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RxPad Bulk Patient Import Guide
RxPad Bulk Patient Import Guide

Import up to 300 patients into RxPad at one time - 10 minute read

Sidney Tsang avatar
Written by Sidney Tsang
Updated over a year ago

*FEATURE IS NOW LIVE*

Introduction

Bulk importing will allow you to easily upload up to 300 patients at one time into your RxPad account, meaning you no longer have to manually enter your existing patients.

By following these instructions, you'll be able to save time and effort compared to manually creating individual patients in RxPad.

Please note that patient import needs to be done for each individual prescriber account. For instance, if your clinic has 10 prescribers using RxPad, all prescribers will need to do the bulk patient import. Ideally, a practice admin has prepared the bulk patient import Excel/CSV file beforehand using our Import Template below:

Who Is This For?

This article is for you if you are a clinician or a practice admin supporting clinicians who currently use RxPad.

  • Practice admin: You will be most interested in PART 1 - Getting Started. This section covers the steps necessary for preparing your patient data in an acceptable format so that your clinicians can simply upload these patients en masse into their RxPad accounts.

  • Clinician You will be interested in PART 2 - Uploading Your Data. This section covers where to find the bulk import feature in your RxPad account, and how to upload your Excel / CSV patient import file.

PART 1 - Getting Started

  1. Prepare Your Data: Have on hand all the patient data you want to import into RxPad.

  2. Download Excel Template: Please download the Patient Import Template (Editable). The first row contains the data-field names as headers. Please do not modify these headers.

  3. Enter Patient Details: Once you have downloaded and opened the Patient Import Template, please enter all mandatory patient fields and any optional fields as applicable.

    Only insert data into cells that are white.

    For additional information on acceptable data conventions for each field, please see the Mandatory Fields and Optional Fields sections below.

  4. Ensure Clean Data: After you've populated all the patients to be imported in the Excel template, if you locked any panes in the process, please check that all panes are unlocked. To do this click on the "View" tab, and click on the “freeze panes” drop-down under the “window” section. Select “unfreeze panes".

Save Your File: Once you have filled in the required and optional fields in the Excel template, save your file in Excel (.xlsx or .xls) or CSV (.csv) format. When saving this file, see the 7 acceptable file types circled in green below:

1.1 Mandatory Fields

Please see the data entry conventions for the following mandatory patient fields:

  1. given_names

    Enter the patient's first name (and middle name if applicable).

    Acceptable Format: Free-text. Alphabetical only

    Min Length: 1 chars

    Max Length: 50 chars

  2. family_name

    Enter the patient's last name.

    Acceptable Format: Free-text. Alphabetical only

    Min Length: 1 chars

    Max Length: 50 chars

  3. gender

    Enter the patient's gender.

    Acceptable Format: M / F / I / N

    • M = Male

    • F = Female

    • I = Intersex

    • N = Indeterminate

    Min Length: 1 char

    Max Length: 1 char

    Additional Comments: If the patient's gender was not disclosed, or if the patient's gender is not known to the clinician/administrator please enter the patient's gender as 'N'.

  4. date_of_birth

    Enter the patient's date of birth.

    Acceptable Format: YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY/MM/DD or DD/MM/YYYY

    Unacceptable Format(s): Alphabetical input

    Min Length: NIL

    Max Length: NIL

  5. phone_number

    Enter the patient mobile number only.

    Acceptable Format: Numerical input. Australian Mobile Number (e.g., 434566988).

    Unacceptable Format(s): No spaces, brackets, or special characters allowed.

    Min Length: 0 chars

    Max Length: 50 chars

    Additional Comments:

    Leave blank if unavailable. Note that the number '0' should be omitted at the start.

  6. email

    Enter the patient's email address.

    Acceptable Format: Alphanumeric input (e.g., username@domain.com)

    Unacceptable Format(s): NIL

    Min Length: 0 chars

    Max Length: 50 chars

    Additional Comments: Leave blank if unavailable.

  7. address_1

    Enter line 1 of the patient's residential address.

    Acceptable Format: Unit Number and/or Street Number and Name (e.g., 1/12 Example Road or 8 Example Ave)

    Unacceptable Format(s): Do not include suburb name, postcode, city, or country name here.

    Min Length: 1 chars

    Max Length: 50 chars

  8. address_2

    Continue to enter the Unit/Street Number and Name here, only if all 50 characters have been exhausted in the address_1 field.

    Acceptable Format: Unit Number and/or Street Number and Name (e.g., 1/12 Example Road or 8 Example Ave)

    Unacceptable Format(s): Do not include suburb name, postcode, city, or country name here.

    Min Length: 0 chars

    Max Length: 50 chars

    Additional Comments: Leave blank if unavailable or not applicable.

  9. suburb

    Enter the suburb name where the patient's residential address is located.

    Acceptable Format: Alphabetical input (e.g. EAST MELBOURNE)

    Unacceptable Format(s): Upload will be rejected if you include street number/name, postcode, city, or country name here. Do not duplicate the suburb name (e.g., "EAST MELBOURNE EAST MELBOURNE" will be rejected)

    Min Length: 1 chars

    Max Length: 50 chars

  10. postcode

    Enter the patient's postcode.

    Acceptable Format: Numerical input (e.g. 4000 or 862)

    Unacceptable Format(s):

    • Special characters or spaces.

    • Street number/name, suburb, city, or country name.

    • Duplicated postcodes (e.g., 400040004000 will be rejected)

    Min Length: 3 chars

    Max Length: 4 chars

    Additional Comments:

    For postcodes starting with '0' (such as 0862), omit the starting '0' (i.e., enter 862 instead of 0862).

  11. state

    Enter the state of the patient's residential address.

    Acceptable Format: WA / NT / SA / VIC / TAS / ACT / QLD / NSW

    Unacceptable Format(s):

    • Special characters or spaces.

    • Street number/name, suburb, city, or country name.

    Min Length: 2 chars

    Max Length: 3 chars

  12. medicare_no

    Enter the patient's 10-digit Medicare card number.

    Acceptable Format:

    • Numerical input

    • 10-digits

    Unacceptable Format(s): Non-numerical inputs.

    Min Length: 0 chars

    Max Length: 10 chars

    Additional Comments:

    • Note that either the medicare_no or dva_file_no (see field #14) must be supplied.

    • Leave blank if unavailable.

  13. medicare_irn

    Enter the patient's single-digit Medicare IRN if Medicare Card Number is supplied.

    Acceptable Format:

    • Numerical input

    • 1-digit

    Unacceptable Format(s): Non-numerical inputs or numerical inputs longer than 1 digit.

    Min Length: 1 chars

    Max Length: 1 chars

    Additional Comments:

    • If the patient is using a DVA card instead, and the Medicare Card is not supplied, then leave this field blank.

  14. dva_file_no

    Enter the patient's DVA card number (e.g., NX623461).

    Acceptable Format:

    • Alphanumeric

    • 8 or 9 characters long

    Unacceptable Format(s):

    • Spaces or special characters.

    Min Length: 0 chars

    Max Length: 9 chars

    Additional Comments:

    • Either medicare_no (see field #12) or dva_file_no must be supplied.

    • Leave blank if unavailable.

  15. dva_card_colour

    Enter the patient's DVA card colour only if dva_file_no is supplied (see field #14)

    Acceptable Format: G / W / O

    • G = Gold

    • W = White

    • O = Orange

    Unacceptable Format(s):

    • No more than 1 character is allowed (e.g. spelling out 'Gold' 'White' or 'Orange' will be rejected by the bulk import system)

    • No spaces or special characters are allowed.

    Min Length: 0 chars

    Max Length: 1 chars

    Additional Comments:

    • If the DVA Card Number is known, but you are unsure of the patient's DVA Card Colour, please double-check with your patient.

    • If the DVA Card Number is not supplied AND the patient uses a Medicare Card instead, then leave this field blank.

1.2 Optional Fields

You can also include optional patient fields in your bulk data import file:

  1. paper_only

    • Insert '1' if the patient can only receive paper prescriptions.

    • Otherwise, leave blank.

  2. entitlement_no

    • Enter the patient's Entitlement Number.

  3. concession_pension_no

    • Enter the patient's pension or health care card number.

  4. ctg_flag

    • Insert '1' if the patient is eligible for closing the gap.

    • Otherwise, leave blank.

  5. hospital_provider_number

    • Provide the patient's Hospital Provider Number if they are a Hospital Inpatient.

    • Otherwise, leave blank.

  6. racfid

    • Enter the patient's RACFID (Residential Aged Care Facility ID) if known.

    • Otherwise, leave blank.

  7. medicare_valid_to

    • Enter the patient's Medicare expiry date.

    • Use YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY/MM/DD or DD/MM/YYYY format.

    • Insert '01' for 'DD' if the date is not known.

PART 2 - Uploading Your Data

  1. Navigate: Log in to RxPad and navigate to the Bulk Patient Import feature. You can find this by clicking on Manage Patients and then clicking the blue Import Patients button at the top of your screen.

  2. Initiate Import: Select your saved Excel (.xlsx or .xls) or CSV (.csv) file and follow the prompts on the screen to initiate the import.

  3. Review and Confirm: After uploading your Excel/CSV file, review the pre-loaded data to ensure accuracy.

    ATTENTION:

    • At this point, you may be shown a list of the successfully pre-loaded patients in the Import Patients modal.

    • At the same time, you may be alerted to the number of patient records that have been 'excluded' from the pre-load as the data provided is either inaccurate, duplicative or entered in an invalid format.

    • The Bulk Patient Import system returns the list of all the 'dirty' patients that could not be pre-loaded due to invalid data, in the form of a downloadable Excel (.xlsx) file. You are free to run a few 'cleaning cycles' of these 'dirty' patient records.

  4. Edit and Re-upload (if needed): Make any necessary corrections before finalising the import.

  5. Import: Once you are happy with the pre-loaded patient data, click on the Import button to upload your patients into your RxPad account.

  6. Finish: After you click Import, you will be shown how many patients were successfully imported (as indicated by the number to the right of the green "tick" symbol).

    ATTENTION:

    • You might also be alerted to the number of patients that were not successfully imported (as shown by the number to the right of the bright red "warning" symbol)

    • If your patient could not be imported at the final stage, it is because that patient record already exists in your RxPad account.

*Congratulations on your first successful bulk patient import*

Need Help?

For further assistance please contact the RxPad support team at support@rxpad.com.au

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