Baby Steps to Better Health: PatientNotes Helps Psychologists Support New Moms

Frances Bilbao, the founder and director of Mums Matter Psychology in Melbourne, is on a mission to make mental health support accessible and affordable for all women during the perinatal period.

Her clinic, which started in 2015, offers tailored therapy and resources to promote positive and joyful parent-child relationships.

“We have about 70 clinicians in the team spread across Australia, so everybody's working remotely. Many of those team members have now fully taken on board PatientNotes and are utilising it for all their client sessions.”

Challenging patient records

One of the biggest challenges of running a bulk billing practice comes with the need for great efficiency to provide quality care without burdening the clients with costs.

This is where PatientNotes, an AI-powered app, has become a game changer for Frances and her team.

Before using PatientNotes, the process of managing patient records was incredibly time-consuming. Practitioners would scribble notes during sessions and then spend extra time typing them into practice management software.

“On average, I’d take about 15 minutes or more to write my notes after a session. This time added up quite a lot throughout the day, cutting into time that could be spent with more clients or supporting my team,” Frances says.

Using PatientNotes means the process has been dramatically streamlined. The app records sessions and transcribes them into formal patient notes, reducing the time needed for documentation to just one to two minutes per session.

“PatientNotes has definitely changed my life. It saves me a lot of time, which I can then redirect to other value-add activities, such as having more client sessions.”

AI Makes Working For This Practice More Appealing

The adoption of PatientNotes has become a valuable recruitment tool. “People are often hesitant to work in bulk billing practices due to the extensive unpaid time spent on notes, the money's just not enough to compensate for the work that goes in.”

“The biggest impact from a business perspective is being able to use that as a selling point for recruitment. If you can say actually you literally can just do your session and complete your notes in one or two minutes at the end of the session, that's a complete game changer, effectively saying there's no time outside of your session, you don’t have to spend any more time on that.”

“In a contractor model, you get paid by the session so any additional time outside of that is effectively unpaid or takes down their hourly rate if you factor in that time that they're spending on their notes. So the more we can remove that extra time spent, absolutely it’s much better for recruitment. It makes it a lot more attractive when I'm trying to recruit for people to join the practice.”

The Growth of Mums Matter Psychology

Frances’s plan to establish Mums Matter Psychology began during her time working in public mental health. She saw a significant gap in services for women who weren’t seriously unwell but still needed support.

“The funding for a successful perinatal mental health program I helped establish was dismantled, leaving a huge gap for women who couldn’t afford private services. This motivated me to create a practice that could offer bulk-billed services, making mental health care accessible to those who needed it most,” Frances says.

Mums Matter Psychology partners with local council maternal and child health centres and maternity hospitals to provide services from family-friendly locations and through telehealth, so that women can access support, no matter their circumstances.

“Our mission is to provide mental health support for anyone who needs it during this critical time of life. With telehealth, we’ve been able to expand our services nationally,” Frances says.

“Our aim is to make our services as accessible as possible, which is why we offer telehealth and bulk billing. It's about removing barriers so that every mother, regardless of her financial situation, can get the help she needs. Seeing the positive changes in our clients, knowing we've made a difference in their lives, is incredibly rewarding.”

“PatientNotes works seamlessly and has been perfect for our telehealth sessions. Very easy, just open the two windows and off it goes.”

“It's a big part of being able to be present and just actually engaged with the client as opposed to looking down, taking my notes at the same time. Or even worse, having those dual screens where someone's typing on the side. I think clients really pick up on that and they feel that that's a time in the session where it's disconnected or the clinician's not really listening.”

A Better Experience for Clients

One of the most significant benefits of PatientNotes is the impact on clients as Frances is able to be fully present and engaged with them.

“Having PatientNotes provides a better attuned clinical experience. Just having the ability to record and transcribe sessions means that no detail is missed, and clinicians can provide accurate notes without distraction.”

“Clients really pick up on when a clinician is distracted. With PatientNotes, we don’t have to worry about taking notes during the session, which means we can be fully attuned to our clients' needs.”

Frances has shared a touching story about the feedback she receives from clients.

“We have a system where I check in with all clients after they’ve had three sessions with their clinician and invite feedback. Some of the responses we get are just incredible. Many clients have said they feel they wouldn’t be here today without our support. Our aim is to ensure people don’t become so low they feel like taking their own life or, in some cases, even the lives of their children is the only way out for them. I believe we have been instrumental in preventing suicide in many of our clients’ cases.”

Organisational Templates for Clinical Notes, Medical Letters and Reports

As a clinic owner, Frances leads the way with templates and prompts at an organisational level her team can use. “I tested it all first and kind of got the prompts working as I saw would produce a good clinical note, making sure the level of detail that we need and the key bits of information are included in there.”

“Once I was happy with that, I shared that with the team for them to implement, but have always been really encouraging of them adapting that to what suits them. I guess that's the good thing about PatientNotes, that it doesn't have to just be one standard format, but everybody can still write their notes in the way that they like to write them.”

“They get a great headstart by PatientNotes writing the first draft and then they can go in and adjust that as they need. I certainly encourage people to continue to adjust the prompts based on what they want in their notes.”

“I continue to share my adjustments. As I adjust mine, I'll always send it out to them and say, ‘Hey, I found that this extra thing worked really well’. At the moment, they're all kind of adjusting it just for themselves to get it to where they want it to be.

A harmonious work/life balance

For Frances, another major change brought about by PatientNotes is the improvement in work-life balance.

“Previously, I’d go home with hours of notes to complete, but now I can finish my notes within minutes after each session. Being efficient is crucial for a bulk billing practice like Mums Matter Psychology, where it’s important to maximise clinical time without compromising care quality.”

As Mums Matter Psychology continues to grow and expand its services, the integration of PatientNotes is set to play a big role in maintaining high standards of care.

“It’s been a game changer for us, and I believe it can be for many other practitioners as well. It allows us to focus on what truly matters – providing the best possible support and care for our clients, so they can experience the joy and fulfillment of motherhood.”

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