How to add a new patient
A new patient can be added via multiple methods:
- In the Demographics screen, select the New Patient button.
- In the Find Patient screen (shortcut:
CTRL+F), select the New Patient button. - Use the shortcut
ALT+Nto open the 'Add a New Patient' screen.
For an overview of all HealthTrack Shortcuts, review our HealthTrack Shortcut Keys article.
Adding a patient
- Enter the new patient's First Name and Surname, and select Add. Both names are required before HealthTrack will continue.
- HealthTrack searches for existing patients with similar details before anything is created:
- If no similar patients are found, the 'New Patient Details' screen opens straight away.
- If similar patients are found, they are listed for you to check. If the patient is already in the list, choose the Select patient from list button to open their existing record instead of creating a new one.
- If none of the listed patients is the right person, select Proceed with Add to continue to the 'New Patient Details' screen.
The duplicate check warns you, it does not stop you. Clicking through without reading the list is the most common way duplicate patient records are created, and merging them later takes far more time than checking now.
- Enter the patient's details, and select Add.
As a minimum, Given Name, Family Name, and Sex must be populated when creating a patient. The names carry over from your search, so Sex is usually the field to complete here.
You can save a patient without a date of birth, but the record is then harder to match against incoming results and easier to duplicate, so enter it as soon as it is known.
If you enter a Medicare card number, HealthTrack checks that it is a valid number and will not accept a mistyped one. If a number you are sure about keeps being rejected, check the card again - the number may have changed with a card reissue. DVA numbers and phone numbers are not checked on this screen, so enter them carefully.
- Select Save Patient.
After the quick-add step, the full patient record opens so you can complete the rest of the patient's details, such as address, contact numbers and fund information. For more detail, review our article: How to edit a patient.