Practice Manager for Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000



Jan 2001—Jan 2002

If you require help or further information on using any of the new features listed, please contact Customer Support by telephoning 01280 824600 JANUARY 2002 CHANGES Patient Details When recording clinicians against a patient, the maximum number of clinicians has been increased from 5 to 10. NEW MODULE A new "SMS Text Message" module is due for release and is currently working at a number of pilot sites.This module allows you to send SMS Text Messages to mobile phones. This may be a cheaper and more convenient way of a medical secretary getting a message to their consultants without disturbing them.Automatic text messages can be generated to remind patients about their appointments to reduce non-attendance. For more information & pricing, please contact Peter Gregory. OPERATION RECORD The "Electronic Patient Record (EPR)" Module, now allows recording of all information required to produce an automated operation record.All of the information stored is held in a database for subsequent audit.Fields stored include: type of operation, consultant in charge, operating consultant & grade, anaesthetist, assistants (and grades), type of anaesthetic, patient ASA grade, indications for surgery, coded diagnosis, operation start/end time, position, padding used, pre, incision, findings, procedure, problems/complications, prosthesis, closure, drain & post-op instruction. This addition is particularly useful for consultants running Practice Manager on a laptop linked to the main office system via "clinic merge". REPORT BUILDER MODULE A number of minor bugs have been fixed and enhancements made to this new module which allows flexible reporting and audit on all data contained within Practice Manager. Patient Search There is now the facility to search for a patient by their maiden name. VHI Schedule of Procedures (Rep of Ireland) The VHI fees have now been converted to Euros. Bulk Debt Write-Off There is now the facility from the Accounts menu to write-off multiple invoices in one go. This is particularly useful at year-end where you may want to write off all debts over a certain age and of certain values.   DECEMBER 2001 CHANGES NEW Report There is a new report available from the "Patient Reports" menu "Statement Notes/Comments Report". This report allows you to print details of any notes/comments added to a patient's statement. Group Surgical Systems reporting enhancements User of the "Group Surgeon" version of Practice Manager now have an additional set of reports to analyse accounting information by surgeon. Additions include :- "Credit Notes by Surgeon Report" - detailed or summary "Debt Write-Offs by Surgeon Report" - detailed or summary All of the group surgeon reports can now be produced for all surgeons, or just for a selected surgeon. Ophthalmology Audit When entering visual acuity, Practice Manager now correctly handles Snellen to Logmar conversion for PL (perception of light) Document Scanning When scanning documents into Practice Manager, there is now a "Next" button to allow a user to quickly scan all historic documents for a selected patient. Label Printers Practice Manager now supports the "Dymo Label Writer" range of label printers as well as the Seiko range. If you would like to purchase a dedicated label printer for use with Practice Manager, please contact sales. Electronic Patient Record - Medication When entering drugs/medication, you can now specify default prescribing details to speed up entry of data. Clinic / Theatre Diaries Practice Manager now greys out the additional Bank Holiday dates for the Golden Jubilee. Disabling Hints On some systems running very early versions of Windows / Word, there can be a bug whereby a Practice Manager hint remains on screen when returning to Microsoft Word. On these older systems, hints can be disabled by going to the Misc, Preferences, Main Menu Preferences screen and un-ticking the "Hints Enabled" box. Solicitor Statements A number of users have requested that when printing a solicitor statement, it should include their patient number. To enable this option, go to Misc, Preferences, Directory Preferences and tick the "Show Patient Number on Printed Statements" box.   NOVEMBER 2001 CHANGES EURO compliance A number of modifications have been made to allow Practice Manager to work with euros. User in the Republic of Ireland will be changing to the euro in January 2002. A special update will be sent to these users (providing they have a valid support contract) in December to convert all currency amounts from punts to euros. Electronic Billing Testing has now started for sending claims electronically to PPP, Norwich Union and Prime Health. Testing should be completed by February 2002 at which stage a further update will be sent to all registered EDI users, allowing them to send claims to these insurers. Reminder Letters Each Solicitor can now have their own reminder timescales. Correspondence Emailing of previous letters has been improved to work correctly with all MAPI compliant email software. Amended / Deleted Invoice Report This report can not be generated in either transaction order, or in invoice number order. Electronic Patient Record A new screen has been added to allow outcome reporting for Plastic Surgeons using the Cambridge outcome scoring system developed in conjunction with Mr G B Lamberty. For more information & pricing please contact Peter Gregory Patient Details Screen When entering a patients address, when selecting the town from the drop-down list, the corresponding county is also displayed. Patient Details Screen On the "Additional Info" tab of the patient details screen, you can now record the location of patients notes. This is useful if you want to archive old notes for off-site storage & want to use Practice Manager to record where the notes are stored. Estimates Report The report of estimates sent can now be generated in date order as well as patient name or invoice number order. Recall Letter Report Now automatically excludes deceased patients from recall letter production. View Letter Practice Manager now allows viewing of older documents written with WordPerfect, automatically converting them to Microsoft Word format. Network Administration A new facility has been added to allow network administrators to force all users to exit Practice Manager for routine maintenance or loading of updates. Delete Old Estimates Practice Manager now allows old estimates to be deleted easily.   OCTOBER 2001 CHANGES Internet Update When checking if an update to Practice Manager is available for download across the internet, you can now select which internet connection you wish to dial. ADSL users should select "Network" Electronic Patient Record New breast cancer audit screen available. Records type of cancer, location, laterality, vascular invasion, size, node status, oestrogen/progesterone receptor status, cytology, post surgical treatment, family history. Medico-Legal You can now record an "Agent" for medico-legal cases. Agents can be invoiced, their details can also be included in medical reports etc. Debtor Management You can now specify reminder timescales for each Solicitor individually. Report Builder The report builder now also allows you to report on user-defined research screens. Previous Correspondence When in a list of previous correspondence for a selected patient the ability to email a correspondence has been improved. Clicking the "email" button now presents a drop-down list of all known e-mail addresses of people involved in the patient's care (GP, solicitor, insurer, patient, parents etc) to select from. Reports The "Payments Received by Surgeon" report (for group practices) can now be shown in alphabetical or financial order.   SEPTEMBER 2001 CHANGES NEW MODULE New module released - Report Builder. Allows you to create your own reports on any of the information stored within Practice Manager. Particularly useful for research / audit. Please contact DGL for more information & availability. Main Screen The look of the front Practice Manager screen has been revised and bought more up-to-date.   Estimates Practice Managers facilities for producing Estimates of costs of treatment have been dramatically improved. You can now reprint old estimates, report on estimates, delete old estimates and most importantly you can now automatically convert an estimate into an invoice. Electronic Billing Practice Manager now contains the ability to send claims electronically to Norwich Union, PPP, BUPA International, and Standard Life ready for when Healthcode launch their new VEDA application. (details to follow) In the meantime you can still only send BUPA claims electronically. Look-up Table Maintenance There are now facilities to maintain the look-up tables used for Marital Status, Referral Source, Ethnic Origin & Occupation. VHI Codes Practice Manager users in the Republic of Ireland can now use the new VHI codes and prices as licensed to DGL by VHI. New Report New report Reminder Letter History for Outstanding Accounts This report can be accessed from the Accounts, Reminders menu and shows history of all reminders letter which have been sent for any outstanding accounts. Graphs New graphs :- Patients by Ethnic Origin Patients by Referral Source Patients by Occupation Patients by Marital Status Email When entering an email address into any of the Directories (GP, Clinician, Solicitor, Anaesthetist, Insurer etc) the maximum length of the email address has now been increased to 80 characters. Backup Practice Managers backups are now in .ZIP format for compatibility and greater compression.   AUGUST 2001 CHANGES Medico-Legal On the medico-legal information screen, you can now additionally record whether a patient is visiting due to an accident, and if so, the date of the accident - This information can then be included in Medical Reports etc. Correspondence The following new field codes have been added which can be included in any templates (letters, invoices etc) Medical report fields :- {Date Instructed} {Date Examined} {Date Report Dictated} {Date Typed} {Accident Date} Next of Kin fields :- {NOK Name} {NOK Relationship} {NOK Address Line 1} {NOK Address Line 2} {NOK Town} {NOK County} {NOK Postcode} {NOK Telephone 1} {NOK Telephone 2} Additional Patient Information fields :- {Marital Status} {Ethnic Origin} {Maiden Name} {Referral Source} {Occupation} for more information see 'Layout Documentation' Patient Details When adding a new patient who is a minor, when adding alternative billing details, these details can be automatically copied into 'Next Of Kin' Industry Standard Codes When selecting an industry standard code (for electronic billing) from within the invoice screen or user-defined billing code screen, there is now a Print button to produce a report of these codes. Patient Search When highlighting patients with similar names, the highlight colour has been changed slightly to make the screen easier to read. Rename Patient When rename a female patient, you are now prompted to ask if you want to store the previous surname as the patient's Maiden name. Microsoft Word XP Practice Manager can now also integrate with the new version of Microsoft Office XP. You must go to the Misc menu, Preferences, Correspondence Preferences and change the version to "Word XP" Financial Year Summary & End Of Year Reports Now shows the starting debtors figure as well as the final debtors figure. Also reduced line spacing on printed reports to fit onto less pages. Trial Balance Now approximately 10 times faster to generate this report. Security Security setup is now more flexible allowing you greater control over who is allowed access to each are of the software.   JULY 2001 CHANGES Menus Practice Managers menus have been changed to make the size larger and display clearer.  You can turn these new style menus on/off from the Misc, Preferences, Main Menu Preferences screen. Appointments When you delete an appointment from the clinic diary, you can now record reasons for the cancellation / DNA. When booking future appointments, Practice Manager will warn you of previous cancellations. Patient Details Practice Manager now allows recording of additional information on the patient details screen.  You can now record full details of next of kin, marital status, ethnic origin, occupation, accident date, referral source and maiden name. Patient Search When searching for a patient, any patients with same surname and first letter of forename are highlighted in blue.  This is to draw your attention to the fact that there are patients with similar names so you can ensure you select the correct patient. Most Recent Letters This report which shows the most recently type letters, now includes the facility to view the letters from the report. Internet Update Practice Managers facility to update itself across an internet connection has been improved to make it more robust.  Some users had experienced problems downloading updates on slower connections - this has been remedied. Scanned Documents When viewing multi-page scanned documents, there is now a new 'scroller' to make moving between the pages easier. Medico-Legal Practice Manager now additionally records Date Instructed, Date Examined, Date Report Dictated and Date Report Typed. VAT billing Practice Manager now allows billing of VATable items for Physios or Clinics who must charge VAT on certain chargeable items. Fee Splits The Clinic version of the software now allows fee splits to be recorded when billing for Radiologists. - contact DGL for more info. JUNE 2001 CHANGES Clinic List New clinic diary view - allows a time-line to be displayed. New facility to move or resize columns when viewing a diary - these changes are retained for future use. Patient Details There is now a "New Appointment" button allowing an appointment to be added from the main patient details screen., E.P.R. Electronic Patient Record for Ophthalmology New module available.  Allows recording of diagnosis, procedures, management, visual acuity, IOP, medication, photos/images.  Pricing available on request. Start Of Day Now a singles screen of 'nags' reminding you to do various things rather than lots of individual pop-up messages. Xerox Printers There is now a fix for certain Xerox (and other manufacturers) printers where the drivers are slow / buggy and previously prevented Practice Manager from being able to print correctly.  Go to the Misc, Preferences, Report Preferences and tick the "Delay printing to fix bugged printer drivers" check-box. Patients Not to Remind When selecting a patient to whom you do not wish to send reminder letters, you can now select whether to exclude all invoices for the patient, or just selected invoices. MAY 2001 CHANGES E D I Dramatically speeded up validation & sending of electronic claims. Clinic Merge When exporting data, there is now an option to exclude correspondence. Internet Update Improved reliability of loading internet updates. Show Appointments When viewing a patients appointment history from the patient details screen, you can now select the order in which past/future appointments are displayed and printed. Reminder Letters You can now automatically re-send the final reminder every x weeks. Photos/Images New facility to view photos/images by category When viewing photos, there is now the facility to change the size of the grid (eg display 2x2, 3x3, 4x4 etc) APRIL 2001 CHANGES Previous Correspondence When using the 'View' button to preview a letter, you can now scroll through the entire document.  Previously you could only preview the first page of a letter. Healthcode Registration for E D I New registration process, improved reliability and recording of additional registration information. Re-print Credit Note There is now a new facility of the Accounts menu to enable Practice Manager to re-print credit notes. Patient Details From the top menu of the patient details screen, under the 'Accounts' menu, there is now the option to access "Amend/Delete Invoice". MARCH 2001 CHANGES Electronic Billing Anaesthetists no longer need to specify discharge information. For group systems you can now specify whether payment should go to the group or to the individual consultant. Added new validation rules to ensure information provided will be acceptable to the insurers. Consent Forms When printing blank consent forms, the forms have now been updated to comply with the new 1998 Data Protection Act. Backups There is now the facility to password encrypt a backup with a password of your choice. (minimum 8 characters) Registering with Healthcode for EDI The on-line EDI registration process has been improved to work with all internet service providers - previously some users would have been unable to register. Group Anaesthetist Version The "GAS" version of Practice Manager now includes 6 new graphs / pie-charts to analyse work by anaesthetist. FEBRUARY 2001 CHANGES Getting Started Guide There is now a 'Getting Started Guide' document which can be viewed or printed.  From the Help menu, select 'Getting Started Guide'.  This document is especially useful for new / inexperienced users. View Letter When using the "View" button from the "Previous Correspondence" screen, you can now see all pages of a multi-page letter. (previously you could only preview the first page) Security You can now set security options to prevent a user from deleting letters Patient Notes Now has an option to print just the selected note(s) Advanced Diagnosis Reporting New easier way to insert operation / diagnosis codes for reporting Trial Balance Corrections to trial balance report when running on an "invoice raised" basis. Load Photos When loading photos, now an option as to whether or not the delete the original image. (useful if loading directly from camera) Merge Supplier New facility so that if a supplier has been entered in twice in error, the 2 entries can be merged together along with all payments, invoices & credit-notes from both. Automatic Reminder Report Now uses the printer tray specified in Report Preferences JANUARY 2001 CHANGES Operation Fees When changing operation fees for procedures priced by OPCS code (rather than category), you can now easily search for the required procedure. Table Maintenance Table maintenance for 'User-Defined Billing Codes' and 'Outgoing Expenditure Groups' is much simpler to use and allows sub-entries to be easily added and allows for existing entries to moved up/down the list. End Of Month Report The End Of Month report no longer includes the Aged Debtors Report Urgent Notes/Comments Report The report of all patients with urgent notes/comments now prints correctly on all printers. Consent Forms The facility to print blank consent forms has been updated.  The wording of the new consent forms has been altered to comply with the 1998 Data Protection Act. Theatre List From the Theatre List screen, you can now access more options from the top menu. Screen Scaling Practice Manager will now work even with monitors running resolutions in excess of 1600x1400 Scanned Documents When viewing a scanned document, there is now a single button which will print all pages of the scanned document. EDI Claims More validation rules have been added to help ensure that the claim will be accepted by the Insurer. EDI at BUPA Hospitals Users based at BUPA Hospitals are now able to transmit claims electronically to Healthcode via an internal secure bridge. DECEMBER 2000 CHANGES Clinic Merge Import / Export now additionally includes all Theatre List information, all Patient Diagnosis information and all Patient Recall information. Clinic merge can now be done via an internet connection. Help Further improvements to make the help more comprehensive, including access to the 'Practice Manager Problem Solver' knowledge-base. Photos / Images Practice Manager now supports capturing images from any 'Video for Windows' compatible capture device.  Using a compatible capture device, Practice Manager can capture and store images from any device with a video output - eg endoscope, slit lamp, camcorder etc Restoring Backups The Practice Manager utility "URestore2" used to restore backups has now been made easier to use. Aged Debtors Report This report now includes a more detailed breakdown of debts over 90 days old.