TRANSFER.OUT Format

See also:

  • File Formats
  • Technical Reference

The Transfer.out file is a pipe delimited ("|" ASCII 124) text format containing patient demographics and is the preferred standard for transferring data from Clinical or into MedicalDirector Pracsoft when linked to a third-party package.

Each line in the file relates to a single patient and consists of a character string terminated with a single Carriage return/Line feed (ASCII 13 + ASCII 10). The file can contain any number of lines (each line representing a different patient record) as per the following format and is usually created in a shared data directory.

Field Position

Name

Max Field Length

Description

1

LinkingID

9

Unique identifying code for each patient 1

2

Title

5

Patient's Title

3

Surname

30

Patient's Surname

4

FirstName

30

Patient's First name.

For patients who go by a single name, this field will be exported as an empty string.

5

Address Details

40

Street and Number

6

City

25

City or Suburb

7

PostCode

4

Postcode

8

DOB

10

Date of birth in format dd/mm/yyyy 4

9

MedicareNo

12

Medicare Number

10

MedicareNo Ref

1

Medicare Index/Reference Number

11

Pension Number

14

Pension Number

12

DVA Number

14

DVA Number

13

Phone (Home)

14

Home Phone Number

14

Phone (Work)

14

Work Phone Number

15

Pension Code

1

Pension Code – P, R, L or blank 2

16

Gender

1

Blank (Not Stated)

M (Male)

F (Female)

X (Intersex)

O (Other)

17

SafetyNet No

14

Safety Net Number

18

Chart No

10

Record Number 3

19

Head of Family

9

ExternalID of the Head of Family record

20

LinkCode

1

A, U - Add, Update

    • Each Field is separate with a pipe (ASCII 124)

    • Blank fields should be kept as blank

    • Each field accepts a maximum number of characters you may use as many or as few characters as you wish, provided you do not exceed the maximum. It is not necessary to pad out fields with blank spaces in order to meet the maximum number of characters.

    1. May contain letters or numbers in a character format. This field needs to be unique as it is used as a key to identify patients and their associated clinical history. The system generating the Patients.in should not recycle this ID for other patients

    2. P = Pension/HCC holder
      R = VA yellow card holder
      L = DVA white card holder

    3. This field corresponds to the patient's record in the paper-based files, e.g. the RACGP filing system.

    4. If no date is available, spaces should be used as a place holder.