Alex O’Neill tells us all about the new Icomply Nextgen compliance software by Agilio and how it can help you prioritise important tasks.
What has led Agilio Software to the decision to advance the existing Icomply system?
Icomply has been evolving, together with the dental profession, for over 40 years and keeping on top of the needs of dental practices has been at the forefront of everything we do. The last significant update to Icomply came in 2015 following the implementation of a new set of CQC regulations.
At the time, we reflected on the requirements set out by the governing body. We also updated our software to help our members understand the fundamental standards and pass the new inspection.
It was a great success, with Icomply members having a 98% pass rate at the time when one in five practices (20%) were failing the new inspection.
We recognised that the profession and its needs have changed and progressed over the last few years due to many factors including the COVID-19 pandemic. Managers are more likely to understand how to create the evidence required by inspectors. Thus needing less handholding by our software.
Having advanced our software to meet the challenges of 2015, we know now is the time to evolve further. This is so it can once again meet the current needs of dental practices.
Can you tell us how Icomply Nextgen is different from the original software?
The priority rating of activities is the most significant change you will experience when using the improved Icomply Nextgen. We have reviewed our list of activities. Those that would not be required for passing a CQC/HIW inspection have been reclassified as Operational rather than Compliance.
This is now giving our members a choice to decide whether they want to run their HR compliance and best practice management through Icomply or not. Any activities that are mandatory for passing the CQC/HIW inspection will now be assigned with suggested low, medium, or high priority levels, depending on their importance. We believe that this will be a game changer for dental practices preparing their themselves for CQC/HIW inspection.
What did the development process look like?
When we decided that it was the time to take Icomply to the next level, we knew that we wanted to develop the product to suit those who actually use it on daily basis, so it would truly answer their needs and support them to overcome any struggles they have with their dental compliance.
This meant a significant investment of resources and time into the development process. For example a sizeable consumer survey, focus groups, analysis of our members’ feedback, and continuous conversations with CQC. These identify what our members wanted and what the profession needed.
Can you please tell us more about the prioritisation process and how is it decided?
We’ve utilised our unique combination of industry expertise with our many years of experience. This has developed the Icomply priority ranking system that we believe will make a huge difference in the daily running of a dental practice.
Ultimately, the categories and priorities are decided by our senior team. They have helped hundreds of practices through their assessments and have been at the forefront of inspection-based research for years.
This knowledge and experience, along with finely tuned inspection and horizon scanning research processes, enables the team to assess the information gained from multiple sources to reach collaborative decisions that will help dental practices in their compliance.
How often are the categories and priorities reviewed?
Advancing Icomply Nextgen was just the beginning of our investment, now comes the second phase which is to maintain the relevance and accuracy of our content.
To ensure that we are always staying on top of the latest guidance and regulations, we have put processes in place. These continuously assess categories and priorities, with major reviews being performed on regular basis.
Does this mean that practices only need to focus on the ‘High’ priority activities and can ignore the others?
No, the priority rating is there to help practices that are short on time to determine priorities. They are indicative only and all compliance activities should be considered as mandatory. The priority rating given to an activity is based on our ongoing research into practice inspections.
It reflects how likely it is that an inspector will look at a particular area of compliance when assessing a practice. It also reflects the potential impact of being non-compliant in a particular area.
Is Icomply Nextgen suitable for individual practices as well as larger dental organisations?
From the regulatory perspective, the same rules apply to you whether you are an individual practice or a large group of practices. However, we do have some fantastic features that you can utilise depending on the size of your business. For example, some of our features like the group documents and activities, group folders, and a very popular board pack ready reporting, were designed to streamline compliance management across a large dental group.
On the other hand, if you are a small practice, you’re likely to benefit from our HR compliance section. Overall, Icomply Nextgen is an exceptionally agile system. It can be easily set up to support your organisation whether it is small or large.
Do you think that it will have a significant impact on the readiness of dental practices for CQC/HIW inspections and how so?
Absolutely! We recognise that the last couple of years have been very challenging for the profession. It is evident that practices across the country are overwhelmed with their high workloads. Unfortunately, this often means that compliance does drop down the to-do list. When a certain compliance procedure is crucial, we don’t want to find ourselves in the same situation as a couple of years ago.
Icomply Nextgen was developed to solve this conundrum by maximising efficiencies in a short period of time. In other words, imagine that you are a practice manager. You have only an hour a week available to stay on top of your CQC compliance.
Icomply Nextgen will help you to make the most of that time. It will also help you prioritise important tasks that will support you in passing any unexpected CQC inspections.
What would you say are the key features that helped Icomply to stand out on the market? How did it become the leader in the dental compliance management?
Icomply Nextgen is the result of months of hard work by our development team, who are experts in dental compliance, practice management, and technology. Icomply Nextgen is the first compliance software with suggested priorities for compliance activities.
On top of that, it is filled with great features. For example group functionalities, document reading, and much more to become a perfect compliance partner for any dental organisation.
I believe that we are the only provider in the market with the unique combination of extensive knowledge, years of experience, passion for innovation, and industrial strength. This allows us to maintain the quality of our products. We can also continue to invest to always meet the evolving needs of dental practices.
What are the next steps for Icomply Nextgen and Agilio Software?
We have used the last 40 years to learn, grow, and expand our business. This is so we can support dental practices in remaining resilient in our ever-changing industry. Our vision is to become the go-to operational software partner for dental practices across the UK. We believe we can achieve that through our continuous investment in innovation, expertise, and development.
To find out more visit www.agiliosoftware.com.
