Healthcare Messaging
Praxi supports secure clinical messaging via Australian health networks, enabling you to send referral letters, discharge summaries, and clinical correspondence to other healthcare providers electronically. Messages are transmitted using HL7 format with PKI certificate encryption, meeting Australian healthcare interoperability standards.
Supported Providers
Two Australian health messaging networks are fully integrated:
| Provider | Description |
|---|---|
| Medical-Objects | Widely used secure messaging network for healthcare |
| HealthLink | Clinical messaging and e-referral network |
Your practice connects to one or both of these networks depending on which providers you need to communicate with. Most receiving practitioners and organisations are reachable via at least one of these networks.
networks. If your practice requires a provider not listed above, contact Praxi support to discuss your needs. :::
What You Can Send
Healthcare messaging is used for clinical correspondence between providers:
| Document type | Description |
|---|---|
| Referral letters | Refer clients to specialists or allied health |
| Discharge summaries | Summarise treatment on discharge from your care |
| Clinical reports | Share assessment results and treatment progress |
| GP letters | Correspond with general practitioners |
| Specialist reports | Share findings with referring practitioners |
All messages are formatted in HL7 standard, ensuring compatibility with the receiving provider's clinical software.
Setting Up Healthcare Messaging
Prerequisites
Before configuring healthcare messaging, you need:
- A registration with your chosen messaging network (Medical-Objects or HealthLink)
- A PKI certificate issued by the network provider
- Your practice's Healthcare Provider Identifier (HPI-O) or individual HPI-I
Configuration
- Go to Settings > Integrations > Secure Messaging
- Select your messaging provider
- Enter your provider registration details
- Upload your PKI certificate
- Configure your sending identity (practice name, provider number)
- Test the connection
- Click Save
does not hold a shared account for Medical-Objects or HealthLink, so your messages and inbox are always yours alone. Inbound messages are filed to the practice whose secure address they are sent to. :::
ensuring that only the intended recipient can read the content and that the sender's identity is verified. Your certificate is issued by the messaging network as part of the registration process. :::
Multiple Providers
If your practice needs to communicate via more than one network:
- Complete the setup process for each provider
- Praxi automatically selects the appropriate network based on the recipient's registered network
- You can also manually choose the provider when sending a message
Sending a Message
From a Client Record
- Open the client record
- Navigate to Documents or Correspondence
- Click New Letter or select an existing document to send
- Choose the recipient from the provider directory or enter their details manually
- Review the document content and recipient details
- Click Send
- The message is added to the delivery queue
From the Referral Workflow
When creating a referral:
- Complete the referral letter using Praxi's document tools (or AI-assisted generation)
- Select the receiving provider
- Praxi automatically determines the correct messaging network for that provider
- Click Send Referral
- The referral is queued for secure delivery
Message Delivery
Queued Delivery
Messages are queued for reliable delivery using a background processing system:
| Stage | Description |
|---|---|
| Draft | Message saved but not yet queued |
| Queued | Message accepted and waiting for delivery |
| Sending | Message being transmitted to the network |
| Sent | Transmitted, awaiting delivery confirmation |
| Delivered | Network has confirmed receipt |
| Read | Recipient has opened the message (if supported) |
| Acknowledged | Recipient has explicitly acknowledged the message |
| Failed | Delivery failed (see error details) |
| Bounced | Delivery permanently failed at the recipient's end |
| Expired | Message wasn't delivered within its time limit |
Queuing ensures that temporary network issues do not result in lost messages. Failed deliveries are retried automatically.
Tracking Delivery Status
Monitor message delivery in Messages:
- Open Messages and select the Providers lane
- View the list of sent messages with their delivery status
- Click any message to see detailed delivery information
- Failed messages show the reason for failure and retry options
Security and Encryption
| Protection | Detail |
|---|---|
| PKI encryption | Messages encrypted with recipient's public key |
| Digital signatures | Sender identity verified via PKI certificate |
| HL7 format | Standard healthcare messaging format |
| Audit logging | All sent and received messages logged |
| Transport encryption | TLS 1.3 for network transmission |
Provider Directory
Praxi includes a provider directory to help you find recipients:
- When composing a message, search by provider name, practice name, or provider number
- The directory shows which messaging network each provider is registered with
- Save frequently used recipients to your contacts for quick access
Receiving Messages
Incoming messages from other healthcare providers appear in the Providers lane of Messages:
- Open Messages from the main navigation and select Providers
- Unread conversations are marked
- Open a conversation to read the message
- Select Acknowledge if the sender asked for acknowledgement
- Assign, star, snooze or label the conversation to follow it up
Troubleshooting
Message Failed to Send
- Check your PKI certificate has not expired
- Verify the recipient's details are correct
- Confirm your network registration is active
- Check the error message for specific details
- Retry the delivery from the message detail page
Cannot Find Recipient
- Confirm the recipient is registered with a supported messaging network
- Try searching by provider number instead of name
- Contact the recipient's practice to confirm their messaging details
- If the recipient is on a different network, check whether your practice is registered with that network
Certificate Issues
- PKI certificates typically expire annually -- check the expiry date
- Contact your messaging network provider to renew an expired certificate
- Upload the renewed certificate at Settings > Integrations > Secure Messaging