Ear Works

Ear Works is the name of the office management software created by Ear Works Inc for hearing care providers and designed to support a paperless clinic.
Beginnings
Ear Works was originally build as an in-house office management software by Ear Works Inc for its sister company Chinook Hearing Clinic in Calgary, Alberta.
Based on the ideas of Markus Hilbert, Audiologist and owner of Chinook Hearing, the purpose of the software was to create a system that simplifies all paperwork and ultimately turns the clinic into a paperless operation.
After reaching a successful stage in the internal environment, Ear Works was turned into a commercial product as Ear Works 2.1.
Ear Works 2.1
In October 2005, during the Canadian Academy of Audiology conference in Toronto, Ontario, the first commercial version of Ear Works was made available. This was called Ear Works 2.1 and it introduced a new approach to management software for the industry.
The main innovation was the use of workflows creating software-enabled integration of work within the clinic. Unlike a classic data repository approach, the workflow approach allows the software to guide the user through the necessary steps required in the pending jobs. This decreases the duplication of work and reduces the clutter inherent in a paper-based system.
Ear Works 2.1 also introduced automated billing for all Canadian third parties covering hard-of-hearing patients. The Canadian third parties are very different in their approach, eligibility criteria, forms, requirements and billing codes making their billing a very time-consuming process. Ear Works reportedly reduced this task to about 15% of its original duration in Chinook Hearing (according to the clinic).
Ear Works 3.0
In October 2006 Ear Works Inc launched Ear Works 3.0 at CAA conference in Calgary, Alberta.
This version fixed bugs and inconsistencies, improved the interface and ease of use, and added the final set of features necessary for a paperless office.
In this version most paperwork found usually in a paper file can be either scanned in or generated electronically from the system. Ear Works 3 also came with Quickbooks integration to eliminate data-entry duplication of financial information.
Another addition in Ear Works 3 was the emphasis put on the management tools. Since now the information could be all in one place in electronic format, Ear Works 3 added a new layer by processing that information to signal the potential dysfunctions in the system.
The buying guide section of the March 2007 issue of Advance for Audiologists magazine shows Ear Works 3.0 as the software with the widest set of features on the market.
Ear Works 4.0
The next version called Ear Works 4.0 is expected to be released in early fall 2008, and is announced as another step forward in terms of interface improvement, work management and integration. As of May 2008 no beta version was available for testing.

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