Choosing electronic medical record software for community health is unlike choosing an EMR for a GP clinic or a hospital. Your teams are multidisciplinary, your clients are complex and a lot of your work happens outside the building. This skimmable, criteria-led checklist ranks the ten capabilities that matter most when community health centres are running an EMR selection – and shows how the MasterCare Suite by Global Health stacks up against each.
1. Multidisciplinary care team documentation
Why it matters: Community health teams routinely span nurses, GPs, allied health, mental health clinicians, peer workers and support staff – often across multiple sites. The EMR must let everyone contribute to one client record without stepping on each other or seeing what they shouldn’t.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
- A single shared client record with role-based access controls
- Configurable team and program structures (by site, service line, funding stream)
- Granular permissions for view, edit and sign-off
- Audit trail showing who did what and when
- Concurrent multi-user editing without locking the record
MasterCare+ provides one shared client record with role-based permissions by role, location and program. Configurable teams and multi-site capability support dispersed services, with comprehensive audit trails on every action.
2. Complex care plan management
Why it matters: Clients in community health frequently live with chronic conditions, co-morbidities or social complexities. Care plans need to capture multiple goals, validated outcome measures, multi-disciplinary inputs and review cycles.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
- Configurable care plan templates by program
- Built-in or importable validated outcome measures
- Goal tracking with review dates and reminders
- Ability to share the care plan securely with the client
- Version history and case-closure workflows
MasterCare supports collaboratively developed care plans with standardised outcome measures. Plans can be shared securely with clients through the Lifecard app, with case-closure workflows and referral-on templates for continuity of care.
3. Community outreach and home visit support
Why it matters: A significant share of community health work happens away from the clinic – in the client’s home, in a community hub or in the car between visits. The EMR has to travel with the clinician.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
- Mobile-responsive interface for tablet and smartphone
- Quick-entry encounter notes and observations
- Location and travel-time capture
- Same security posture on mobile as on desktop
MasterCare is a web-based SaaS solution available on any device with an internet connection. Outreach clinicians can log encounters, progress notes and observations on the road, with the same audit and security controls as on desktop.
4. Comprehensive referral and waitlist management
Why it matters: Community health services receive referrals from GPs, hospitals, internal teams and self-referrals. Without a structured workflow, intake is the bottleneck that hides waitlists and risks duplicate care.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
- Inbound electronic referrals from GP and hospital systems
- Self-referral and digital intake forms
- Triage and KPI tracking across referral status
- Waitlists configurable by program, service type and funding stream
- Referral-on templates for handover to external services
MasterCare integrates with ReferralNet for secure inbound referrals from Best Practice, MedicalDirector and hospital systems. Self-referrals flow in via the HotHealth Digital Front Door and pre-populate the client record. Waitlists are configurable by program, service type, funding stream or location.
5. Self-service configurable forms and templates
Why it matters: Programs change, datasets evolve, and new assessments appear constantly in community health. If every change requires a vendor change request, your service will always be behind.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
- Drag-and-drop or low-code form builder
- Library of standard intake, assessment, and consent templates
- Configurable letters (referral acknowledgements, discharge summaries, funding correspondence)
- Ability to deploy new forms without a software release
- Pre-population of repeating client data
MasterCare’s configurable forms engine lets service teams build, edit and deploy intake forms, assessments, risk screens, surveys and consent templates without vendor intervention. Standardised letter templates ensure consistent client-facing communication and client-entered data pre-populates into the record.
6. Government and funder reporting out of the box
Why it matters: Community health funding is tied to multiple datasets, often submitted on different cycles to different bodies. Manual extraction is slow, error-prone and a compliance risk.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
- Native support for the datasets you report against
- Real-time dashboards for waitlists, outcomes, and workforce utilisation
- Configurable analytics so managers can build their own reports
- Audit-ready data lineage
- Open APIs for additional reporting integrations
MasterCare supports reporting out of the box, with real-time dashboards and configurable analytics for service managers. The platform is integration-ready for additional reporting formats.
7. Interoperability with the wider health ecosystem
Why it matters: Community health sits between a variety of care providers. Closed systems create rework, missed information and duplicate data entry.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
- HL7 and FHIR support
- A documented, modern API surface
- Secure clinical messaging
- My Health Record (MHR) uploads
- Integration patterns for finance, payroll and rostering
MasterCare is built on a composable SaaS architecture with FHIR and HL7 messaging and a rich suite of APIs. ReferralNet secure messaging is built in for encrypted exchange of clinical documents and the platform supports My Health Record uploads.
8. Client engagement and digital front door
Why it matters: Clients increasingly expect to book, complete forms, attend telehealth and view their care plan from their phone. Engagement tools also reduce no-shows and admin load on reception.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
- Online appointment booking
- Telehealth video consultations
- Online smart forms with pre-population
- SMS and email reminders
- A client portal or app for personal health record access
MasterCare’s Digital Front Door (HotHealth), delivers online booking, telehealth, secure forms and online payments. The Lifecard app gives clients a personal health record where they can view care plans, monitor observations and manage details for family members or dependents.
9. Security, privacy and audit
Why it matters: Community health records contain highly sensitive information including mental health, AOD, family violence and child safety. A breach is both an ethical failure and a regulatory event.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
- ISO 27001 alignment
- End-to-end encryption at rest and in transit
- Comprehensive, tamper-evident audit logs
- Role-based access, MFA and SSO support
MasterCare is ISO 27001 compliant, with comprehensive audit trails for all activity. Role-based access and granular permissions help enforce the principle of least privilege across multi-program services.
10. Scalability across multiple sites, programs and funding streams
Why it matters: Most community health organisations don’t run a single program – they juggle multiple funding streams often across multiple sites, teams and outreach simultaneously. The EMR has to model this complexity, not flatten it.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
- Configurable program and funding stream structures
- Service episodes aligned to program datasets
- Group activity and outreach visit recording
- Multi-site rostering and scheduling
- A clear product roadmap aligned to sector reform
MasterCare is in use across mental health, AOD and multidisciplinary community services nationally, including PHNs, headspace centres and community health organisations. Service episodes align to program datasets such as PMHC MDS, with group activity recording, multi-site rostering and a roadmap aligned to sector reforms.
Bringing it together
A community health EMR has to do three things at once: support multidisciplinary care team documentation, manage complex care plan management across changing programs and travel with your team for community outreach and home visit support. The shortlist of vendors that can credibly do all three on the same record is short – and MasterCare is built for exactly this brief.
Next steps
- Map this checklist onto your current EMR – where are the gaps?
- Pick your top three must-haves and weight them heavier in your scorecard.
- Book a tailored MasterCare walkthrough focused on your program mix.
