Tunisie
CNAM billing: from code to bordereau, automatically
CNAM-linked billing takes time. How to automate it without errors.
6 min read
"Going digital" sounds like a building site: a weekend lost, files missing on Monday. In practice a Tunis practice modernises in stages, each useful on its own, without interrupting care. The order matters more than the speed.
The order matters more than the speed
The first step is never the AI. It is the computerised patient record and the staff calendar, both on all three plans, with the consultation workspace that holds symptoms, notes, diagnosis and treatment. Everything else attaches to those two.
A computerised patient record is the single file where one patient's history lives rather than spread across a folder, a notebook and a memory; in Doctopass it carries an eleven-section medical history, on every plan. The calendar beside it is drag-and-drop with conflict detection. Start elsewhere and you get the classic result: beautiful automatic transcriptions filed nowhere. See the computerised patient record and data protection.
Five steps, in order
Record, calendar, reminders, billing, portal. Each step is useful alone and each makes the next easier; a practice that stops at step three has already won its days back. What each is, and which plans carry it:
| Step | What it actually is | Which plans |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Patient record | Patient files, eleven-section medical history | All three |
| 2. Calendar | Drag-and-drop scheduling, conflict detection, Microsoft 365 and Outlook sync | All three |
| 3. Reminders | Appointment reminders, push and in-app | All three; SMS and WhatsApp credits: add-on on Essential, 200/mo Pro, 500/mo Premium |
| 4. Billing | Invoicing and manual payments — cash, cheque, transfer, card, insurance — recorded and reconciled automatically against the invoice | All three; auto-invoicing from the consultation Pro and Premium; AI CNAM auto-coding Premium |
| 5. Portal | Secure patient chat, patient portal in Arabic, French and English | All three |
The act is entered at check-in; after the consultation the invoice is generated showing the patient share, the CNAM share and the CNAM code; the bordereau is generated from that invoice. Doctopass does not teletransmit — sending the file to the caisse remains with the practice. See CNAM billing for doctors.
Step three is the cheapest line in the table, and its value is arithmetic you run on your own book: empty slots in a week, times your consultation fee, times the weeks you work. See appointment scheduling and reminders.
Moving the archive without losing it
Three starting cases, and in each the deciding question is the export, not the import. Migration itself is free, with no setup fees and no per-note charges. If you already run software, ask for the export before you sign anywhere else, and have it executed in front of you. For comparison, a Doctopass record exports in full as structured JSON with the generated PDFs; require the equivalent of every vendor you consider.
If you are on paper, two distinct answers exist and they are not the same product. Inside the software, handwriting OCR turns a photograph of a paper file into structured data — a Premium feature. Separately, the "Zero-Effort" Paper Digitization Service is an add-on that works with any plan: the archive is collected, logged and tracked box by box, turned into structured patient data rather than flat scans, matched to the right patient file, originals returned. With a spreadsheet and folders, start with the spreadsheet.
We will not publish a migration timetable: the duration is set by how much history you decide to carry back, not by the software. Nor will we tell you how long paper records must be kept — that is a regulatory question, to be verified with the binding authority, not a software vendor.
The obstacle is not technical
The migration is decided by the person who runs the appointment book, not by the software. No migration succeeds against the secretary; almost all succeed with her.
Essential includes one secretary seat, Pro three, Premium five. Each doctor grants scoped permissions rather than a full key — manage the calendar, create invoices, view clinical notes, message patients — each toggled individually and logged individually, with walk-ins slotting into a queue and every secretary carrying her own audit trail. State the gate honestly: the full audit trail is Pro and Premium, audit log search and the investigation interface are Premium.
Three gestures do the rest. Put her in the demonstration. Give her a clean perimeter instead of total access. And keep the paper book open in parallel until the day nobody opens it any more — that day arrives on its own, and it is the only adoption test worth running. See delegating to the secretary.
What must not change
A practice that digitises well does not change how it examines or how it talks to patients. If the screen gets between the two, the tool has failed.
Three things underneath make that possible. Every AI output is a draft: the doctor reviews and signs explicitly, with no automatic finalization and no silent write. Patient data is never hard-deleted — soft deletes preserve the clinical and legal record. For the Tunisian service the hosting is physically within Tunisia, with all AI processing on a model self-hosted in-jurisdiction, so no personal data goes to any external AI provider. Doctopass's INPDP declaration is submitted and the product is built GDPR-ready; no software makes a practice compliant on its own.
Doctopass constitutes the CNAM file up to the bordereau and does not carry it to the caisse. Patients do not book their own slot: the practice connects them five ways — email, SMS, a link, a Patient ID or a QR code — and the secure chat and trilingual portal do the rest. We would rather write those limits down than let them be discovered after signature.
Worth remembering
Put the record and the calendar in first, then reminders, billing, the portal; every step is useful alone. Settle the export before you sign, never after. Doctopass constitutes the CNAM file up to the bordereau; it does not carry it to the caisse.
Frequently asked
Do I have to digitise everything at once?
No — that is the most reliable way to fail. Move new patients first and let past patients come up as they return; the effort spreads over months and no day of consultations is blocked. The duration is a choice, which is why we quote no figure.
Do I need to replace my hardware?
Rarely. Web and mobile apps for the doctor, the patient and the secretary are on all three plans, and the practitioner's phone counts as hardware. What to check before committing is the connection at the practice, not the age of the workstation.
What does it cost a solo practice?
Essential is 69 DT per doctor per month, billed annually, with one secretary seat; Pro is 159 DT and Premium 269 DT on the same basis. Patients are free and unlimited on every plan, with no setup fees, no per-note charges and a 14-day free trial. The full comparison is on the pricing page.
What if I want to leave?
Check the exit before you enter, not after. A Doctopass record exports in full as structured JSON with the generated PDFs; demand the equivalent from every vendor. Writing that door down in advance beats discovering it after signature.
You do not modernise a practice in a night. You do it one gesture at a time, and each gesture pays for the next. To fit the order of the steps to your own situation, request a 30-minute demo — bring your appointment book, it is the best starting point there is.