Requesting POLAR support

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Requesting POLAR support

The way practices request POLAR support in the Eastern Melbourne PHN (EMPHN) catchment has changed:

• Practices now no longer contact EMPHN to request POLAR technical support.
• Practices now contact the POLAR software supplier, Outcome Health, by raising a ticket using the Support Portal: https://support.polarexplorer.org.au or using the Email: servicedesk@outcomehealth.org.au.

When contacting Outcome Health by raising a ticket using the Support Portal: https://support.polarexplorer.org.au or using the Email: servicedesk@outcomehealth.org.au a representative from outcome Health will contact you to provide the following technical support:

• Login, data sync errors or system bugs issues
• Platform-specific troubleshooting
• System performance and functionality problems
• Installation or uninstallation of Hummingbird/POLAR requests

What to expect

Support is provided by Outcome Health between 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday (AEST), excluding public holidays.

Expect a response to your enquiry within 24 hours but due to the variability in support tickets, Outcome Health are unable to guarantee a resolution time.

When to contact the EMPHN Digital Health team

EMPHN will continue to:

• Provide on-site or remote training
• Provide POLAR educational resources (such as walkthroughs and how-to guides)
• Process Data and POLAR agreements between EMPHN and the Practice
• Guide practices on how to lodge an enquiry
• Encourage practices to utilise POLAR frequently to assist with quality improvement activities

EMPHN’S Support to General Practice

All EMPHN’s other support services to General Practices remain the same.

If you are unsure about the changes to POLAR support you can contact you Practice Facilitator of one of the Digital Health Facilitators who can provide further advice and helpful resources.

Why the process has changed

This change reflects Outcome Health’s new licensing terms, which are compulsory for all licensees.

Outcome Health will now monitor each POLAR practice’s connection status and contact your practice directly should an issue be detected. EMPHN will also monitor each POLAR practice’s connection within the EMPHN catchment and contact Outcome Health should a practice appear to have technical issues lasting longer than a week. EMPHN will also assist Outcome Health if required, to resolve problems.

EMPHN will receive a monthly report from Outcome Health and will monitor and evaluate the impacts of this new process. We will utilise this information to identify issues that may impact PIP QI submissions.

We appreciate your support as we transition to this new model.

These changes aim to streamline technical support through Outcome Health while allowing EMPHN to focus on training, guidance, usage and escalation where needed.