Leaving DGL Practice Manager: Your Data Export Checklist

How to request your single-view EPR data export

To export your clinical and administrative data when leaving DGL Practice Manager, you must submit a formal written request to Lanas Healthcare Technologies (Clanwilliam Group) specifying that you require a complete SQL database backup or structured CSV files containing your entire Electronic Patient Record (EPR). DGL documents a single-view Electronic Patient Record (EPR) (source) which consolidates patient histories, clinical letters, and demographic data. This database must be extracted in full to ensure you do not lose historical clinical records.

Initiating the process of leaving dgl practice manager requires a clear administrative strategy. The request should be sent by the lead consultant or the designated practice manager. Before initiating this, review your current contract terms; you can read our guide to practice management software contract notices to understand the standard notice periods required by Irish medical software vendors. Ensure you request all attachments—such as scanned referral letters, diagnostic reports, and post-operative summaries—in their native file formats (typically PDF or JPEG) alongside the structured text database.

Mapping your current clinical schedules and theatre lists

Your current and future appointments, room bookings, and theatre lists must be exported in a structured format (such as Excel or CSV) to ensure continuity of care across different hospital sites. DGL documents diaries for consultants, rooms and clinic sites, and clinic and theatre lists (source). For a busy urologist, this means mapping specific sessions across multiple private hospitals—such as transperineal prostate biopsy lists at the Hermitage Clinic, flexible cystoscopy sessions at the Beacon Hospital, or urodynamics clinics in your own rooms.

Your secretary should run a complete schedule export covering at least six months of historical appointments and all scheduled future bookings. This prevents double-bookings and ensures that follow-up pathways, such as PSA monitoring or post-lithotripsy reviews, remain uninterrupted. Use the following structure to map your schedules during the transition:

Transitioning your Healthcode EDI billing workflows

When transitioning your billing, you must ensure that outstanding claims sent via Healthcode are reconciled before you disconnect your DGL billing module, while preparing your direct insurer portals for ongoing submissions. DGL sends invoices electronically to Healthcode (EDI billing), which forwards them to insurers (source). In Ireland, private consultants bill major open-market insurers like Vhi Healthcare, Laya Healthcare, Irish Life Health, and Level Health (source).

To prevent cash-flow interruptions during the migration, your secretary should reconcile all pending Healthcode submissions. For outstanding claims, keep a manual ledger of pre-authorisation numbers and submitted codes. Because modern platforms do not always include automated insurer EDI submissions in their launch releases, your secretary will need to use each insurer's direct portal or your existing billing channels during the transition. For example, Vhi's Schedule of Benefits for Professional Fees (the e-Schedule) requires registration at www.vhi.ie/pvs (source). You can find a detailed breakdown of how different platforms handle clinical administration on our DGL Practice Manager comparison page.

Managing user access and RSA security fobs during migration

During a system migration, you must audit all active user credentials, transition any soft fobs, and collect physical RSA key fobs to prevent unauthorised database access. DGL requires multi-factor authentication before any user can access the system; its data-security page describes time-synchronised RSA key fobs (source). Its November 2024 update added soft fobs, allowing users to log in without a physical fob (source).

When leaving dgl practice manager, your secretary and any clinical associates must have their access tightly managed to maintain data security. Use the following checklist to manage this phase:

• Audit User Accounts: List every user with active access to your DGL database, including remote secretaries and billing agents.
• Identify Authentication Methods: Note who uses physical RSA fobs versus soft fobs on mobile devices.
• Schedule Deactivation: Coordinate with the vendor to set a hard deactivation date for all DGL credentials matching your final contract termination date.
• Collect Physical Hardware: Retrieve all physical RSA fobs from staff for secure return or disposal.

What happens to your integrated Microsoft Word and Outlook licences?

Because DGL includes bundled Microsoft Word and Outlook licences, terminating your subscription means you must secure independent licences to maintain access to your email and document templates. DGL includes Microsoft Word and Outlook licences (source). If you rely on these bundled licences for your daily clinic correspondence, you will lose access to the software once your contract ends.

To avoid disruption, purchase standalone Microsoft 365 or Office 2021/2024 licences for your practice computers before your subscription terminates. Your secretary must manually back up your custom Word templates—such as GP referral letters, prostate biopsy post-op instructions, or flexible cystoscopy discharge summaries. Additionally, ensure your Outlook PST files are exported to secure your historical email correspondence and prevent the loss of critical patient communications.

Establishing a secure timeline for your new practice software setup

A safe software migration requires a structured 30-to-60-day timeline that covers contract notice, data extraction, validation, and team training. Planning your departure well in advance makes leaving dgl practice manager a controlled administrative process rather than a rushed transition. For a broader view of the Irish market, consult our complete comparison of practice management software in Ireland.

When selecting a new platform, ensure your data is hosted within the EU. For example, modern solutions like Brigid host data securely in AWS Dublin (eu-west-1). To modernise patient communication, you can also adopt the MyBrigid patient app, which allows patients to complete intake forms online before their visit, reducing the data-entry burden on your secretary. Under this model, one MyBrigid account connects to more than one clinic, allowing the patient to choose exactly what to share, category by category, keeping them in control of their administrative data.

To begin your transition today, review your current DGL contract to confirm your notice period and request a sample data export schema from your account manager.

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