V23.2 Release Notes

Communicare V23.2 is a incremental feature and bug fix release which primarily includes updates to conform with Service Australia's ePrescribing Profile 3 and a new Communicare Data Updater tool.

How to use these release notes

These release notes offer brief, high level descriptions of new features, minor enhancements and bug fixes. If you need more information to successfully use the update, a link is provided to the relevant topic in the full documentation.

Note:
To ensure that you are aware of all the latest updates to Communicare, also review the release notes for all versions between your currently installed version and the version to which you are updating.
Communicare integrates with a number of APIs developed by Telstra Health. Updates to these APIs are published separately to this release, but affect the way in which this release performs. You can review the updates to the related APIs here:

When are the features available?

Some features in this release will affect all users as soon as your health service is upgraded by our Communicare Support team. Consider communicating these changes before your health service is upgraded, so that your users are prepared. Other features require action by your Administrator before your users can benefit from the changes.

Installation Requirements

  • Communicare server requirements:
    • Windows Server 2016 and later. Security and other updates from Microsoft must be installed as they become available.
      • Windows Server 2022 is recommended
      • Windows Server 2019 is supported
      • Windows Server 2016 is the minimum required server
    • Firebird HQBird 4.0.5.3097 and later (Firebird 2.5.9 and earlier is no longer supported)
    • .NET 4.8 and .NET 6
    • .Net 8 Desktop Runtime for the CommunicareDataUpdater, click to download
    • WebView2 Runtime V115 and later, click to download
  • Communicare client requirements:
    • Windows 10 and later. Security and other updates from Microsoft must be installed as they become available.
    • .NET 4.8
    • .Net 8 Desktop Runtime for the CommunicareDataUpdater, click to download
    • WebView2 Runtime V115 and later, click to download

New features

ePrescribing Profile 3

  • For WA customers, updated the WA authority number from CPOP Authority Number to Authority Number.
  • If IHI validation has not occurred in the last 24 hours, Communicare now validates the IHI when sending an ePrescription. If a patient's IHI is not active, valid and verified, the ePrescription is not sent.
  • If you attempt to cancel an ePrescription and the cancellation fails, the reason received from eRx for the failure is displayed in the clinical record, on the Detail tab in the format ePrescription Cancellation Failed: eRx reason.
  • Retired IHI numbers are now included in IHI history. For more information, see Individual Healthcare Identifiers (IHI).

Minor enhancements

  • Improvements to Central Data management and deployment. Use the new Communicare Data Updater to update Central items and other clinical data, AIR rules, templates and reports, and the GRT. For more information, see Communicare Data Updater.
  • We've changed the way in which the Patient Biographics iconPatient Biographics form is handled to address problems with data persisting between patient records in some workflows. The underlying form is now recreated between users rather than being reused. There is no change in functionality from this update but there may be some changes in behaviour which make Communicare more consistent. For example, users who don't belong to a user group with the Patient Edit system right, no longer see the Patient Biographics iconChange Details button in Add or change patient biographic details when searching for a patient.
  • Record a provider's State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) approval number. This number can then be added to letters in the letter writer and printed on workers compensation invoices. For more information, see Providers.
  • The Registration Number field has been renamed to AHPRA Number for clarity. For more information, see Providers.
  • Record NDIS information in a patient's biographics: while applying, choose from additional statuses and when approved, record the registered NDIS number. For more information, see Biographics - Social data.
  • Record if you have registered a patient with the Practice Incentives Program Indigenous Health Incentive. For more information, see Biographics - Administration.
  • Search MBS claim history for any entry. For more information, see History of MBS Items for a Patient.
  • Mark intramail messages as read or unread. For more information, see Opening Intramail.
  • The number of licences registered and in use is no longer displayed in the main toolbar. This was visible to Administrators.
  • Before updating a patient's Medicare and reference number after an EPV validation, Communicare now checks whether there are any patients recorded with the same details. For any conflicts, Communicare now clears the Medicare reference number and displays the following message in the patient's biographics: Patient's reference number must be supplied.

    Update the patient's Medicare information when they present at your site.

  • Updates to meet new AIR rules when recording immunisations:
    • You can now choose whether or not to upload immunisations recorded in immunisation clinical items to the AIR. For more information, see Recording Immunisations.
    • For immunisation clinical items, we've changed the order of the Route and Site list. The list is still alphabetical with the exception of the four values for recording vaccines administered to the buttock which because they are not clinically recommended have been moved to the end of the list.
    • You can now include if the patient is pregnant when recording an immunisation clinical item in Communicare. You can also update a previous encounter in the AIR Portal to indicate that the patient was pregnant when the immunisation was administered.
    • The available vaccine types are now NIP/Commonwealth and Other. You must record a vaccine type for immunisations administered on or after 1 March 2024.
    • An Antenatal field is now set for immunisations provided to pregnant patients. For more information, see Recording Immunisations.
    • January 2025 AIR vaccine updates.
  • If a patient's mobile number is included in their Patient Biographics iconBiographics, the number is now included on the Std. Preprinted Pathology (w/Labels) form.
  • For Transport Management, in the Transport Requirement List window, the active transport requirements for today are displayed by default when you first open the window rather than for the past year. For more information, see Transport Requirement List.
  • For Argus users in the NT, we've provided updates to enable uploads to MeHR using CCareQueue_SMD.

Central Data changes

You can review new clinical items and reports using these reports:
  • Report > Reference Tables > Clinical Item Types Added - enter the days since the upgrade and choose Central.
  • Report > Database Consistency > Central Reports

Bug fixes

  • We've fixed a memory leak related to the UDR DLL in Firebird HQBird 4.0.x which for very large organisations was causing multiple access violation errors in different areas of Communicare, such as when editing clinical records or editing clinical items.
    Testing:
    To test, use Communicare normally and observe that no errors are displayed and that Communicare continues to run.
  • We've fixed a bug where for Administrator users in very large organisations, if there were more than 800 database connections, depending on the length of the user names for connected users, an access violation error was displayed and Communicare closed.
    Testing:
    1. In an environment with more than 1000 database connections, log in as an Administrator.
      Tip:
      To check the number of database connections from a process using PowerShell, run:
      Get-NetTcpConnection | where RemotePort -eq 3051 | group OwningProcess
      where OwningProcess is the process ID which you can check in Task Manager.
    2. Observe that no error is displayed and that Communicare continues to run.
  • When private billing, if you raise a charge without an invoice, no invoice date is assigned. When you open File > Private Billing Administration, all invoices from the last 30 days and all charges without an invoice date are displayed. If this number was greater than 1500, the Private Billing Administration window was blank.
    Testing:
    1. In an environment with more than 1500 uninvoiced charges, select File > Private Billing Administration.
    2. Observe that information is displayed in the Private Billing Administration window.
    For more information, see Private Billing Administration.
  • We've fixed a bug where the error "Patient DOB required to record Birth dose..." was displayed if you tried to add a clinical item for a patient without a date of birth recorded.
    Testing:
    1. Add a test patient without a date of birth.
    2. In the test patient's clinical record, add and save a clinical item.
    3. Observe that the clinical item is added to the patient's clinical record without error.
  • We've fixed a bug where the error "Paient DOB is required to have a birth dose..." was displayed if you tried to add administration information such as meetings or group activities to the record of a patient with a status of Non Patient. For more information, see Patient Status.
    Testing:
    1. For a test patient with a status of Non Patient, on the Biographics > Administration tab, add a group membership.
    2. Observe that you can save the updated information without error.
  • We've fixed a bug for health services that include custom qualifiers in their immunisation clinical items, where fields overlap for immunisations administered overseas.
    Testing:
    1. Clone a central immunisation item and add a custom qualifier such as Imms Given Location.
    2. Add the immunisation item created in step1 to a test patient's clinical record.
    3. Set Administered overseas.
    4. Observe that the custom qualifier Imms Given Location is displayed correctly with no overlap with other fields.
  • For clinical items containing qualifiers with long names, we've fixed a bug which truncated the names after the performed date was edited.
    Testing:
    1. In a patient record, add a clinical item that contains qualifiers with long names, such as CVR calculator CARPA STM or Perinatal Depression assessment.
    2. Add information to the clinical item and edit and select a new performed date.
    3. Observe that when you save the clinical item, the qualifier names remain completely visible.