1. Who can use Practice 2000 ?

• General practitioners 

• Specialists, surgeons 

• Dentists 

• Physiotherapists 

• Chiropractors 

• Acupuncturists 

• Allied Health Professionals 

• Gymnasium operators

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2. Do I have to buy MS Office to use Practice 2000?

No you do not have to. PRACTICE 2000 comes with a cut-down version of MS Access called MS Access runtime. However, it is recommended that you should obtain a copy of MS Office for general purposes.

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3. I am using other Practice software, can I switch to Practice 2000 at no cost?

Yes you can, we provide free upgrade for registered user without any cost.

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4. I am getting an error message "The Value you has enter is not valid for this field"

You have entered incorrect data in a box, e.g. you enter text in a date field

• Press Escape on the top left corner of your keyboard to clear the message.
• Press Escape again to clear the value you entered.
• Check the Status Bar at the bottom to see the required data format
• Reenter the correct data

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5. I am getting an error message "Unrecognized database format" or "The program has performed an illegal operation and now being shut down"?

The database file PRACDATA.MDB is corrupted. If the computer crashes or is powered off while PRACTICE 2000 is running, the database can be corrupted. Poor networking is a major cause of computer crashes. To fix the problem:

• Press and hold the Escape key on the keyboard so that all error messages disappear
• Close PRACTICE 2000 on all computers on the network, except for the server.
• On the server, from the Main Form, click Admin Tasks, Repair and Compact Data.
• Run PRACTICE 2000 again and check if it is working correctly.

If the above does not work, please run a program to recover your data as follows:

• Choose a quiet time, as this can take between 30 minutes and 2 hours

• Close PRACTICE 2000 on all computers on the network.
• On the server, click Start, Run.
• Type  C:\PRACTICE\MSACCESS.EXE  C:\PRACTICE\RECOVER.MDB  then click OK
• When asked any question, just press Enter to accept the default answer.
• (If recover.mdb crashes while running, we have to use MSACCESS to open the Patients table, highlight some records, press Control-C to copy.  If Control-C does not work, one of these records have a corrupted Notes field.  The bad record must be deleted, then run recover.mdb again)
• Run PRACTICE 2000 again.  Click Admin Tasks, Repair And Compact data.
• Create a new invoice as a test.  If no error message, all is done.  If you get an error message, run recover.mdb a second time. 

If the above is still not successful, restore data from your backups (or PRACMIN.MDB if you have run the Automatic File Copier)

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6. I am getting an error message "Out of memory"

1. Check the virtual memory of the system (Start, Settings, Control Panel, System, Performance tab, Virtual Memory).  On Win98, select the option to let Windows manage your virtual memory.  On WinNT/Win2000, increase virtual memory to say 1000 MB.
2. Under the Performance tab, click File System. Reduce read-ahead optimization to None. 
3. Under the Performance tab, click Graphics. Set hardware acceleration to none.
4. Close all dialogues.  You might be prompted to restart the computer.
5. Finally don't open too many windows - close down other programs such as antivirus, Word etc. Also close down unused windows within Practice 2000 such as patients, invoices.

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7. I am getting an error message "Disk or Network IO error"

The file name \\server\practice\pracdata.mdb may differ from system to system.  The messages usually indicate that the workstation is unable to communicate with the server.  Please:

·         Check that the server is working.  Restart the server if not

·         Ensure that the network cables are plugged in properly

·         Check that the network hub has power and the indicator lights for the workstations are on

·         Restart the workstation (by clicking the Start button, Shut Down, Restart, OK). 

·         If asked to enter the network password, please type in the password carefully

·         Check that the network is working as follows:

1. Right-click the Start button, click Explore. 
2. Scroll to the bottom of the left window, click Network Neighborhood or My Network Places.
3. On the right hand side, look for the server.  Double click it
4. On the right, look for the Practice folder.  Double click it. 
5. If the Practice folder opens up, the network is fine.  Close down Windows Explorer and run Practice 2000.
6. If the Practice folder does not open, the network does not work.  You cannot run Practice 2000.  Please call your hardware/network consultant for assistance.

In rare cases, the hard disk on the workstation may be corrupted.  Please call the hardware consultant to check and replace it.

The solution is to reboot the computer and try again.  If still not working, contact your hardware/networking consultants

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8. Bulk billing invoices does not show Medicare as the payer, the invoices are billed to a certain patient.

1. Click Admin Tasks, Advanced tab, Run SQL.
2. Type continuously without pressing Enter:   UPDATE PATIENTS SET SURNAME=”MEDICARE”, [FIRST NAME]=” ”  WHERE [PATIENT#]=1  
3. Click OK. If asked “You are about to update 1 row(s)”, click Yes. If asked “You are about to update xx row(s)”, where xx is more than 1, you have done something wrong, so click No and go back to step 1.

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9. EFT payments Show Preview does not show the doctor's name.

The resulting report will give the most complete report on Medclaims receipts. However, HIC requires the Provider# (in the Doctors form) to have 8 characters all up (eg. 103457HA, 2345890Z). If the Setup gives the payee doctor only 7 characters or less, in paying the claim(s), HIC will automatically give the extra leading zero’s to make it 8 characters (eg. 0180204B instead of 180204B).

The report will thus not be able to reconcile the payee number from HIC to any doctor’s name in the record and will thus print no corresponding doctor’s name. There is a simple way to resolve this:

-          Go to the Doctors form

-          Find out  and note down all doctors with Provider# less than 8 characters long

-          Go to the Medclaims form

-          Find all claims for as far away as still relevant for each of these doctors and File/Print the Medclaims form to have a record of relevant claims numbers

-          Go to the Doctors form and add in extra leading zero’s to make the all the Provider# for these doctors 8 characters long

-          Go back to Medclaims form as before. You will note that, as the doctors’ Provider# had been changed, they are now not listed as the payees for particular claims anymore (the list of claims has been printed for ease of checking). Choose him/her from the drop-down list to be re-instated as the payee

-          The report should now give you all doctors’ names as required now.

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10. Two new patients are allocated the same file number

When you click the New Patient button in the Patients form, a new file number is allocated to the new patient. When two receptionists click the New Patient button at the same time (using 2 different computers), the patients will be allocated the same number. So please talk to each other to ensure that only one new patient is being entered at a time.

After a new patient has been registered, please click the Save Record icon on the toolbar. It’s the second icon, after the Allow Editing icon. This will save the new file number in the database, so that another new patient will get a different file number.  

When you click New Patient in the Patients form, you get a new file number. Suppose you leave the computer there and come back two hours later. The form will still show the same file number. If you register a new patient now, the patient will have an old file number. So, please either register a new patient straight away, or else click the cross on the top right corner to close the form down. This will ensure that when you register a new patient, you will get the most up-to-date file number.

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11. My medical practice moves to a new location or my doctors have new provider number.

Go into Admin Tasks, Setup tab, Doctors.  Should you change the provider numbers of the doctors?  NO!  Please add new doctors instead.  Then untick the Available To Work box for the old records. This will hide the old records from the list of doctors when you are in the Invoice Details form.

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12. Medclaims transmission reports print each patient twice or three times.

Please go into Admin Tasks, Setup tab, Doctors.  You have created two doctor records with the same provider number. This is not advisable. You should give different provider numbers. For example, you could put “100” as the provider number for the second record.

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13. My computer running very slowly.

• Compact the database at the end of each day on the server only (Admin Tasks, Repair and Compact Database).  This can take 3 minutes.
• On each computer running Windows 98/2000, de-fragment the hard disk once a week (Close all program, click Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter). Do this overnight because it can take 2 hours.
• If you’re using Medical Director, go into Medical Director Maintenance (on the server only), click Recreate Indexes. This can take 15 minutes.
• Ensure the network speed is 100 Mbit/s.
• Increase the memory of the workstations to 128 MB or more, and the server to 256 MB or more.
• Upgrade the hard disk drives and CPU’s to higher speeds.

Many medical centers have moved to Terminal Services with great results.  This technology allows all processing to be done on the server, so the workstations and the network can be old and yet the  programs still run at great speed.  We strongly recommend Terminal Services, especially for practices with 4 or more full-time doctors.

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14. I want to do Medclaims on a different computer.

The easiest thing to do is to re-install Medclaims (see the Practice 2000 Setup section of this manual).

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15. I have replaced my old server, now I want to install Practice 2000 and its data on the new computer.

Just install Practice 2000 as usual (see the Practice 2000 Installation section of this manual). Then copy the following from the old computer: the files PRACDATA.MDB and SYSTEM.MDW, the folders LETTERS and LETTERTEMPLATES. Finally, install Medclaims.

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16. In patients form, as I type the name TEH it automatically changes to THE.

Practice 2000 comes with a dictionary of common spelling mistakes to give you automatic correction.  It does not know that some people can be named TEH or WOHLE.  To stop auto correction:

1. Click the Tools menu, then AutoCorrect
2. Untick the box “Replace Text as you type”, then click OK.

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17. My printer is not working as usual.

Please do each of these tasks in turn.

1.       Check if paper is still available

2.       Check if there’s a paper jam.

3.       Check if there’s any light on the printer

4.       Check if the cable connecting the printer to the computer is properly plugged in

5.       Switch the printer off, then on. Do a test print.

6.       Restart the computer.  Do a test print.  This should fix 95% of the cases.

7.       Click Start, Settings, Printers.  Right-click the printer in trouble, click Properties, then Print Test Page. If no test page is printed, please call your hardware supplier or hardware consultant.

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18. Some invoices or appointments have been changed. How to find out what was changed?

1. On the server, please right click the Start button, then click Explorer.
2. Open the Practice folder where the database is kept.  Double click the Logs subfolder
3. In this folder there are files with names like 010715.TRA.  This file contains all transactions (invoices + payments) recorded on 15 July 2001.  The file name is in the yymmdd format.
4. To open it, double click the file.  If asked to select the program to open the file, choose Wordpad then click OK.  You can click the Printer icon to print the file.
5. There are also files with names like 010715.APP.  This file contains all appointments recorded on 15 July 2001.

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19. When creating a new invoices, the list of items is not in the order you want. You want to bring some items to the top of the list.

In the Invoice Details form, when you click the down arrow to get a list of items, the items are sorted by the List Order.  Items having the same List Order are sorted by the item code (also called the item number). 

To see the List Order for the items, please click Admin Tasks, Setup tab, Fee Scales.  When your system is first set up, the List Order is zero for all items.  You can favour some items by giving them a larger List Order, e.g. 10 or 100.  If an item is out of favour, you can change its List Order back to 0.

After changing the List Order, please close down Practice 2000 and reopen it for the new settings to take effect.

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20. When reprinting an invoice, a little incomplete window is displayed and the computer appears to freeze.

This problem only occurs in systems running Terminal Services. Normally, in the Invoices form, when you click Print Invoice, a message box comes up asking “This invoice has been printed before.  Would you like to reprint it as a duplicate? (No = print as original)”.  Sometimes this box is truncated so you see only a little rectangle.   

There are 3 choices to the above question: YES, NO and CANCEL.  Even though you cannot see the question, you can still answer:   

1.       Press Enter to say YES, i.e. printing a duplicate invoice

2.       Press the right arrow to move the cursor to the (invisible) NO answer, then press Enter.  This will print an original invoice

3.       Press Escape to cancel printing.

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21. How to copy a file from one computer to another?

Suppose you want to copy the file PRACTICE.MDE from the C:\PRACTICE folder on the computer A to the computer B.  Please:

1. Go to the computer B.  Right-click the Start button, then click Explore. 
2. On the left side of the Windows Explorer screen, scroll to the bottom and click My Network Places or Network Neighbourhood
3. On the right, double click the computer A, then double click the PRACTICE folder.  If there’s no PRACTICE folder but the C: drive exists, double click the C: drive first.
4. On the right side of the Windows Explorer screen, right-click the file PRACTICE.MDE, then click Copy
5. On the left side of the Windows Explorer screen, scroll to the top and double click the C: drive of the computer B.  (If not available, double click My Computer first).
6. On the left, right-click the PRACTICE folder, then click Paste
7. Confirm that you want to replace the existing file

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22. Does Practice 2000 support VISTA and LINUX?

At the moment, we don't support Practice 2000 on VISTA, until Medicare Online supports Vista.
Medicare says they're working on it, but it is probably a year away.
We don't support LINUX as well.

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Please click here to download the online version of PRACTICE 2000 manual. Note that all the FAQ and Installation guides are included in the manual.

For more information, feel free to contact us

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