About the 'patient.refid'
Patient records are assigned a unique identifier and this unique value can be used to identify patients for batch uploads and avoid duplicates. This 'patient.refid' or "REF ID" as shown under the patient record (see screenshot below) is generated automatically when creating a patient record and is not editable.
If you create a patient record via batch upload, you can define the 'patient.refid', otherwise one will be created by default and will need to be used next time to avoid a duplicate patient record.
Using the 'patient.refid'
To avoid creating duplicate patient records when submitting invoices for existing patient records via batch, input the unique patient identifier in the column labelled "patient.refid".
Invoices submitted via batch upload can also be processed using just the 'patient.refid' rather than providing patient and health fund details. If supplied and valid, this value will pre-populate patient details from the patient record in the business as set in any prior claim.
Any patient details included in a batch file - when an existing patient record exists - will update what is stored under that existing patient record. However, this excludes any insurer details for ECLIPSE claims - included in the batch file - which only update the patient record if you open the draft invoice and submit it individually.
If you already have duplicate patient records and wish to start using the 'patient.refid', you can either select a unique patient record to use moving forward (and ignore or delete the duplicates). Unfortunately, there's no way to merge patient records.
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