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How to Set Up a New Practitioner File
How to Set Up a New Practitioner File
Steven avatar
Written by Steven
Updated over a week ago

This article covers:

  • Creating a Practitioner File

  • Creating a User Login

  • Adding Columns to the Appointment Book

  • Practitioner Availability & Rules

  • Adding Appointment Type Intervals

  • Advanced setup for: HICAPS, Medicare/DVA Online, Clinical Notes and Patient Booking Gateway

Creating a Practitioner File

To create a new practitioner, load the Practitioners menu from either the toolbar

or by going to File > Practitioners.

Click New to create a practitioner.



A basic practitioner file should include the following basic details:

  • Name

  • Short Description

  • Practice Group

  • Provider Number



The Title (e.g. ‘Physiotherapist’), Qualifications, Location, Email and Default Email Templates can be entered as required.

The Practice Group selection determines which header and banking details are used when billing for this practitioner.



The practitioner’s provider numbers are entered on the Provider Numbers tab. This area also allows you to enter Override Provider Numbers to be used depending on the patient's Health Fund or Fee Category.

Default Items allows you to set the default item code and new patient item code per Fee Category for this practitioner.



With these details entered, click Close to save your new practitioner file.

Creating a User Login

All users, including practitioners with access to Front Desk, will require their own Front Desk username and password. To create a new user, login with the Admin account, select System > Security and click Add on the right.



Add a username and password. Note that users can change their own passwords when logged in by selecting System > Change Password.

Practitioner user logins should also be linked to their Practitioner File by enabling User is a Practitioner and selecting the practitioner.



After creating a user login for the practitioner, review the access permissions for this user by clicking Access button on the security window.

Adding Columns to the Appointment Book

The next step is to add the practitioner to the appointment book by adding Appointment Book columns.

Open System Information and navigate to the Appointment Book tab.



Go to the Columns tab, then click Add.



Select your practitioner, then click OK to add a column. Repeat this step if you require multiple columns for the same practitioner.

If required, Advanced options are available to allow this column to be used by other practitioners.

Practitioner Availability & Rules

With the practitioner column added, you can now move onto the practitioner’s availability, which is determined by Prac. Days and Rules.

Select Prac. Days from the Appointment Book tab of System Information. This window determines the days on which the practitioner’s column will be visible.



Deselect the days you do not wish the practitioner’s column to appear, then click OK.

Select Rules from the Appointment Book tab of System Information.

Rules can be used to restrict areas of the appointment book and are often used to set:

  • Start and end times for individual practitioners.

  • Lunch breaks.

  • Annual leave.

  • Special booking periods (e.g. new patients only).

For a detailed guide to Rules, please see the Appointment Rules article.

Adding Appointment Type Intervals

Additional customisation is available within Appointment Types for individual practitioners.

Select App. Types from the Appointment Book tab of System Information.



Double-click one of the appointment types to be used by this practitioner, which will display the Edit window.



Under the Default Practitioner Intervals, click Add to set the default intervals for your new practitioner. When selecting this appointment type for the practitioner, it will automatically update the intervals based on your selection.

Repeat this for any remaining Appointment Types that apply to this practitioner.

Advanced Setup (HICAPS, Medicare, Clinical Notes, Patient Booking Gateway)

HICAPS

If you are using HICAPS integration, please ensure the practitioner’s provider number has been programmed into the HICAPS terminal. For assistance with this, please contact HICAPS on 1300 725 726.

Once the practitioner has been entered into the terminal, open Front Desk and go to the HICAPS / EFTPOS tab of System Information.



Click the Synchronise button to collect an updated practitioner list from your terminal.

After synchronising, find the practitioner in the Provider / Merchant Numbers for EFTPOS section. In the Number column, click the drop-down next to the practitioner to align them to their HICAPS Terminal entry. This tells Front Desk which Provider Number / Merchant ID to use when billing this practitioner for EFTPOS.

With the correct selections made, click Close to save.

The practitioner should now be ready to use the HICAPS integration.

Medicare/DVA Online Claiming

When using Medicare/DVA Online claiming, practitioners must first be registered to submit online claims with Medicare. Please contact Medicare directly on 1800 700 199 to discuss this process.

If payment for Medicare/DVA Online claims should go to a different practitioner, check Use alternate Payee Provider and select a practitioner from the drop-down list.



Clinical Notes

The Clinical Notes tab of the practitioner files allows default fonts, templates and security settings to be configured.

The General tab allows default fonts to be set per Clinical Note Type.



The Security tab allows you to restrict who can access the clinical notes this practitioner creates.



The Templates tab allows default Clinical Note Templates to be set per Clinical Note Type.



Patient Booking Gateway

If you are a user of the Patient Booking Gateway and would like to make the new practitioner available for online booking, follow the steps below.

Go to File > Patient Booking Gateway Configuration > Practitioners.

Note the ‘Registered for’ indicator at the bottom of the window, which shows the maximum number of practitioners that can be registered for online bookings. If additional registrations are required, please contact the Business Care team.



Double-click the practitioner's name, enable Available for Patient Booking Gateway, then select the practitioner's Booking Location and Profession.



Additional options are also available if the practitioner is Only available for classes and whether the practitioner allows patients that are not registered in the Patient Booking Gateway to make guest bookings online. Options also exist to limit which practitioners this practitioner's default patients can book with online.

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