In this article:
The patient details screen contains important information about the patient, from their health fund information to their referrals and emergency contact details.
To add a new patient to your database:
- Select the Patients list from the navigation pane.
- Click the New Patient button in the top right.
- You will be presented with the New Patient screen.
At a minimum, Gentu requires a surname to be able to save the record.
Please note: Entering non-alphanumeric symbols such as brackets, dashes and colons into the patient's First Name or Last Name fields can cause issues with online claims. If the patient's name contains any of these characters (e.g. * & ^ % $ # " - ' ), it is likely that any online claims for this patient will fail to send. Therefore, it is important that you add the patient's name exactly as it appears on their Medicare card.
When adding a new patient, you will see that the screen is split into sections, such as Contact Details, Address, Health Funds & Insurance, General and Emergency Contacts.
You should enter as much detail as possible in each relevant section.
After filling in the basic details for the patient and saving the record, the Patient Details screen will reload and you will notice that you are presented with new fields: the Account Holder, Referrals and Health Team Members areas. These details can only be added after the patient is saved to the database.
Please see the Account Holders - Individual section of the Address Book article for information on adding additional account holders for a patient.
Please see the Practitioners section of the Address Book article for information on adding health team members to your address book, so they can be linked into the patient record.
Please see the Referrals article for information on adding patient referral details.
Please see the Third Party Claims article for information on adding third party claims (such as Workcover or TAC claims).
If you are correctly configured to use My Health Record in Gentu, the patient's Individual Healthcare Identifier (IHI) in the Health Funds & Insurance section will be automatically populated. This will only populate if you have entered the correct information (Medicare card, date of birth, etc.) for the patient.
Entering the patient's mobile phone number in Patient Details will, depending on your SMS settings, allow you to SMS the patient directly from Gentu, and/or enable this patient to receive automated appointment reminders.
Please see the SMS Messaging & Appointment Reminders article for more information on SMS messaging in Gentu.
If the patient has chosen to not receive SMS communication, you should tick the Do not SMS checkbox.
Entering the patient's email address in Gentu will enable that patient to receive emailed copies of any quotes, invoices, or receipts generated for them by your practice.
Ticking the Do not Email checkbox will prevent this patient from being emailed copies of their quotes/invoices/receipts.
The Password button can be used to change the password used by the patient to access their password-protected quote or invoice copy.
Please see the Email a Quote, Invoice, or Receipt article for more information on email in Gentu.
Gentu's Patient Details screen lets you verify patients' Medicare and Health Fund details online.
After you have filled in the Health Funds & Insurance table with the patient's Medicare and insurance details, you will see the Verify button appear in this section.
Clicking Verify will run an online check of the patient's Medicare or Health Fund details. Any issues detected by the verify should be addressed prior to submitting online claims for this patient.
Click here to view frequently asked questions.
> What if my patient is a minor? Who do I assign as an Account Holder?
For patients under 12, their Parent/Legal Guardian will need to be added as their account holder. Please see the Bulk Bill or Patient Claim a child or a minor guide for more information, or alternatively, take a look at the Primary Account Holders article.
> I cannot find a patient when I search the patient list. Why not?
Please see the Cannot find patient when searching article.
> Can I print the patient's complete record from Gentu?
Absolutely yes. See the Print complete record article for instructions.
> I cannot see the Print > PDF option in the patient's file. Why not?
If you do not have the PDF option available in the Print drop down menu, this suggests that your User Settings are not configured to allow this action.
Please speak to your Gentu practice administrator if you would like to arrange access.
Take a look at the Manage User Roles article for more information.
> I accidentally created a duplicate patient record. How can I delete it?
For data security purposes Gentu has no provision to delete patients. If you have accidentally duplicated a patient record, you can merge the two patient records together.
> What is the minimum information needed to save a patient to Gentu?
A surname is the only required information needed to save a new patient record in Gentu.