Doctor Guide
Managing your practice on ELMED from day one.
Getting started
How do I register as a doctor?
Go to elmed.healthcare/register and select Doctor as your role. Fill in your details including your HPCSA number. Once submitted, the ELMED admin team reviews your registration. You will get an email when you are approved.
What does my dashboard show?
Your dashboard shows today's consultations, any new booking requests waiting for your response, recent prescriptions you have issued, unread messages, and a summary of your earnings this month.
How do I set up my booking availability?
Go to My Calendar in the sidebar. Set your available days and times, choose how long each slot is, and block off any dates you are unavailable. Patients can then book directly from your public profile.
Consultations
How do I accept a consultation request?
Go to Consultations in the sidebar. New requests show up with a status of Requested. Click Accept to confirm the booking. The patient gets a notification right away.
How do I start and run a consultation?
When it is time, open the consultation and click Start. Record vitals, add an ICD-10 diagnosis code, write your clinical notes, and issue any prescriptions or referrals from the same screen. When you are done, click Complete.
Does completing a consultation automatically create a claim?
Yes. If the patient has a medical aid linked to their profile, ELMED automatically creates and submits a claim to their scheme when you mark the consultation as complete. You do not need to do anything extra.
Prescriptions
How do I write a prescription?
Inside a consultation, click Add Prescription. Add each medication with the dosage, frequency, duration, and any notes. When you save, a PDF is generated automatically and sent to the patient. If they have a preferred pharmacy set, the prescription routes there automatically.
Can I prescribe outside of a consultation?
Yes. Go to Prescriptions in the sidebar and click New Prescription. Search for the patient by name or email, then fill in the medication details as normal.
Can my patient track their prescription delivery?
Yes. If the patient's preferred pharmacy offers home delivery, they can track it in real time from their patient portal under My Orders. The pharmacy assigns a driver and the patient sees a live 4-step timeline: dispensed, assigned, out for delivery, delivered. You do not need to do anything — it happens automatically once the pharmacy dispatches the order.
Referrals
What types of referrals can I issue?
ELMED supports all referral types: Lab, Imaging, Specialist, Rehab, Dental, Optical, Maternity, Nurse, Cannabis, Allied Health, and Complementary Medicine. They are all in one place under the Referral Hub inside a consultation. When you refer a patient to an allied health or complementary medicine practitioner, their discharge summary is automatically returned to your patient record when their sessions are complete.
How does the patient receive the referral?
Once you issue a referral, it appears in the patient's portal under their consultation record. They can view the details and share it with the referred provider.
Earnings and payouts
How do I get paid?
Go to My Bank Account in the sidebar and enter your South African banking details. ELMED processes payouts weekly. Standard accounts pay out after the platform fee is deducted. Premium subscribers keep 100% of what patients pay.
Where do I see my earnings history?
Go to Earnings in the sidebar. You will see a breakdown of each consultation, the platform fee deducted, and the amount paid out to you.
Your public profile and microsite
What is my doctor microsite?
Every doctor on ELMED gets a public profile page at elmed.healthcare/dr/your-name. Patients can find you, read about your services, and book directly from your page. You can add your bio, photo, conditions you treat, and testimonials from the portal.
Can I use my own domain?
Yes. Premium subscribers can point their own domain (like drsmith.co.za) to their ELMED profile. Contact support@elmed.healthcare to set this up.
Using one account for both doctor and patient
Can I also use ELMED as a patient?
Yes. As an approved doctor you can add a patient profile to your account at any time. This means you can book consultations with other doctors, manage your own prescriptions, add family members, and submit medical aid claims, all without needing a second account or email address.
How do I add a patient profile to my doctor account?
Click your name in the top-right corner of any portal screen. You will see + Add Patient Profile at the bottom of the dropdown. Click it once and your patient profile is created instantly.
Your nav menu looks like this
Dr Jane Smith
Doctor
Click this once. Done. No approval needed.
How do I switch between doctor and patient view?
Once your patient profile is active, the menu changes. You will see Switch to Patient View instead. Click it to enter the patient portal. To come back, open the menu in the patient portal and click Switch to Doctor Portal.
In doctor portal
Dr Jane Smith
Doctor
🔄 Switch to Patient View
In patient portal
Jane Smith
Patient
🔄 Switch to Doctor Portal
I registered as a patient first and now want to become a doctor. What do I do?
Log in to your patient account. Go to Profile in the sidebar and scroll to the bottom. You will see a Register as a Healthcare Professional button. Click it, select Doctor, complete your HPCSA details, and submit. The ELMED admin team will review and approve you. Once approved, both portals are linked automatically.