Regular Administrator Tasks

There are several regular maintenance tasks for the Communicare Administrator to perform.

Daily

  • Maintain the backup procedure for your site:
    • Ensure that the previous night's backup is on the server.
    • Ensure your IT company is maintaining a redundant copy of the backup off-site.
  • Check the Scheduled Reports all ran successfully the previous night.
    • Run the Report > Database Consistency > Scheduled Reports Monitor report for 'yesterday'.
    • Move scheduled reports between days as required if there is not enough time for all reports to be run on a given evening (Tools > Scheduled Reports).
  • If you use Communicare to make Medicare claims:
    • First thing in the morning, open File > Online Claiming > Bulk Bill Claims tab.
      • During the day act on the previous day's claim messages. See Daily Medicare Tasks for more information.
    • At a convenient time, run the Payment Report for all claims. This may take some time depending on the number of claims currently awaiting payment.
  • If your site uses the offline client, check that data synchronisation successfully completed for all laptops. Report any problems to Communicare Support.
  • Your Communicare Administrator should check \\Communicare_installation\Results for any files older than 24 hours. If there are old files, report the problem to Communicare Support.
  • Check the Communicare User Portal - News page for the latest updates to Communicare, especially during extreme events such as a pandemic.

Weekly

  • If you use Communicare to make Medicare claims, run Report > Electronic Claims > By Period entering dates for the previous week. Each claim will have a status.
  • Run Tools > Database Consistency Check and act on the results. Any patients identified (for example, as duplicates) may cause the Daily Process Service to fail. For more information, see Database Consistency Check.
  • Check the Results folder on the Communicare server for any electronic pathology results that may not been processed. Report these to Communicare Support immediately. The default location for the results is on the server at C:\\Program Files\\Communicare\\Results. If your site uses a Communicare Appliance Server, the default location is a shared folder called Results on the server. For example, if your server is called ccareabcd, the results are to be placed in \\ccareabcd\\Results.
  • If you use secure messaging, check Documents and Results Outgoing Documents for any errors

Monthly

Note: Updates that are usually monthly may instead be released as required during extreme events such as a pandemic. For example, a COVID-19 MBS data update was released in March 2020 and a set of clinical terms released by ICPC-2 PLUS for recording COVID-19 related information were made available on the Communicare Client Portal.
  • If you use Communicare to prescribe, download the MIMS monthly data from the Communicare Client Portal
  • If you use Communicare to make Medicare claims, download MBS monthly updates
  • If you use Communicare with SNOMED, download SNOMED
  • If you use HDP, download the updated User Guide if available
  • Check that your Automated Recalls still apply and are working as required in File > Reference Tables > Automated Recall Types
The Communicare User Portal - Help and Support tab shows the latest updates. To download datasets from the Communicare User Portal:
  1. Log into Communicare User Portal with your Communicare User Portal username and password (not your Communicare login). Register in the portal if you do not have a login.
  2. From the Communicare User Portal - Help and Support tab, for the required update, click Download.
  3. Accept the licence and click Download.
  4. Follow the instructions to download the file and import it into Communicare.

Two monthly

  • Run the OSR reports for the current year (i.e. with the 'end of year to report' as the end of the current financial year) and report any unusual or unexpected results. For example, running the reports at the start of October and multiplying figures by four should give you a projection for the next year.
  • Run the National KPI reports with a 'report date' of today (these reports are mainly running totals) and investigate any unusual or unexpected results.

Four monthly

Communicare Support can test your backup to ensure that it can be restored and is capturing the data required. If you would like your backup tested, contact Communicare Support. You will have to arrange delivery of your backup to Communicare.
Note: Backup testing is a separate, paid service.

Six monthly

  • Raise a request with Communicare Support to upgrade to the latest version of Communicare if you have not done so within the last six to twelve months. Before the upgrade, review the Release Notes and instruct users accordingly.

Annually

  • Check that the Health Service Area Locality Group lists all localities for your health service area. The automatic patient status change looks at this group to determine if a past patient who has been seen should become 'Transient' or 'Current'. You may find the report at Report > Reference Table > Localities Not in Health Service Area useful.
  • Review your clinical items and qualifiers.

Communicare Upgrades

For more information, see Upgrades.

When adding a new client computer

  • From the new client navigate through My Network Places to the shared folder on the Communicare server called Install. Run the file setup.exe that is in the folder called CCare (or possibly Communicare).

When required

Reboot the Communicare server. This may be required when, for example, electronic pathology results are not being processed.
  1. Make sure there are no users using Communicare.
  2. Press the power button on the Communicare server only once, do not hold the button in.
  3. Wait for the lights to go out. If the lights do not go out, hold the power button in until the lights go out which can take 5-6 seconds. Only do this if the server refuses to shut down normally.
  4. Wait a few seconds and press the power button again to turn the server on and wait for the lights to stop blinking.

Requesting a new Communicare report

To request a new SQL report for your system:
  1. Select Help > Forms > Report Request Form.
  2. Print the form and fill in the details.
  3. Have the form signed by your CEO or Communicare Administrator.
  4. Scan the form and attach it to a support request.

Receiving Medicare Australia notices

Medicare will automatically e-mail you notices about outages and other issues affecting online Medicare claiming if you register with them.

To register, call 1300 550 115, give them your minor ID and ask them to register an email address for notifications.