Frequently asked questions

Maree-CareFlow is a self-hosted practice management platform built from the ground up for Australian allied health and NDIS service providers. It handles NDIS billing, multi-funder claim management (Medicare, DVA, WorkCover, CTP, Home Care), clinical documentation, AI report generation, staff rostering, SDA compliance, and client management - all in a single platform. Unlike general scheduling tools, every feature was designed around Australian regulatory requirements including NDIS PACE, AHPRA, Privacy Act 1988, and the SCHADS Award.

Yes. Maree-CareFlow includes a free, self-service Data Migration & Import tool with a guided wizard - included for every organisation, on every plan including Free. Export your data from Cliniko, Halaxy, Power Diary, Splose, ShiftCare, Nookal or a spreadsheet as CSV, Excel, JSON or a ZIP bundle, upload it, and the importer auto-maps the columns, validates every field (NDIS numbers, dates, emails, phones), and de-duplicates against your existing records. You get a full reconciliation report to review before anything is written; you sign off; and the import commits to your live data - with one-click rollback available until you go live. It brings across participants, staff, sites, contacts, NDIS plans, funding pools, goals, appointments, clinical / progress notes and billing history - and you choose exactly which aspects to import, so you can keep everything or leave out anything you would rather not bring across (for example historical invoicing).

Maree-CareFlow was built from the ground up specifically for the Australian NDIS and multi-funder environment, rather than adapted from a general-purpose scheduling tool. Key differentiators: (1) True NDIS period-by-period budget tracking - not just lifetime totals; (2) All 13 motor accident and WorkCover schemes tracked and billed natively in a single platform; (3) AI clinical report generation that runs on your own server via built-in local AI with mandatory AHPRA consent checkpoints - clinical text stays on your infrastructure by default (you may optionally connect your own cloud AI provider); (4) Australian data sovereignty - self-hosted on infrastructure you control, so your records stay on the infrastructure you choose. One exception is worth naming: built-in telehealth video uses the public Jitsi service unless you point it at your own server, so a video consultation on a default install is carried by a service operated overseas.

Yes. Maree-CareFlow supports a broad range of Australian healthcare funding types: NDIS (agency-managed, plan-managed, and self-managed), Medicare MBS, Medicare Better Access MHTP, Medicare Eating Disorder Program, DVA, Home Care Package (HCP), Private Insurance, WorkCover (all states), and all 13 motor accident and WorkCover schemes (CTP in every state and territory, WorkCover NSW/VIC/QLD/SA/WA, and TAC VIC). You can assign multiple funding sources to a single client and track each independently.

Each NDIS participant's funding pool can be configured with a period type (annual, quarterly, monthly, or fortnightly) and a budget amount per period. As you create and approve time entries, Maree-CareFlow deducts from the current period's budget - not the lifetime total. You can see exactly how much is remaining in the current period, the weekly burn rate ($/week), and a projected date when the budget will be exhausted. Automated alerts notify you (and optionally the plan manager) when the balance reaches your configured threshold. This prevents the common compliance issue of accidentally overspending a period's budget.

Your data is stored on infrastructure you control. Maree-CareFlow is a self-hosted application - you install it on your own cPanel server, Docker VPS, or bare-metal server in Australia. On a self-hosted install, no participant data is transmitted to Maree-CareFlow's servers. (If your practice subscribes to our optional Managed Hosting, we run the server for you, so we do hold your records on your behalf - see Section 6A of the Privacy Policy.) One feature does reach a third party by default and you can change it in a minute: built-in telehealth video runs through the public meet.jit.si server unless you point Maree-CareFlow at your own Jitsi instance, in which case the video never leaves your infrastructure either. Everything else - clinical notes, documents, claims - stays on your server unless you connect an optional integration yourself. The built-in AI runs locally on your own server for report drafting and photo assessment, and is tried before any cloud provider. One AI feature is different and we would rather say so: turning a session recording into a SOAP note has no local option, so it only works if you connect your own cloud AI key, and the transcript is then sent to that provider under your own account with them. Connecting any cloud AI provider is optional and your own choice, and there is a setting that blocks cloud AI outright and is enforced in code. Enterprise customers can receive a written Australian data residency commitment on request.

Because Maree-CareFlow is self-hosted, your practice is the data controller for all health information. The software is designed to support your obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles: data minimisation, purpose limitation, participant access/correction rights, and breach notification. Our Privacy Policy sets out how we handle the limited data we collect from our marketing website. See Privacy Policy for full details.

Yes. Maree-CareFlow is built to help you meet the key Australian frameworks for AI in clinical settings: (1) AHPRA’s 'Meeting your professional obligations when using Artificial Intelligence in healthcare' (22 August 2024) - a mandatory client consent checkbox must be confirmed before any report is generated; generation is blocked if consent is not confirmed; (2) Privacy Act 1988 APP 3/6/8/11 - the built-in AI runs on-premises on your server, so by default health data never leaves it; if you connect your own external cloud AI provider that cross-border choice is yours and remains consent-gated; (3) behaviour support plans - AI drafting of every behaviour-support report type is hard-blocked at the API level, so the application will not generate one. That is our own decision and it is stricter than the regulators: the NDIS Commission's February 2026 position statement says it does not endorse AI in this work but does not prohibit it, and the NDIS (Restrictive Practices and Behaviour Support) Rules 2018 require a plan naming a regulated restrictive practice to be developed by a practitioner the Commissioner considers suitable - a person. We cannot tell in advance which plans those are, so we refuse all of them; (4) ACSQHC AI Clinical Use Guide - a written practitioner attestation is required before any AI-drafted report can be approved. Every AI report generation is logged in the immutable audit trail.

Yes. Maree-CareFlow includes a cPanel deployment package specifically designed for shared hosting. Download the release zip from the Downloads page, upload it to your cPanel File Manager, extract it into public_html, and run the 4-screen setup wizard. It checks the server, saves your database details and security keys, shows the cPanel steps for your server type, and then verifies the running application over HTTPS before sending you to the page where you create your administrator account. Full step-by-step instructions are in the Install Guide. Note: AI features require a VPS or bare-metal server, as shared hosting cannot run local AI models.

cPanel (no AI features): Shared hosting with PHP 7.4+, Python 3.11+, PostgreSQL 13+ (not MySQL), and at least 512 MB RAM. Docker or Ubuntu VPS (with AI features): 4 vCPU, 16 GB RAM, 100 GB SSD - or 8 vCPU, 32 GB RAM, 200 GB SSD for larger practices. Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or 24.04 LTS recommended. Full requirements are on the Downloads page.

Maree-CareFlow runs on PostgreSQL because your clinical data deserves it - PostgreSQL gives smarter search, safer handling of complex health records, and stronger built-in protection against data errors. It is a free, industry-standard database that many hosts can enable for you (or use a managed PostgreSQL in an Australian region). It is about protecting patient information properly - not about being difficult. Many cPanel hosts ship MySQL by default, so PostgreSQL may just need to be switched on once by your host - tell us and we will help.

Every upgrade path preserves your existing encryption keys, secrets and data - the installers reuse the keys already on the server rather than regenerating them, so stored records stay readable. Always back up your database and .env first. cPanel: Back up with the new release's deploy/scripts/careflow-backup.sh, upload and extract the new zip over your existing install (your .env and secrets/ are preserved), then re-run the terminal installer over SSH with the --upgrade flag: cd ~/public_html/_careflow && bash terminal-install.sh --upgrade. The setup wizard cannot perform an upgrade - it has no update screen. Docker: Run the new installer script with the --upgrade flag - it pulls the new images, runs database migrations, and restarts services. Ubuntu bare-metal: Run the new installer script with --upgrade. Full upgrade instructions are provided with each release on the Downloads page.

The public beta runs until 31 October 2026. On 1 November 2026 your install runs on the plan it can prove: the Free tier, or the tier of a licence key you hold. As a thank-you, every practice that took part can ASK US for a second key granting the Enterprise tier free until 30 April 2027 - email support@maree-careflow.com.au with your install id and we will issue it. Paste it under Admin > Plan & Add-ons. Nothing is ever deleted, hidden or locked when a plan changes. If you finish the beta with 40 participants and later sit on the Free tier, all 40 stay fully readable, editable and exportable - the only thing the Free tier stops is adding the forty-first. You choose a plan after 30 April 2027, or stay on Free.

Yes - the Free tier is free forever, with no credit card required. It supports up to 10 active clients, includes core scheduling, NDIS billing, and client management. It's designed for sole practitioners just starting out, or for practices evaluating the platform before committing. Upgrade to Practitioner or Practice at any time without losing your data.

Support for every tier is by email to support@maree-careflow.com.au, read by a real person. Free tier: best-effort. Licensed tiers (Practitioner, Practice): general questions answered within a 2 business day target, critical system-down issues within a 4 business hour target, feature requests logged within 5 business days. Enterprise: dedicated account manager and priority support with response times agreed in your contract. Add-on Priority Support (AUD $75/month) gives your emails priority handling with a faster response target than the standard 2 business days. There is no live chat or support portal.

Subscription fees are quoted and charged in Australian Dollars (AUD). This is shown clearly on the Pricing page. Prices are exclusive of GST unless stated otherwise.

Yes. Monthly subscriptions can be cancelled at any time with effect from the end of the current billing period. Annual subscriptions can be cancelled with effect from the end of the annual period; no partial-year refunds are available except where required under the Australian Consumer Law. Because your data is self-hosted, cancelling your subscription does not delete your data - it remains on your server for you to export or archive as you choose. If you are on Managed Hosting, the server is ours rather than yours, so what happens to the instance and its backups after cancellation is set out in your Managed Hosting agreement - the export tools keep working either way.

Connecting your own external accounts using our setup guides is free. However, if you ask Maree-CareFlow staff to set up a third-party service that connects via API on your behalf - for example an SMS gateway account, an external AI provider, or an accounting connection such as Xero or MYOB - a once-off API setup fee applies, from AUD $149 per external service, quoted before work begins. The fee covers creating or configuring the account, installing the credentials into your instance, and running a verified end-to-end test. Ongoing usage charges (SMS credits, AI tokens, accounting subscriptions) remain payable to the third-party provider directly.

Enterprise includes everything in the Practice plan plus: 30 seats included (then AUD $29 per additional seat per month), white-label branding (your name, logo and colours, and a custom domain your operator points at the install), single sign-on (OpenID Connect with Entra ID, Okta or Google Workspace - SAML 2.0 is not supported), dedicated onboarding with a live install session, priority support with response times agreed in your contract, a written Australian data residency commitment, custom API integration assistance, and volume licensing. Contact our enterprise team for a custom quote.

Yes. Maree-CareFlow's multi-organisation architecture supports NDIS Plan Management (PM) organisations managing funding on behalf of multiple participants and service providers. The platform supports PM-specific workflows including provider payment processing, budget oversight across participant portfolios, and portal-ready NDIS PACE bulk claim files. Contact our enterprise team to discuss your PM workflow requirements.