Switching
Switching to Foveal, from paper or another EMR.
What comes across, what doesn't, how long setup takes, and how you leave if it isn't for you. Your clinic can be running on Foveal in the same week you decide.
01From paper registers
You don't need to type up your old registers. Start registering patients on the day you go live. A returning patient gets a Foveal chart the first time they come back, and their paper file stays where it is for history.
If you already keep a patient list in Excel, import it (below) so the desk can find returning patients by mobile number from day one.
02From another EMR or a spreadsheet
Ask your current software for an export of your patient list. Most can produce an Excel or CSV file. Then the clinic head or manager imports it from Settings → Data & devices → Import patients:
- Save the file as CSV — in Excel, File → Save As → "CSV UTF-8". One patient per row, column names in the first row. A template is there to download if you are building the list by hand.
- Match your columns to Foveal's. Only the name is required; mobile, age or date of birth, sex, address and old file number are used when present.
- If the dates could be read day-first or month-first, you choose which, with examples from your own file.
- Check the preview. Nothing leaves your computer until you press Import, and rows with problems are listed instead of guessed at.
- Import. Each patient gets a Foveal MR number. Patients already registered are skipped, never changed. Up to 10,000 patients per file.
The old file number shows beside the MR number on each chart, so the desk can still pull the paper folder.
What does not come across: past consultation notes, prescriptions and bills. The import brings the patient list only. Keep your old system or paper files for history; Foveal's records start with the first visit you see in it.
03Setup, in the same week
After a demo and a one-page order note, your clinic is set up the same week. The setup is six short steps, done once by the clinic head:
- Clinic details.
- Doctor's name, qualification and registration number.
- Services and fees, including the consultation rates.
- Letterhead: upload your banner, or let Foveal compose one.
- WhatsApp.
- Staff accounts.
You can also choose your own MR number prefix, before the first patient is registered.
04Training your staff
We sit with your staff for their first morning. Each person signs in with their own account and sees the screens for their role: clinic head, manager, receptionist, optometrist or ophthalmologist. The front desk learns three things — search by mobile, check in, take payment. The doctor's screen is the one they will spend time on, and it fills in more each week as Foveal learns their medicines.
Keep the paper register beside the PC for the first day if it makes the desk calmer. Nothing stops you.
05Your data stays yours
The clinic head or manager can export the clinic's records as CSV at any time from Settings → Data & devices → Export patient data: patients, visits, refractions, diagnoses, prescriptions, invoices, consents and attachments, one file per kind of record. Operation theatre records are not in this export yet. Export still works after a subscription ends. See the security page for where data is stored and who can see it.
0630 days to be sure
Within 30 days of activation you can cancel for any reason and get a full refund, normally within 7 days. You can export your patient and billing records either way. The exact wording is in our terms. The launch price starts from ₹12,000 a year; plans are on the pricing section.
Questions about switching
Can I import past prescriptions and visit notes?
No. The import brings in your patient list: name, mobile, age or date of birth, sex, address and old file number. Past clinical notes stay in your old system or paper files.
How long does it take to start?
Your clinic is set up in the same week you decide, and we sit with your staff for their first morning.
What happens to my data if I leave?
You can export your patient, visit, prescription and billing records as CSV at any time, including after your subscription ends and during the 30-day money-back window.