Spectra SP1 Revision 3
Release date: 30 September 2025
Allow Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program for all Patients
From 1 November 2025, the Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program (BBPIP) will come into place. Practices participating in this optional initiative will receive an additional quarterly 12.5% incentive payment on every $1 of MBS benefit paid from eligible services, split 50/50 between the provider and the practice, if they:
- Bulk Bill all eligible services for all Medicare-eligible patients
- Advertise their participation in BBPIP
- Register to participate in MyMedicare (or already are registered with MyMedicare)
- Add the BBPIP program via the practice's Organisation record in HPOS.
The BBPIP payments will be split 50/50 between the practice and the provider and paid by the government into the bank accounts recorded in HPOS. Existing Bulk Billing incentive benefits will remain as a direct payment to the GP.
See the BBPIP Frequently Asked Questions article to learn more.
Enhancements to the Claiming Logic for Chronic Condition Management MBS Items
As part of the ongoing support for the Chronic Condition Management (CCM) changes introduced on 1 July 2025, Bp Premier has introduced new claiming logic to improve the handling of relevant MBS item numbers across the finalise visit and invoicing workflows.
MBS Items in the Finalise Visit screen
Bp Premier will now suggest appropriate CCM item numbers when a user Finalises a Visit involving the preparation or review of a GPCCMP. Bp Premier will determine the correct item based on provider type (VR or Non-VR) and visit type (face-to-face or telehealth):
Vocationally Registered (VR) GPs:
- Face-to-face: 965 (creation), 967 (review)
- Telehealth (video): 92029 (creation), 92030 (review).
Non-Vocationally Registered (Non-VR) GPs:
- Face-to-face: 392 (creation), 393 (review)
- Telehealth (video): 92060 (creation), 92061 (review).
Co-Claiming Logic
Bp Premier will now enforce co-claiming restrictions when CCM items are added during the finalise visit or invoicing workflows. These restrictions reflect current Medicare billing rules and are supported by system prompts where applicable. The following co-claiming rules are applied:
- 965 / 392 cannot be billed with any other attendance item number.
- 967/393 cannot be billed within a 3-month period unless there are extenuating circumstances.
- 92029/92060 (telehealth creation) cannot be billed with any other attendance item number.
- 92030/92061 (telehealth review) cannot be billed within a 3-month period unless there are extenuating circumstances.
See Chronic Condition Management Claiming Logic for more information.
Email items from Correspondence In as a PDF from the patient record
Items of Correspondence can be emailed directly to patients as a PDF file attachment, secured with a PIN, from the Correspondence In screen within the Patient Record.
The document and image file formats listed below can be emailed directly from Patient Record > Correspondence In:
- Documents: PDF, RTF, DOC, DOCX, HTML and TXT.
- Images: JPG , JPEG, TIF, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF and MTIF.
An Action will be created in Today's notes to show that the Email has been sent, and a Contact Note will be generated for all items of Correspondence sent via Email.
See Email Correspondence In from the Patient Record for more information.
Enhancements to Electronic Messaging Consent
When a user selects a document from Correspondence In or Investigations and clicks the Email copy to patient button, Bp Premier now performs an automatic check against the patient’s Bp Comms Consent Settings.
Users will be alerted in the following scenarios:
- If the patient has opted out of receiving electronic messages, Bp Premier will display a message advising: The patient has chosen to opt out of receiving any electronic messages.
- If the patient has not opted out but has no consent options selected under Clinical Communication (e.g. Results, Clinical Messages), Bp Premier will display the following message: The ability to Send Clinical Communication messages must be enabled to perform this action.
These consent checks occur automatically when attempting to email a document and are designed to ensure that practices are alerted to missing or incomplete consent settings before sending electronic communications.
See Opt out of electronic communication for more information.
Improvements to Setup Third Party Integrations
All Third Party Integrations and Partners will be making changes to the way they connect to your Bp Premier database, using Halo Connect, by 31st December, 2025. These enhancements are designed to strengthen data security, improve transparency, and make it easier for your practice to control access to your data.
Standalone Integration Management Window
The Setup Third Party Integrations window has been transitioned to a standalone utility. This change allows practices to manage integrations with third-party integrations more efficiently and with greater visibility.
Introduction of Secure Pairing Codes for Bp Partners
To support secure data access, most third-party integrations will now require a Pairing Code to be enabled. When a Bp Partner requires a pairing code, a prompt will appear, allowing a secure code to be generated. Pairing codes are:
- Automatically generated in a secure format
- Are valid for 7 days from the time they are generated.
- Visible and manageable through the Setup Third-Party Integrations screen.
Existing integrations that do not require pairing codes will continue to function without interruption.
Improved Integration Controls
The Setup third party integrations screen now includes enhanced prompts and safeguards when enabling or disabling partners:
- Confirmation prompts are displayed before applying changes
- Disabling a partner immediately revokes access and updates system permissions
- Existing pairing codes can be manually closed or regenerated when required.
These updates provide practices with improved visibility and tighter control over third-party data access.
See Setup third-party integrations for more information.
See WorkCover QLD electronic invoicing for more information.
See Create and Send Electronic Prescriptions for more information.
Spectra SP1 Revision 2
Release date: 14 August 2025
This release reflects our ongoing commitment to enhancing stability, resilience, and optimisation across Bp Premier, with particular attention to supporting the increasingly complex on-premise operating environments used by our customers.
Refer to the Technical Bulletin for more information on network disconnections.
Antenatal Indicator added to the Add/Edit Immunisation screen
From 24 October 2025, new rules for the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) will apply. The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing is introducing an Antenatal field to:
- Report more easily and accurately if a patient is pregnant at the time a vaccine is administered
- Improve the collection of antenatal data
- Support monitoring of immunisation coverage.
Bp Premier version Spectra SP1 Revision 2 includes programmatic changes to comply with the new Antenatal reporting requirements for AIR vaccination encounters. An Antenatal check box has been added to the Add/Edit Immunisation screen with the following logic:
- Automatically selected if the patient is recorded as pregnant and aged 10 to 65
- A warning will display if selected manually outside of this age range.
Immunisations with a Vaccine Type of Antenatal that were recorded before installing Spectra SP1 Revision 2 will now display in the form of a check box labelled 'Antenatal' when being edited.
To continue interacting with the AIR from within Bp Premier, and ensure compliance with the new mandatory reporting requirements, practices must update to Spectra SP1 Revision 2 before 24 October 2025. After this date, practices that have not upgraded will receive an error when uploading to or viewing the AIR.
See Antenatal Indicator added to the Add/Edit Immunisation screen for more information.
Updates to Route of Administration in the Add/Edit Immunisation
The options for Route of Administration in the Add/Edit Immunisation screen have been updated to display the full text rather than the abbreviations.
Available options for Route of Administration:
- Intramuscular
- Subcutaneous
- Oral
- Intradermal.
Changing and correcting Vaccine Codes in an updated Encounter Request
Services Australia has required Best Practice Software to add functionality which allows the changing and correcting of Vaccine Codes in an Updated Encounter Request.
When editing a vaccination encounter and selecting a new vaccine, if you have ticked Update and send to AIR, clicking Save will record the change in the Bp Premier data, an Action will be recorded in Today's notes showing the vaccine name change, and an updated encounter request will be sent to AIR with the revised details.
Spectra SP1 Revision 1
Release date: 28 May 2025
Date of Birth requirements on all Prescriptions in the ACT
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has amended the Medicines, Poisons, and Therapeutic Goods Act 2008 to mandate that the patient's Date of Birth appear on all prescriptions, including those that are printed. These amendments take effect on 13 June 2025.
In Spectra SP1 Revision 1, when a prescriber logs into a Location with a Postcode in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), the patient's Date of Birth will be displayed on all Prescriptions, including those that are printed.
See Date of Birth requirements on all Prescriptions in the ACT for more information.
Spectra SP1
Release date: 25 March 2025
Enhancements to include Self-collection options for Cervical Screening
Cervical screening participants now have the choice to self-collect their own Cervical Screening Test sample. Enhancements have been implemented to accommodate the recording of results from tests where the patient themselves collected sample .
In Spectra SP1, the Cervical Screening Results screen has been enhanced to include a new check box, Self-collection, allowing clinicians to specify whether the patient has collected the sample themselves. A new option, Self-collected by patient, has been added to the Performed by field.
The recommended process for recording Self-collection in the Cervical Screening Results screen is outlined below:
- When the sample is Self-collected without the assistance of a Clinician, set the Performed by field to Self-collected by the patient and tick the Self-collection check box.
- When the sample is Self-collected with the Clinician's assistance, update the value in Performed by to the Clinician and tick the Self-collection check box.
See Record cervical screening results for more information.
Enhancements to Database Searches for Cervical Screening
Enhancements have been made to the Database Search for Cervical Screening. The search criteria for Last Screening has been updated to include a single drop-down menu, Last Screening Test Over:, which allows searches for results from 1 year to 10 years ago.
The search criteria for additional parameters have been updated to the following:
- HPV Test Only has been updated to HPV test/CST
- When selecting HPV test/CST, the option for Cytology results will be replaced with LBC Results
- A new search criterion, Risk Category, has been added
- The search criteria for Performed By has been updated to include Self-collected by patient.
See Search for Cervical Screening Results for more information.
Email eScript tokens directly to the patient’s preferred pharmacy
Enhancements have been made to allow clinicians to send eScript tokens directly to the email address of the patient's preferred pharmacy.
If a patient consents to have their eScript token sent directly to their preferred pharmacy, the clinician can select Email (Pharmacy) from the Token menu in Current Rx. A new window, Send to Pharmacy, will appear, requiring the clinician to confirm that they have obtained consent from the patient for the eScript token to be sent to their preferred pharmacy. The clinician can manually enter the pharmacy email address or select a pharmacy contact with an email address on record.
eScript tokens sent via Email (Pharmacy) will include the patient's consent as an Action in Today's Notes. The action will detail the eScript delivery address (email address) and the corresponding drug and dosage information.
A contact note will be recorded for each eScript sent via SMS (default), SMS (Other), App, Email (default), Email (other), or Email (Pharmacy).
See Create and Send Electronic Prescriptions for more information.
Email Investigation Reports as PDF from the Patient Record
Investigation Reports can be emailed directly to patients as a PDF file attachment, secured with a PIN, from the Investigation Reports screen within the Patient Record.
The document and image file formats listed below can be emailed directly from Patient Record > Investigation Reports:
- Documents: PDF, RTF, DOC, DOCX and TXT.
- Images: JPG , JPEG, TIF, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIFF and MTIF.
An Action will be created in Today's notes to show that the Email has been sent, and a Contact Note will be generated for all Investigation Reports sent via Email.
IMPORTANT To email Investigation Reports from the Patient Record in Spectra SP1, email accounts must have TLS encryption enabled.
See Send emails from the Patient Record for more information.
AIR Vaccination Encounter Reporting Changes
Reporting accurate vaccination information to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) allows the register to contain a complete and reliable dataset for monitoring immunisation coverage and administration. The Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) will establish new reporting requirements on 24 October 2025 to improve the data currently held.
Updates to Vaccine Type Reporting effective from 24 October 2025
The Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) is introducing changes to simplify the Vaccine Type field. In Spectra SP1, the following options will be available:
- NIP/Commonwealth
- Antenatal
- Other
The options for Private and State Program have both been replaced by the new option 'Other'. Where you previously would have selected the Private or State Program option, you will now select 'Other'.
See Record Immunisations and Send to AIR for more information.
Spectra
Release date: 15 October 2024
Display unactioned reports in the patient record
Bp Premier version Spectra offers enhanced visibility for unactioned/outstanding results that have not been marked as given to the patient. We've included new User Preferences that, when enabled, ensure that unactioned reports are prominently shown in the Notifications section of the patient record and appear in a popup when opening and closing the patient record.
To enable the display of Unactioned reports in the patient record, go to Setup > Preferences > Clinical and tick the following user preferences:
- Display Unactioned report list in patient record
- Popup Unactioned report list when closing the patient record
See Display unactioned reports in the patient record for more information.
Enhancements to ePrescribing for Medicinal Cannabis
When ePrescribing was introduced in Bp Premier, a thorough Product check was conducted to analyse the ingredients of prescribed drugs. Where drugs with the same ingredients were identified, they were unable to be sent via eScript on the same day.
In Spectra, the same ingredient ePrescribing logic for medicinal cannabis drugs has been improved. When a provider sends an eScript for a medicinal cannabis drug that contains the same ingredient as another prescribed on the same day, Bp Premier will check the product name rather than the ingredients.
See ePrescribing for Medicinal Cannabis for more information.
Filter incoming reports based on date, by patient name, addressee, and practice location
We have added new filtering options to make it easier for you to manage the Incoming Reports screen. Now, you can filter Incoming Reports by patient name, date, addressee, and practice location.
See View Incoming Reports for more information.
Enhancements to recording Observations in Today's notes
Where Primary Observations and Multiple Observations are recorded during the same visit, they will be documented in Today's notes along with the corresponding timestamps.
See Record Primary and Multiple Observations for more information.
Enhancements for recording Blood Pressure and Pulse in the patient record
Bp Premier version Spectra offers enhanced functionality for recording Blood Pressure and Pulse in the following areas of the patient record, ensuring more accurate measurements:
- Clinical > Blood Pressure
- Observations > Add
- Today’s Notes > History & Examination > General
When recording Blood Pressure, providers can specify the arm from which the blood pressure measurement was obtained by ticking the Left or Right arm check boxes.
When recording Pulse, providers are offered the opportunity to specify the patient’s pulse rate when sitting, standing or lying down.
See Record Blood Pressure for more information.
Australian Rheumatology Association resources added to Patient Education materials
Patient Education material has been updated to include resources from the Australian Rheumatology Association. To access patient education material, go to View > Patient Education material in the patient record.
NOTE Patient education materials for the Australian Rheumatology Association will be included in a future data update.
See Patient Education material for more information.
Enhancements to Lyrebird Scribe
A new user preference, Lyrebird transcription save to visit notes position, has been added to Setup > Preferences > Clinical to allow clinicians to save Lyrebird transcribed clinical notes to the top or bottom of Today's Notes.
See Setting User Preferences for more information.
Enhancements to Accommodation statuses in Family and Social History
In the July 2024 Data Update, we introduced new options for recording Permanent, Respite, and Locum Aged Care Home Accommodation statuses within Family & Social History to support the MyMedicare General Practice in Aged Care Incentive.
In Bp Premier version Spectra, the accommodation statuses for Permanent, Respite, and Locum Aged Care Home have been extended to Health Summaries, Enhanced Primary Care documentation, and the Word Processor.
Information correct at time of publishing (1 August 2025).
AU 