Biographics - Personal

Record personal patient information on the Personal tab. All patient records require at least one name and one home address. For most health services, all other data is optional. However, for some large health services you may be required to provide more information.

Table 1. Biographics information - Personal tab
Field	Description
Sex	Ensure you set a patient's sex if you want to generate sex-based recalls automatically. Changing a patient's sex does not affect existing recalls or create new recalls. If new recalls appropriate to the new sex are required, either delete the patient and add the person as a new patient or manually adjust the recalls already generated. Choose from the following options: `Female` - sex at birth was recorded as Female. Coded as 'F' or '2'. `Male` - sex at birth was recorded as Male. Coded as 'M' or '1'. `Indeterminate` - sex at birth was recorded as Indeterminate. Coded as 'D' or '3'. `Intersex` - sex at birth was recorded as Intersex. Coded as 'I' or '3'. `Not Stated` - sex at birth was recorded as Not Stated. Coded as 'N' or '9'. `Unknown/Inadequately described` - sex at birth is currently unknown or inadequately described. Coded as 'U' or '9'. If sex is not set, it can be added by anyone with access to biographics. Note: Some external bodies do not yet recognise sexes other than Male or Female. For example, AIR uploads and Medicare card verification fail if a patient has a sex that is neither Male nor Female. In Communicare, recall rules and qualifier definitions have been adapted to allow rules to be set up for patients with a recorded sex other than Male or Female.
Date of Birth	Ensure you provide an exact or approximate date of birth if you want to generate age-based recalls automatically. If you don't know the exact date of birth, enter an estimate and set Estimated. Changing a patient's date of birth does not affect existing recalls or create new recalls. If new recalls appropriate to the new date of birth are required, either delete the patient and add the person as a new patient or manually adjust the recalls already generated. If the date of birth is not set, it can be added by anyone with access to biographics.
Names - Forenames and Family Name	(Required) Provide at least one family name for a patient. You can enter multiple names for a patient, but they must have only one preferred name. The patient's preferred name is used throughout Communicare, except in the following areas where the Medicare name is used instead: Prescriptions Pathology and Radiology requests Billing documents Verify Medicare details and IHI number If the given names are not set, they can be added by anyone with access to biographics.
Indigenous Status	Leave blank or select one of the following options: Aboriginal but not Torres Strait Islander - patient is of Aboriginal but not Torres Strait Islander origin. Coded as 'T' or '1'. Torres Strait Islander but not Aboriginal - patient is of Torres Strait Islander but not Aboriginal origin. Coded as 'T' or '2'. Both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander - patient is of both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin. Coded as 'T' or '3'. Neither Aboriginal nor Torres Strait Islander - patient is of neither Aboriginal nor Torres Strait Islander origin. Coded as 'F' or '4'. Not applicable - a non-patient of some description, for example, Unidentified. Not stated/inadequately described - patient has declined to state their Aboriginality or the response is inadequately described. Coded as '9'.
Addresses	(Required) Provide at least a home address for a patient.
Contact details	Provide phone numbers and an email address where available.
Identification numbers	Patient ID - internal identifier for a person automatically generated by Communicare IHI Number - current Individual Healthcare Identifier assigned to the patient. The text colour is dependent on the validation status. MRN - an extra search term you can enter to help you find the patient MeHR - for patients in the Northern Territory, the MeHR identifier, validated against the MeHR repository when the biographics are saved
Medicare	Enter the patient's Medicare details if known. If electronic claiming is enabled for your service, to verify the patient's Medicare details with Services Australia, click Check Card Online. The most recent, saved, Medicare verification status is displayed in the Medicare pane: `Unknown` - never validated. To verify the patient's Medicare details, click Check Card Online. `Valid` - the Medicare details were valid at the date shown in the Last Validated field. `Error` - Communicare could not connect to Services Australia. The date of the previous check is shown in the Last Validated field. Tip: Out-of-date or incomplete Medicare information is highlighted in yellow. The following information must be included in the biographics for an OPV check to occur: Name Date of birth Sex Medicare card number or reference number
CentreLink	If the patient holds a CentreLink card, enter the CentreLink number and select the card expiry and type of card from the following options: HCC - Health Care Card No card - leave the other CentreLink fields blank Pension Seniors - Commonwealth Seniors card
DVA	If the patient holds a DVA card, enter the DVA file number found below their name (this is different to the card number). Also select the card expiry and the type of card from the following options: Blue Gold Green No card Orange Unknown File no. White
PBS Safety Net	If a PBS Safety Net card has been provided to the patient by a pharmacist, enter both the number and expiry date. Out-of-date or incomplete Safety Net information is highlighted in yellow.