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Administration
Communicare Administrators can tune the way in which Communicare works at your health clinic.
System Administration
System administration functions affect all Communicare users and should be used with care.
System Parameters
If you belong to the System Administrators user group, you can configure Communicare by setting system parameters.
System Parameters - Appointments
Use the Appointments tab to set appointment horizons and grace periods.

Administration
Communicare Administrators can tune the way in which Communicare works at your health clinic.
- System Administration
  System administration functions affect all Communicare users and should be used with care.
  - System Parameters
    If you belong to the System Administrators user group, you can configure Communicare by setting system parameters.
    - System Parameters - General
      The General tab shows parameters related to your organisation in a read-only mode, and is visible only to users without administrative access rights.
    - System Parameters - System
      Set the modules included in your Communicare and other system settings on the System tab.
    - System Parameters - Clinical
      Use the Clinical tab to control the information included in clinical items, records and so on.
    - System Parameters - Patient
      Use the Patient tab to control the information required for patient biographics and search.
    - System Parameters - Appointments
      Use the Appointments tab to set appointment horizons and grace periods.
    - System Parameters - Devices
      Use the Devices tab to control printers and scanners.
    - System Parameters - Electronic Claims
      Use the Electronic Claims tab to set addresses for electronic claims.
    - System Parameters - MeHR
      Use the MeHR tab to set MeHR details.
    - System Parameters - Secure Messaging
      Use the Secure Messaging tab to set the server details for your secure messaging vendor.
    - System Parameters - Web Services
      Use the Web Services tab to configure the addresses of the web services used in Communicare.
    - System Parameters - HealthTracker
      Use the Health Tracker tab to configure the HealthTracker web services settings used in Communicare to communicate with the George Institute HealthTracker API.
    - System Parameters - Appearance
      Use Appearance system parameters to control the text displayed in the Login and other windows.
    - System Parameters - Integration
      The Integration tab contains settings related to integration with other systems.
    - System Parameters - Prescription Forms
      Use the Prescription Forms tab to enable custom prescriptions, medication requests and consolidated orders and set the templates used by these features.
  - 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.
  - Reference Tables
  - 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.
  - 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
    Communicare's security scheme is designed to be easy to maintain yet effective. It works on 3 layers: SYSDBA, ADMINISTRATOR, MEDISYS.
  - Daily Process Service
  - Automatic Patient Status Change
    Every night the server will check the Inactivity years in system parameters and use it to change a patient's status after the specified number of years, based on the existence of contact services and patient address.
  - 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
    Communicare maintains and distributes a specific set of Clinical Item definitions. 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. These XML datasets can then be loaded into PEN CS' Clinical Audit Tool (CAT).
  - Background Processes
    Communicare runs a number of server-side background processes that integrate with various external services.
  - Communicare Logs
    Adjust the level of detail recorded in Communicare logs if required.
- Tools
  Use these tools to help manage Communicare.
- Regular Administrator Tasks
  There are several regular maintenance tasks for the Communicare Administrator to perform.

System Parameters - Appointments

Use the Appointments tab to set appointment horizons and grace periods.

The following system parameters are available on the Appointments tab.

Table 1. Appointments System Parameters
Parameter	Description
General Appointment Settings	Default Appointment Horizon Days - for each Appointment Session Template, the number of days ahead that your organisation can book an appointment. Enter a value from 0 to 373 inclusive, or null. Grace period for late appointments (minutes) - patients who are late for an appointment by more that the Grace Period are normally queued after those who arrived on time. If you want to use this functionality, enter a value in minutes.

20 November 2025