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Administration
Communicare Administrators can tune the way in which Communicare works at your health clinic using the configuration, tools and task information.
System Administration
Reference Tables
Locality
The Locality reference table is a list of places used in patient addresses. It is initially populated with over 14,000 localities used by Australia Post when your Communicare server is installed.
Locality Group

Administration
Communicare Administrators can tune the way in which Communicare works at your health clinic using the configuration, tools and task information.
- System Administration
  - System Parameters
    If you belong to the System Administrators user group, you can configure Communicare by setting system parameters.
  - Organisation Maintenance
    Configure Communicare for your organisation by setting organisation parameters. Changes to organisation parameters affect the Communicare system for the organisation and all workstations.
  - User Groups
    Users of the Communicare system are organised into groups. Rights to access various parts of Communicare are given to these groups of users.
  - Address Book
    The address book stores local address book entries and address book entries that are linked to external directory services.
  - Reference Tables
    - Certificates Maintenance
      The Certificates Maintenance window lists all of the currently installed certificates that can be used in various places in Communicare.
    - Appointment Facility
    - Requirements
    - Public Holidays
      Public holidays identify normal working days (or part days) that the practice will be closed.
    - MIMS Database Import
      If your site uses the Prescribing Full or Prescribing Once off/short course module, Adverse Reactions or browsing MIMS drug database, update MIMs monthly.
    - Formularies
      Use the Formulary Maintenance window to manage medication lists or formularies.
    - Locality
      The Locality reference table is a list of places used in patient addresses. It is initially populated with over 14,000 localities used by Australia Post when your Communicare server is installed.
      - Locality Group
    - Patient Skin
    - Patient Group Maintenance
    - Encounter Place
      An encounter place can take one of two forms.
    - Text Shortcuts
      Add or modify the text shortcuts for commonly used blocks of text available in Communicare. Text shortcuts can be used by clinicians in progress notes and letters.
    - Dosage instructions
      Use the Dosage Instruction window to review abbreviations or short codes for use when prescribing and add new abbreviations.
    - Medicare Benefits Schedule Shortlist
      Because the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) is so big, you can control the order in which Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) items are displayed in Communicare and add short descriptions that are meaningful to your context.
    - Private Billing
    - Investigations
      Investigations can be requested by a provider from within a patient's clinical record. Use the Investigation reference table to define investigations.
    - Clinical Item Type
      A clinical item type is a predefined value that a clinical item for a patient can take.
    - Qualifier Types
      Qualifiers add additional meaning to a Clinical Item Type, for example to add observations, dates and to request investigations.
    - Special Lookup Table Maintenance
    - Transport Mode
    - Chart Types
    - Viewing Rights
      Viewing Rights define access levels to clinical data. The rights themselves are maintained by the Viewing Rights Maintenance program.
    - SNOMED CT Import
      Communicare uses SNOMED CT-AU terminology to capture clinical data.
    - Reference Table Codes
      Communicare reference tables use a variety of codes to identify and manage clinical data.
  - Appointment Session Templates
    Appointment Session Templates identify when appointments can be made, in a general way. They are used as a template for creating the sessions into which appointments are actually booked.
  - Reference Tables
  - Providers
    The Providers window lists clinicians who have been added to Communicare as providers at your health service.
  - Medicare Number Import
    Patient Medicare numbers can be imported directly from files provided by Medicare Australia.
  - Patient Import
  - Communicare Security
  - Daily Process Service
  - Automatic Patient Status Change
  - Terminal Server and Communicare
    The Communicare client can be installed on a Terminal Server.
  - Backup Regimes
    Backups of your Communicare database are critical for business continuity in the event of a disaster. Communicare is automatically backed up to the server nightly. Your site should take regular backups of these backups.
  - Disaster Recovery
    In the event of disaster, call Communicare Support on 1800 798 441 and follow these steps to recover your data.
  - File Transfer
    Communicare demos and updates are available from the Communicare User Portal - Help and Support tab.
  - Firewall Configuration
  - Upgrades
    Communicare upgrades are performed remotely by Communicare Support at a time arranged with the system administrator.
  - Database Connection Settings
  - Central Data Update
    This program allows a specific set of Clinical Item definitions to be centrally maintained and distributed to user sites by Communicare. These centrally maintained Clinical Item definitions are referred to as central items.
  - Terms Conversion
    Together with your Implementation Consultant, when your site goes live with Communicare, a clinician with Administrator user privileges can use the Terms Converter tool to convert local terms into centrally maintained terms, for example, ICPC-2 PLUS terms.
  - CAT Export Tool
    Use the CAT Export Tool to export datasets defined by the Improvement Foundation, from Communicare as XML.
  - Background Processes
    Communicare runs a number of server-side background processes that integrate with various external services.
- Tools
  Use these tools to help manage Communicare.
- Regular Administrator Tasks
  There are several regular maintenance tasks for the Communicare Administrator to perform.

Locality Group

A locality group is where several localities are combined for reporting purposes. Locality groups can be defined for overlapping areas. For example, the following locality groups could be defined for your city or town:

North of the river
South of the river
Inner city
Suburban
Northern suburbs
Southern suburbs
Etc.

The Locality Group Maintenance function allows creation of new locality groups, deletion of existing locality groups and changes to existing locality groups. Two grids are displayed; the upper grid lists existing locality groups, the lower grid lists the localities included in the current locality group (i.e. the one selected in the upper grid).

Add a new locality group by clicking on the locality group (upper) grid and then clicking on the add button. A blank Locality Group Name appears in the locality group grid. Type the name of the new locality group. Start the name with an upper case letter to ensure it appears in the correct sort position, eg 'My locality group'.

Add a new locality to an existing locality group by clicking on the lower grid and then clicking on the Add button. Click on a locality to add it to the current locality group.

Health Service Area

The locality group called Health Service Area is a special group that cannot be deleted. It must contain all the localities that define the health service's coverage. This group drives two important functions in Communicare: firstly, the automated patient status feature looks at this group to determine whether a past patient who has been seen should be changed to current (if their locality is in the health service area) or transient (if it is not); secondly, several reports look at this group to determine which clients 'belong' to the health service.

14 November 2023