Customer stories


Next Generation Fertility

REGULATORY REPORTING MADE EASY FOR NEXT GENERATION FERTILITY

Business Challenge

Next Generation Fertility Clinic is a fully accredited IVF clinic that began operating in 2005. The clinic aims to give couples the best chance of achieving pregnancy in an environment that supports them, their families and their future. Next Generation Fertility has 8 IVF locations across Sydney and the ACT and also offers monitoring, nursing, andrological and counselling services.

The necessary process of registering, tracking and billing hundreds of clients every day was a time consuming and costly experience for Next Generation Fertility. As they became busier and larger over time, the company quickly realised that reducing administration costs and improving efficiency was essential to ensure optimal and continual business growth.

Administration aspects of the business that were becoming unnecessarily time consuming included patient registration, updating clinical files, tracking patient records, reminders, patient correspondence and billing. The company also has a responsibility to accurately log statistics, embryos, pathology and other essential and confidential information. The need to effectively maintain and efficiently manage this data and improve administrative efficiency prompted Next Generation Fertility Clinic to investigate their data-management options.

Successful Solution

Next Generation Fertility was looking for a database that could work across every facet of their business. The company wanted a Mac compatible system that would be cost effective and also not take too long to develop. Artie Shahho, Chief Software Architect at Next Generation Fertility, commented, “We were looking for a software package that could be rapidly developed, that was stable, highly customisable without the skills of a PHD student.” With that in mind, the company compared various data management systems including SQL Scenario, Access, Open Source Solutions and FileMaker.

FileMaker was chosen as the best fit for the business, because it is Mac and PC compatible plus the reliability and rapid-development opportunities stood-out from the rest. Shahho commented, “FileMaker was the only program that could guarantee every facet of our business would be looked after. We can write new functions very quickly and make updates which continually improve our business efficiency. It’s also web-enabled, so we can use our data via the web, which is great. The best feature would have to be that I can add very complex features in a short amount of time and while people are working live!”

FileMaker Pro also proved very easy to implement and Next Generation Fertility staff were able to do it themselves, without assistance from a third party software developer. The company were impressed by the versatility of the program and the fact that it’s only as complex as the user wants it to be. Shahho explained, “FileMaker Pro is just one of those beautiful products where you can develop it in a very simplistic form but you can also build it to handle complex process and functions. To help us build the best solution for our business needs we also relied on a lot of the online examples and resources that FileMaker provides. We were able to read and experiment to make our database tighter and more compatible”.

Customer Benefits

“Previously complex administration procedures now take just one click! We don’t need any other software– FileMaker takes care of everything” said Shahho.

Some of the important benefits Next Generation Fertility have seen using FileMaker include:

  • Significant improvements in efficiency and productivity in staff daily functions – 20 percent reduction in staff time spent on administration. What used to take hours now is a one click process
  • Reduced time burden of Medicare reporting – Next Generation Fertility reports daily to Medicare with a single click and the monthly statement report that used to take a staff member one whole day to prepare now takes 10 minutes
  • Streamlined computer processes – FileMaker removes the need for any other software, even a Word Processor program is no longer used
  • Improved client relationships – FileMaker allows Next Generation Fertility to provide clients with the information they want, when they want it, such as patient histories, billing and treatment recommendations

    Next Generation Fertility has found that FileMaker Pro has made a very positive difference to their staff performance. Shahho explained, “We’ve incorporated a lot of functions that were previously done on paper into FileMaker and this has saved around 20% of our staff’s time. We have to produce Medicare reports daily and statement bills every month, with FileMaker we can generate these reports with one click – which is the kind of thing that used to take someone a whole day to do.”

    Shahho also commented, “Our staff haven’t needed additional training to use FileMaker, it is so self-explanatory, that even new staff who have recently joined are up and running in no time”. The staff also benefit from the user-friendly interface, with Shahho noting, “The beauty of it is that FileMaker has a very easy interface. The ability to import graphics also humanises it and makes it very user-friendly. We have even customised the front menu screen to reflect annual events and celebrations!”

    “Using FileMaker Pro 9, we’ve seen improvements in staff efficiency, a reduction in overall administration and improved client relationships. Now we can provide what people want, when they want.”

    Artie Shahho, Chief Software Architect, Next Generation Fertility



    Contact information

    Contact Info for Customer:

    Next Generation Fertility
    +61 2 9890 9022
    info@nextgenfertility.com.au
    http://www.nextgenfertility.com.au/


    Filemaker Contact:

    Colleen Elcham
    Marketing Coordinator, Asia Pacific
    FileMaker Inc.
    +61 2 9641 8084
    colleen_elcham@filemaker.com
    http://www.filemaker.com.au


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