Switching
Switch in 48 hours
Nobody stays on practice software because they like it. They stay because leaving looks expensive, risky and slow. This page is about removing each of those three, in that order, and being honest about the parts we cannot remove.
In short
Switching to iScript takes two working days: one to build and load the practice, one to train the staff and submit the first live claim. Your practice number, your BHF number and each practitioner's registration do not change, so nothing changes in the way a medical scheme sees you. There is no charge to switch, no charge to leave, and no minimum term. The clinical platform you are switching to is R0 per seat, permanently.
What we commit to
What can a practice actually hold us to?
Five things, all of them either written into the contract or published on this site before you speak to anybody. Nothing on this list depends on a conversation going well.
No charge to leave
Portability is in the contract, not in a support ticket. There is no export fee, no termination fee and no minimum term on either module. A supplier that has to trap a practice has already told that practice what it thinks of its own product.
No charge to arrive
The standard switch is not billed. No setup fee, no configuration fee, no training fee. Bulk migration of historic clinical data from an outgoing system is optional, scoped separately and quoted in writing before any work begins — and no practice is required to take it.
Published pricing, not a quote
Every figure is on the pricing page before you speak to anybody. CORE — the whole clinical platform — is R0 per seat permanently with claims at R9.95 each from prepaid credits. STRIDE adds one optional module at R699 and takes claims to R8.95; SUMMIT adds both at R1 199 and takes them to R7.95. There is no negotiation to lose.
The practice keeps its data
The record belongs to the practice, and to the practitioner who is legally responsible for it. That is true on the day you arrive and on any day you choose to leave.
Your identity with the schemes does not move
Practice number, BHF number and each practitioner's own registration stay exactly as they are. What changes is the software that assembles and transmits a claim, not the entity submitting it.
The timeline
What actually happens, and when?
Two working days, preceded by one conversation and followed by a fortnight. The two days are the part that is fixed. The conversation before them is the part that determines whether they go well.
- Before day one
The export conversation
We speak to the practice — and, where the practice asks us to, to its outgoing supplier — about what can be got out of the current system and in what form. What comes across, and what does not, is agreed in writing before a cut-over date is set. Nothing is cancelled and nothing is switched off at this stage.
- Day one, morning
Your practice is built
The practice is created, branded and configured. Practitioners are registered against their own HPCSA and BHF numbers. Consulting rooms, sites, consultation types and fees are set up as the practice actually runs, not as a template assumes.
- Day one, afternoon
Data in, reconciled in front of you
Patients, tariffs and outstanding balances are loaded and then reconciled against the outgoing system with a member of the practice in the room. A discrepancy found here is a task. A discrepancy found in March is an argument.
- Day two, morning
Training on your own data
Two to three hours with reception, billing and clinical staff, on the practice's own tenant, with the practice's own patients on screen. Not a manual, and not a sandbox with invented names in it.
- Day two, afternoon
The first live claim
The practice submits a real claim from iScript and watches the response come back. From that point the practice is consulting on the platform.
- The fortnight after
We stay in the room
Your outgoing system stays open for as long as you choose to keep it — nothing forces you to close it on day two. We stay close to the practice's day for the first two weeks, because the questions that matter only appear once real patients are in front of real people.
What we need from you
Six things, and the list does not grow
If a switch is going badly it is nearly always because somebody kept adding to this list. So it is published here, and it is the whole of it.
- 01Your logo and the practice's details as you want them to appear.
- 02A list of practitioners with their registration and BHF numbers.
- 03Your current fee or tariff list, in whatever form it exists today — a spreadsheet is fine.
- 04An export from your current system, or permission for us to ask for one on your behalf.
- 05Two people, for a two-hour training session on day two.
- 06A decision on the cut-over date.
Everything else — configuration, branding, practitioner registration, tariff mapping, the data load, the reconciliation and the training — is ours.
The things that actually stop people
Four fears, answered without a euphemism
Every practice that has thought seriously about moving has thought about these four. Where the honest answer is a process rather than a feature, we have written the process.
What happens to our history
Nothing is deleted anywhere. Your outgoing system keeps its copy of everything until you decide to close it, and we would generally advise keeping read access for as long as your retention obligations run. What can be exported cleanly is loaded and reconciled against the old system in front of you. What cannot be exported cleanly is identified before the cut-over date is agreed, not discovered afterwards, and the practice decides what it wants done about it.
What happens to claims already in flight
They stay where they were sent. A claim submitted from the outgoing system is adjudicated, settled and remitted through that system exactly as it would have been, because the scheme is dealing with your practice number and not with your software. We agree a cut-over date with you; everything from that date is claimed through iScript, and the outstanding balances on either side are reconciled during the first fortnight rather than assumed.
What happens if it does not work
You leave, and it costs nothing. There is no minimum term on either module, no termination fee and no charge to export. The clinical platform was free, so there is no sunk licence to argue about. We would rather a practice left in month two having lost nothing than stayed in month twelve because leaving had been made expensive.
Who actually does the work
We do. Configuration, branding, practitioner registration, tariff mapping, the data load, the reconciliation and the training are ours. The practice supplies a logo, a practitioner list, a fee list, an export and two people for one training session. If a switch is going badly, it is almost always because that list grew — so it is published here, and it does not grow.
What it costs
Nothing
Not a promotional nothing with an expiry date on it. The clinical platform is free permanently, and switching onto it is not billed.
- Setup and configuration
- R0
- Branding and practitioner registration
- R0
- Data load and reconciliation
- R0
- Staff training
- R0
- Leaving again, at any point
- R0
- The clinical platform, afterwards
- R0 per seat, permanently
From there you pay R9.95 for each medical-scheme claim you actually submit on CORE, and nothing else unless you choose a module — R699 for one (STRIDE, which takes claims down to R8.95) or R1 199 for both (SUMMIT, R7.95). Bulk migration of historic clinical data from an outgoing system is optional, scoped separately, and quoted in writing before any work begins.
Every figure, published in fullThe two modules, if you want them
R699 each, or R1 199 for both rather than R1 398.
Neither is required in order to practise on the platform, and neither carries a minimum term. A practice that switches and takes nothing else pays for its claims and for nothing more.
Questions
Switching, answered directly
Each answer is written to stand on its own, so it means the same thing quoted out of context as it does here.
How long does it take to switch to iScript.live?
- Two working days from the first working session to consulting on iScript. Day one builds and configures the practice and loads the data; day two trains the staff on the practice's own tenant with its own records, and ends with a live claim. Nothing about the way a medical scheme sees the practice changes.
Will we lose our patient history if we switch?
- No. Nothing is deleted anywhere. The outgoing system keeps its own copy until the practice chooses to close it. We agree with the practice, in writing, what can be exported and what cannot before any cut-over date is set, and what is loaded is reconciled against the old system in front of the practice.
What happens to claims we have already submitted?
- They stay where they were submitted. A claim sent from the outgoing system is adjudicated and remitted through that system exactly as before, because the scheme is dealing with your practice number rather than with your software. Everything from the agreed cut-over date is claimed through iScript instead.
What does switching to iScript.live cost?
- Nothing. There is no setup fee, no onboarding fee, no training fee and no migration charge for a standard switch. The clinical platform is R0 per seat permanently. Bulk migration of historic clinical data from an outgoing system is optional, scoped separately and quoted in writing before any work begins.
What if iScript does not work out for our practice?
- You leave, and it costs nothing. Portability is written into the contract: no charge to export, no charge to terminate and no minimum term on either module. The practice's data is the practice's data. There is no sunk licence fee to argue about, because the clinical platform was free to begin with.
Who does the work of switching — us or you?
- We do. Configuration, branding, practitioner registration, tariff mapping, the data load, the reconciliation and the training are ours. The practice supplies a logo, a practitioner list, a fee list, an export from its current system and two people for one two-hour training session on day two.
Do our practice code numbers or scheme arrangements change?
- No. The practice keeps its practice number, its BHF number and each practitioner's own registration. Agreements with medical schemes are between the practice and the scheme and are untouched by a change of software. What changes is the system that assembles and transmits the claim, not the identity submitting it.
Can we run our old system alongside iScript for a while?
- Yes, and many practices do. Nothing requires an outgoing system to be closed on day two, and where a practice also takes the Finance module the general ledger is deliberately run in parallel for a full month and reconciled to the same closing balance before anything is switched off.
Just practise.
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