Straightforward Payments and Refunds

Using the feedback that we’ve received from you, we are planning to optimise how the Payments section is organised. You will still be able to do all the things you did before, only now, it’s going to be a lot simpler. Here’s a peek:

Settling Advances and Invoices: All on the same page now.

We’re putting all your payment options in one place. From the Add Payments screen, you can accept advances, settle them and settle invoices.

This is what you’ll see when you click on Add Payment.Billing - Sunshine Center _ Practo Ray- Advance payment2Once you’ve entered the Advance amount in the text box, the date will show in the bottom of the screen, where you can change it if needed.

Payment Date

Hit Save Payment when you’re done. The payment is now recorded. To see the help articles for making advance payments, click here.

If you click on the pending Invoice on the right instead, you’ll see this:  Billing - Sunshine Center _ Practo Ray settling an advance from an invoiceYou can settle the Invoice from here. You can see that we’ve already filled in most of the details, as usual. You just need to hit Save Payment and you’re done. 

To see how you can settle a pending Invoice, click here.
Using an Advance to pay an Invoice is here

Refunds in under 20 seconds (Yes, we timed it):

Refunds have now moved out of the Add Payment option and now come under the Payments Tab.  It’s just a two-step process, once you click on Refund.Billing - Sunshine Center _ Practo Ray Refund1

We’ve got detailed articles on Refunds here.

Three minor updates for Ray

Sometimes it’s the small things that make a big difference. Here are three such updates to make your practice management a little easier.

1. Appointment Confirmation SMS with the year mentioned.

When your patients/clients book an appointment with you, they get a confirmation SMS. Now, if they book an appointment that falls in the next year, the confirmation SMS will mention the year as well.

SMS Template

2. Sorting Inventory list Alphabetically:

This update applies only to customers in the Practo Basic and Advanced subscription plans.

INVENT SORT

By default, the inventory is sorted according to the item with low stock. Now, you can sort the Name column in the Inventory alphabetically.

  • When you click on Sort A-Z, it sorts the items in the ascending order. The sort option then changes to Sort Z-A.
  • Once you click Sort Z-A, the inventory gets sorted in descending order.
  • The sort option then changes to sort by stock, which will sort the list by stock again.

3. See who’s calling, even if they call from their Secondary mobile number.

This update applies only to customers using Practo Hello service.

These days everyone has two phones (or probably more). That’s why we have a Secondary Mobile Number provision in Practo Ray Contact Profile. Now when patients/clients call your Hello number from their secondary mobile, their names show up in Hello Calls Log, as you can see below.hello idEven though James Joyce has called the practice from two different mobile numbers, you can see that he is recognized in Hello Call Logs for both, his primary and the secondary mobile numbers.

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Hello Outgoing Calls to DND numbers blocked

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has introduced stiff penalties for violating Do-not-disturb (DND) norms. This has caused the 12th amendment of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) where all outgoing calls to DND numbers from IVR services will be blocked.

Excerpts from the 12th Amendment
1. Disconnection of number the first time it violates DND norm.
(The earlier process included sending a warning letter to the customer and disconnect in case of a repeat complaint.)
2. All resources in the same name and address, also to be disconnected.
3. Name and address of such DND norms violating subscribers will be uploaded on the TRAI portal.
4. All other operators will download this list and within 24hrs disconnect resources from their end as well, if allotted under that customer’s name and address.
(Which means every other telecom service provider will be forced to discontinue their service to you)

Click here to read the Complete Amendment

Given these harsh punitive actions, we have adjusted Hello to avoid such a situation altogether.

What changes in Hello?

Effective Friday, 17 January, 2014
1. Hello will not allow you to make outgoing calls to DND numbers and you will see an error message when you try to call a DND number
2. You will still continue to receive calls from DND numbers.
3. You can also continue to make calls to non-DND numbers as usual

In case your number itself is a DND number, you have two options:
1. Use a non-DND number to make outbound calls using Hello OR
2. Remove your DND number from the DND registry

UPDATE: As per another TRAI regulation enacted in December 2010, calls to non-DND numbers can only be made between 09:00 AM to 09:00 PM. 

We’ve made these changes to adhere to the DND norms and provide you a smooth calling experience. If you have any feedback or questions email us at support@practo.com or call us on +91 88805 88999.

Practo Support Holiday Timings

It’s the start of a fresh year, so here’s wishing you a Happy New Year.

On account of the holidays, we will be available for Support for a limited time. You can see our timings below.

1st January, 2014 – Wednesday – 10:00AM to 6:00PM IST

3rd January, 2014 – Friday – 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM IST

4th January, 2014 – Saturday – Closed

5th January, 2014 – Sunday – 10:00AM to 6:00PM IST

You can always send in your queries by mail at support@practo.com. We’ll be back on the 9:00AM to 9:00PM Timings from 6th January onwards.

Print Followup List

There are some patients who might not turn up for their follow-up visits even after receiving the Reminder SMS, and there are some you’d want to call up anyways to give an additional reminder for their follow-ups.

We know you could always use some help in making those calls. Even from those who don’t have access to Ray. So now you can share the list of upcoming follow-ups with anyone who can help, by printing it out. The new Print option helps you do just that. Screen Shot 2013-12-30 at 4.11.41 PM

 

Duplicate Prescriptions to save time

There would have been times when you wanted to make a small change on a prescription. Maybe you wanted to just change the dosage. So instead of typing it all over again, you can now save time by copying the prescription. You’ll just need to  click on Copy Prescription in the drop-down box. 

Screen Shot 2013-12-27 at 7.26.48 PM

Once you click on that, you’ll be taken to the Add Prescriptions page, with the details of the prescription that you copied, already filled in. You can edit whatever you want, or just save it to make a perfect copy.

Now See Doctor Timings On Calendar

Earlier, you could only see the clinic’s timings in the Calendar page. Now we’ve improved on that by letting you see the doctor’s timings.

So if the doctor is available in the clinic from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM and takes a break between 12:00 and 1:00 PM..Doctor Timings

..you’ll see that the 12:00-1:00 slot has been greyed out, as per the timings you’ve mentioned in the Settings page.Docs Availablity

So anytime the doctor is not available, that slot will be greyed out in the calendar.

Exact quantity of drugs in Prescriptions

You can now see the number of tablets or capsules that the patient needs based on your prescription. After you enter the frequency and dosage, Ray calculates the number of tablets or capsules needed. So now you can see the exact quantity of pills needed.

Prescritption Screen

The quantity of tablets or capsules is also printed on the Prescription. This makes it easier for your patients, especially at the pharmacy.Prescription print out

A small improvement which we thought would go a long way.

Send SMS Payment Reminders to patients

Payment Reminder Banr

You must already be sending your patients Payment Reminders by email. But to make sure that the Reminder reaches them right away, an SMS is your best bet. Because everyone has their phones with them all the time. Also, an SMS is a non intrusive way of contacting your patients, and they’ll know that you respect their privacy.

So you now you have one less call to make. All you have to do is click a button and your patient will receive an SMS of how much they have to pay, along with your contact details.

You will be able to send one SMS a week, per patient. You’ll find it under the Send Payment Overdue option. Send Overdue Reminder If you’d like to know more, you can read the Help article here.

We think the best way to give you a stellar product is by listening to what you need. We hope we’ve done that here. So please keep the suggestions coming.