short note to the enquiry record so follow-up is clear.

Calls involve personal information too, so we set up tracking in line with the Privacy Act and the Australian Privacy Principles, and if calls are recorded, callers need to be told. Recording rules also vary between states, so we’ll confirm the approach with you before anything is switched on. The aim is a complete view of enquiries, however patients choose to get in touch.

Yes. Your data stays yours, and we can export it in a standard format, such as a spreadsheet file, that you can open or import into another system.

We set up the CRM on the basis that the data belongs to your practice from the start. That way, leaving us doesn’t mean losing your enquiry history, contacts or consent records. Consent records matter in particular, because under the Spam Act 2003 you need to be able to show that people agreed to receive your marketing messages.

If you decide to move on, we’ll export the data, explain what each field means and help with the handover of access. Automations and templates may need to be rebuilt in a new system, as they don’t always transfer directly, but we can explain how they work so your next provider has a clear starting point. Your privacy obligations continue after the move, so any copies you no longer need should be deleted securely. We’ll talk through the process with you so nothing important is missed.

It depends on your size and existing systems. We recommend what fits, not a particular vendor, and we don’t push one product on every practice.

The questions we look at include how many enquiries you handle, how many people need access, which practice management and booking software you use, whether it can connect to a CRM and what your team is comfortable with. A sole practitioner with a modest flow of enquiries needs something very different from a multi-site practice with several reception staff and active marketing campaigns.

We also check the practical details that matter for health practices: where data is stored, how access is controlled, whether it supports consent tracking for email and SMS, and what it costs to run over time, not just to set up. Sometimes the right answer is a feature within software you already have. We’ll explain the options, the trade-offs and our recommendation in plain terms, and you make the final choice. If your needs grow, the setup should be able to grow with them.

An automated follow-up is a message the system sends when something happens, for example acknowledging an enquiry straight away or sending a reminder. Message content stays within the advertising rules and patient consent.

Each follow-up starts with a trigger, such as a form being submitted, a booking being made or an enquiry going unanswered. The system then sends a pre-approved email or SMS, or creates a task for your team. Common examples include an instant acknowledgement so patients know their enquiry arrived, an appointment reminder, a pre-visit message with practical information and an internal alert if an enquiry hasn’t been followed up.

Service messages, such as confirmations and reminders, can be treated differently from marketing. Marketing messages need consent under the Spam Act 2003, must identify your practice and must include a simple way to unsubscribe. Content is checked for accuracy, with no testimonials, outcome claims or inducements. We build and test each sequence with you, and you approve the wording before it goes live.

Yes. We track the source of calls, forms and bookings so you can see what is working. That means you can tell whether new patients are finding you through Google search, your Google Business Profile, ads, social media, referrals or word of mouth.

Source tracking usually combines a few methods: tracking codes on website forms and booking links, call tracking numbers for different channels, and a simple question your team asks when someone gets in touch. No single method captures everything, so combining them gives a more complete picture. We set it up so the source is recorded automatically wherever possible, which reduces the work for reception.

The real value comes from linking source to outcome. Knowing that a channel produces enquiries is useful, but knowing which enquiries become bookings tells you far more about where to put your time and budget. We include this in your reporting, in plain language, alongside what we recommend next. All tracking is set up in line with your privacy policy and the Australian Privacy Principles.

Usually a few weeks, depending on how many systems need to connect. A straightforward setup with one website form and a phone line moves faster than one that links several locations, booking software and multiple marketing channels.

Setup typically involves choosing the system, configuring enquiry stages, connecting forms and call tracking, building the first automated messages, importing existing contacts where consent is in place, and training your team. Some of the time depends on outside factors, such as how quickly your practice management or booking provider can enable an integration, and how long it takes to agree the wording of automated messages.

We confirm the steps and expected timing in your plan before we start, and keep you updated if anything changes. Most practices find it helps to launch with the essentials, such as capturing every enquiry and following it up reliably, then add further automation once the basics are working well. That way your team gets used to the system without too much change at once.