Changes to POLAR Support Requests for South Western Sydney Practices

Changes to POLAR Support Requests for South Western Sydney Practices

25 Nov 2025

Key Changes

  • Practices no longer contact SWSPHN for POLAR technical support.

  • All support requests should now be directed to the software provider, Outcome Health, via:

When to Contact Outcome Health

Support should be sought for issues including:

  • Login difficulties, data sync errors, or system bugs

  • Platform-specific troubleshooting

  • System performance or functionality issues

  • Installation or uninstallation of Hummingbird/POLAR

To submit a request through POLAR, select Contact Us in the Support menu.

What to Expect

Outcome Health provides support Monday to Friday, 9 am–5 pm (AEST), excluding public holidays.
Responses are typically within 24 hours, though resolution times may vary depending on ticket complexity.

When to Contact SWSPHN

While SWSPHN no longer handles technical issues, it continues to support practices in the following areas:

  • Creating or deleting user accounts

  • Correcting malformed UTF-8 data (item 6 errors)

  • Updating practice names (excluding ABN, server, CIS, or technical details)

  • Providing guidance on lodging support requests

  • Encouraging frequent use of POLAR for quality improvement activities

SWSPHN’s Practice Advancement Officers (PAOs), Practice Support Officers (PSOs), and Clinical and Quality Improvement (CQI) officers remain available to assist with these functions.

Why the Process Has Changed

The update aligns with Outcome Health’s new licensing terms, which are mandatory for all licensees. Outcome Health will monitor Hummingbird daily (or every second day) and will contact practices directly if issues arise.

SWSPHN will continue to support Outcome Health as needed but will no longer proactively monitor POLAR dashboards. Outcome Health will provide SWSPHN with a monthly report to help track any impacts on practice submissions for PIP QI.

These changes are designed to streamline technical support while allowing SWSPHN to focus on guidance, usage, and escalation support where needed.