V23.3 Release Notes

Communicare V23.3 is an incremental feature and bug fix release which primarily includes updates for Medicare Bulk Billing Incentives, integration to display a patient's MyMedicare status, post-assignment Assignment of Benefit updates, automated Concession and Enterprise Concession Verification, NCSR Lung integration.

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 Telstra Health 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 4.0.6.3222 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

MyMedicare

For patients who have registered with a provider at your health service, you can now see their MyMedicare status in Communicare. Updates to support this feature include:
  • Check if a patient is eligible for MyMedicare, if they are registered with your practice, their preferred provider and schemes in which they are a participant on the new Patient Biographics iconBiographics > Registration tab.

    CTG and PIP eligibility selection has also moved to the Registration tab.

    For more information, see Biographics - Registration.

  • A patient's MyMedicare status for today is displayed in their clinical record and Service Record window which also shows scheme participation. For more information, see MyMedicare,Clinical Record Banner, and Service Record.
  • Record an Organisation Site ID for your Encounter Place, which is used when checking a patient's MyMedicare registration and eligibility status. For more information, see Adding and Editing Encounter Places and Modes.
  • Record your new MyMedicare status PRODA device and organisation identifier. For more information, see Services Australia > MyMedicare.

Minor enhancements

  • Post Assignment of Medicare Benefit:
    • Post assignment of Medicare benefit information is now displayed in the Service Recording window, on the Post Assignment of Benefit tab. For more information, see Submit a Claim to Medicare.
    • On the Service Recording iconService Recording window, you can only click Print Claim Form if in the Service Record, either the Save iconClaim Now or Save iconClaim Later has been selected.
  • We've removed the Also update template and reports data option from the Government Reporting Tool (GRT) tile in the Data Updater. This option is still available from the Templates and Reports and Central Data tiles. For more information, see Communicare Data Updater.
  • For prescriptions, dosage instructions are now mandatory for all non-DAA prescriptions instead of just ePrescriptions.
  • For Medication Orders:
    • Order instructions are now mandatory for all Medication Orders. For more information, see Create Medication Orders.
    • Dosage instructions from MIMS are included by default in the Order Instructions field rather than the Label Instructions field.
    • Order instructions rather than label instructions are displayed in the Medication Summary > Dosage column. For more information, see Medication Summary.
    • If you create a medication order from a prescription, dosage instructions from the prescription are now displayed in the medication order's Order Instructions field rather than the Label Instructions field, where the dosage instructions can be edited. For more information, see Create Medication Orders from Prescriptions.
  • If a medication has been deleted from MIMS, the Repeat link in the Medication Summary is now displayed in red. You cannot represcribe medications that have been deleted from MIMS but should prescribe an alternative. For more information, see Medication Summary links and Repeat medications.
  • Immunisations:
    • The way in which Communicare receives AIR rules updates from Services Australia has changed. From Febrary 2026, you should set a weekly reminder to manually update AIR rules in Communicare using the Communicare Data Updater. For more information, see Update AIR Rules.

      AIR rules are now updated from Services Australia using Communicare's Services Australia API and Services Australia's APIs. For more information, see Services Australia. The AIR Reference Data integration does not allow versioning, so we've updated the status information in the Communicare Data Updater > Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) Rules tile to indicate that there may be an update available and show the most recent update.

    • An immunisation's performed date is now checked to determine if the immunisation falls within a period which may make vaccine type, route and site, and vaccine batch mandatory.
  • In System Parameters - Web Services, we've hidden the Clinical Decision Support section because this feature is deprecated.
  • The DB4 - Post Assignment form in Communicare has been updated with the latest version provided by Services Australia.
  • Communicare has been updated to the latest SNOMED (February 2025).
  • The SNOMED FHIR Validation Service endpoints and the associated authentication URL, client ID, and client secret have been updated to use the Telstra Health Terminology API instead of NCTS. For more information, see SNOMED Terminology.
  • Communicare has been updated to the latest AIR vaccine dataset (1 March 2026).
  • For secure messages, letters and documents sent using HealthLink, Communicare now supports text included in phone number fields.
  • For Queensland Health, we've added Alternative Gender, Alternative Pronouns and Variations of Sex Characteristics fields to the Patient Biographics tab, to align with the legislative changes to the Births, Deaths, and Marriages Registration Act, 2024. For more information, see Biographics - Personal.

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

For information about regular updates, see Central Data Changes.

Bug fixes

  • We've fixed a bug which meant that you couldn't download the AIR Immunisation History Statement from the AIR portal.
    Testing:
    1. From a patient's clinical record, go to the AIR portal. For more information, see Australian Immunisation Register portal.
    2. Click PDF file iconDownload Immunisation History Statement (PDF) and select where you'd like to save the file.
    3. Observe that the statement is downloaded without error.
  • We've fixed a bug where when you attempted to access the AIR Portal an error was displayed instead: Error retrieving information from Services Australia.
    Testing:
    1. From a patient's clinical record, go to the AIR portal. For more information, see Australian Immunisation Register portal.
    2. Observe that the AIR portal is displayed.
  • For sites with custom qualifiers in immunisation clinical items, we've fixed a bug that was causing the Vaccine expiry date to be obscured by the Administered overseas field.
    Testing:
    1. In a patient's clinical record, add an immunisation item with custom qualifiers. Typically this would be a clinical item cloned from Central & then updated.
    2. In the immunisation clinical item, set Administered overseas.
    3. Observe that all fields are displayed correctly.
  • For sites using the offline client, we've fixed a bug causing completed recalls to remain in the To Do list in the Main Summary iconMain Summary of a patient's record.
    Testing:
    1. Log into the online Communicare client and open a patient's clinical record.
    2. Add any clinical item, including for a condition, procedure or immunisation.
    3. Add a manual recall and close the clinical record.
    4. Close Communicare.
    5. Run a backup on the server.
    6. Synchronise the offline client.
    7. Log into the Communicare offline client.
    8. Open the clinical record for same patient as step 1.
    9. Update the clinical item you added in step 2 and complete the manual recall.
    10. Close the clinical record and log off from Communicare.
    11. Synchronise the offline client with the server.
    12. Wait about 5 minutes for the DataSync process to run.
    13. Log into the online Communicare client and open the clinical record for same patient as step 1.
    14. Observe that the completed recall is no longer listed in the To Do list.
  • 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. We've also fixed a bug with the window being slow to open after this fix was applied.
    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.
  • For letters and referrals that include check boxes and that are sent securely using HealthLink, we've fixed a bug that meant that the message was truncated.
    Testing:
    1. Create a new letter referral that contains check boxes. For example, Allied Health Referral Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.
    2. Complete the referral, including setting check boxes and adding text.
    3. Generate and send the letter using secure messaging.
    4. Observe that the received version matches the sent version and includes all information.
  • For contacts saved from the HealthLink online address book to Communicare's combined address book, we've fixed a bug which meant that the phone number was not saved from HealthLink.
    Testing:
    1. In the combined address book in Communicare, search for a contact that includes a phone number.
    2. Double-click the entry to save it to your local address book or click Save iconSave.
    3. Observe that the phone number is retained in the entry added to the local address book.