Update 31 May, 2021: Tyro completes acquisition of Medipass Solutions, see the latest ASX announcement <a href="https://www.tyro.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/ASX-Release-Completion-of-Medipass-Deal-Final.pdf" rel="follow">here</a>.&nbsp;
Medipass Solutions announces acquisition by leading Australian fintech, Tyro Payments.
Medipass Solutions today announced it has been <a href="https://www.tyro.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ASX-Release-Medipass-Release-Final-10-May-2021.pdf" rel="follow">acquired by leading Australian fintech Tyro Payments</a>. Medipass will merge with Tyro&rsquo;s health practice to create Australia&rsquo;s leading healthcare payments platform.&nbsp;
Medipass Chief Executive Officer, Jonathan Davey, said, &ldquo;this merger will create the new global benchmark in simple, transparent healthcare claims and payments.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Combining Medipass&rsquo; digital healthcare payment and claiming solution with Tyro&rsquo;s leading healthcare terminal business will deliver a unified offering and a world-class experience. Patients, practitioners, health funds and statutory payers will be connected in one simple and secure platform. The combined business will provide an integrated claim and pay solution to all health practitioners and bring much needed transparency and simplicity to the A$130bn in payments and claims that are made every year.&rdquo;
Medipass was founded in 2016 and enables healthcare providers to quickly get paid from a range of insurers, including Medicare, private health insurers, Insurance &amp; Care (icare) NSW, Department of Veterans&rsquo; Affairs and more. The solution integrates into 17 cloud-based practice management and booking systems. Medipass has grown significantly over the last 4 years, driving change and adoption of digital solutions to healthcare providers and creating administration efficiencies. This growth was further accelerated with the rapid change in healthcare delivery models in the last year.
Tyro&rsquo;s health business provides terminal claiming for Private Health Insurance and Medicare as well as payment services. Tyro has been working with the health sector for over a decade, and integrates with 39 Practice Management Software systems across General Practice, Allied Health, Dental, Pharmacy and Specialists.&nbsp;
For an entirely digital experience, Medipass offers solutions that require no hardware or terminals, but healthcare providers and ultimately their patients want solutions that cater to all situations including where they want to tap, swipe or insert a card. The unified Tyro and Medipass proposition will deliver the strength of Tyro&rsquo;s existing terminal solution, including its customer base and software integrations, with the leading digital claiming technology, customer base and software integrations of Medipass.
As the healthcare ecosystem moves towards a digital future, we believe that a combined Tyro and Medipass payments offering will cater for both traditional in-practice and emerging ways that healthcare is being delivered, including telehealth and in-home, and the operational processes built around them.&nbsp;
Jonathan Davey will lead the merged entity with Medipass Executives Pete Williams and Adrian Perillo assuming critical leadership roles.
Tyro CEO, Robbie Cook, said, &ldquo;we are excited about the opportunity to work with Medipass, and ultimately to leverage the experience and capability of both companies to develop solutions that create efficiencies across the entire health care system. The Medipass team has built a solution unmatched in its capability, with a strong focus on customer service, which is critical as healthcare businesses make the shift to digital. Coupled with Tyro&rsquo;s leading terminal solution, we have a unified proposition that will meet all of a healthcare provider's payment needs, now and well into the future&rdquo;.
About Medipass&nbsp;
Medipass is an Australian health fintech, based in Melbourne. The company was established on the belief that a better health system demands better ways to connect and pay. Medipass builds digital health-grade payment solutions, connecting patients, practitioners and payers in ways that drive efficiency and better care experiences.&nbsp;
Medipass has grown to be Australia&rsquo;s leading digital health payments platform. For healthcare providers and partners, Medipass offers more digital claiming options than any other platform, including government funders, private health insurers and direct gap payments. With deep industry partner integrations and strong investment in integrating third party systems used by providers to make digital claiming a native and streamlined process, Medipass is closely aligned to healthcare provider workflows.
About Tyro
Tyro is a technology-focused and values-driven company providing Australian businesses with payment solutions and value-adding business banking products. The company provides simple, flexible and reliable payment solutions as a merchant acquirer, along with complementary business banking products.&nbsp;
For the more than 36,700 Australian merchants who chose to partner with Tyro at 31 December 2020, the company processed more than $20.1 billion in transaction value in FY20 and a record $12.1 billion in H1 FY21. In FY20 the company generated $93.5 million in gross profit (H1 FY21 $61.2 million), originated $60.1 million in loans (H1 FY21: $2.6 million) and held merchant deposits totalling $50.5 million (H1 FY21: $104.0 million).&nbsp;
Tyro is Australia&rsquo;s fifth largest merchant acquiring bank by number of terminals in the market, behind the four major banks.&nbsp;
The business was founded in 2003 with a goal of being the most efficient acquirer of electronic payments in Australia. Tyro has a track record of innovation, creating purpose-built solutions and being first to market. This approach saw the company become the first technology company to receive an Australian specialist credit card institution licence in 2005. In 2015 that licence was replaced by the award of an Australian banking licence, making Tyro the first new domestic banking licensee in over a decade.&nbsp;
Payments are at the core of Tyro&rsquo;s business, using its proprietary core technology platform to enable credit and debit card acquiring. This offering is enhanced by features purpose-designed for those merchants who choose to partner with the company, including Point of Sale systems integrations, least-cost routing (Tap &amp; Save) and alternative payment types such as integrated Alipay. While traditionally focused on in-store payments, Tyro has recently expanded into eCommerce.&nbsp;
Further, Tyro provides value-adding solutions to its partners, such as loans in the form of merchant cash advances and fee-free, interest-bearing merchant transaction accounts.&nbsp;
Tyro has a team of more than 500 people, approximately half of whom are in technology roles.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Jonathan Davey
Medipass CEO
email: <a href="mailto:media@medipass.io" rel="follow">media@medipass.io</a>

Medipass today announced it has been acquired by leading Australian fintech Tyro Payments. Medipass will merge with Tyro’s health practice.

Tyro Payments to acquire Medipass Solutions [Updated]

Medipass Solutions today announced it has been acquired by leading Australian fintech Tyro Payments. Medipass will merge with Tyro’s health practice to create Australia’s leading healthcare payments platform.

Tyro to acquire Medipass Solutions [Updated]

Medipass has been selected by Comcare to support the delivery of their digital invoicing capability, transforming the invoicing and payment experience for Comcare service providers.
Once implemented, this will mean that providers will be able to use Medipass, at no cost to them, to submit digital invoices for payment to Comcare. These will be instantly received by Comcare and if approved, settled into the provider's bank account next day.
This solution will enable service providers to simply raise invoices, have greater clarity over the status of their invoice, as well as enjoy the benefit of being paid faster.
Comcare will sit alongside existing Medipass claiming solutions for Medicare, Department of Veterans&rsquo; Affairs, Private Health Insurance, Insurance and Care NSW (icare) and WorkCover Queensland.
If you would like to learn more about Medipass, including software integration options for PMS vendors, please don&rsquo;t hesitate to <a href="https://medipass.com.au/contact-us" rel="follow noopener" target="_blank">contact us</a> directly.&nbsp;

Medipass has been selected by Comcare to support the delivery of their digital invoicing capability, transforming the invoicing experience.

Medipass to support digital invoicing for Comcare

Medipass has been selected by Comcare to support the delivery of their digital invoicing capability, transforming the invoicing and payment experience for Comcare service providers.

Update: New payment features support NDIS compliant invoicing and payment for Self Managed and Plan Managed participants with an easier way to get paid for your services.
New feature updates:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">New NDIS plan managers added to the directory, so you can support more Plan Managed participants</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Innovative payment features for providers to process payments for Self-Managed participants without an EFTPOS terminal.&nbsp;</li>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">Take payment in-rooms, on the road or online.&nbsp;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">Save payment details for future payments.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">Send payment links for outstanding payments</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="2">Simple reconciliation</li>
</ul>
</ul>
Medipass now enables users to create invoices that meet NDIS requirements which can be sent directly to plan managers, or, in the case where supports are self-managed, participants (or their family or other trusted party) for approval. This saves time and administrative burden as it becomes easier to take payment in more scenarios, and it&rsquo;s faster to raise compliant invoices, with fewer errors and less follow up.&nbsp;
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is vitally important to the Australian healthcare system. When fully implemented, it will make a significant difference to the lives of nearly half a million Australians living with a disability, as well as their family, friends, and support networks.
With a number of our team with first hand experience of the scheme, we know that navigating a complex system like NDIS can be confusing. That&rsquo;s why we are really proud to play our part by making it easier for healthcare businesses who work with NDIS participants to get paid.&nbsp;
Self-managed participant payments
Enjoy the flexibility of digital payments, whether you&rsquo;re on the road or in practice. Medipass enables you to raise a request for payment from anywhere, anytime, directly with your participants or their families for in-home, after hours and out of consultation room scenarios.&nbsp;
Plan managed participant invoicing
Track all your Plan Managed invoices in one reporting dashboard. It&rsquo;s simple to send your invoices to NDIS Plan Managers and streamline your process of getting paid. There is no additional cost associated with NDIS Plan Managed invoicing, so you can raise as many invoices as you need as part of your Medipass provider account. &nbsp;
Agency managed participant payment requests&nbsp;
At this stage, we are not offering a solution for the submission of payment requests to the NDIA for agency managed participants. We are still working through new options to enable this feature hopefully later this year.
NDIS claiming is available in beta to select businesses on request. To request access, please sign up here: <a href="https://medipass.com.au/ndis/">https://medipass.com.au/ndis/</a>&nbsp;

Medipass enables providers to claim for services delivered to patients who are covered by the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

Medipass adds support for NDIS invoicing

Medipass adds support for NDIS [Updated May 2021]

We&rsquo;re delighted to announce Private Health Claiming for Telehealth is now available in Medipass. Our Medicare and DVA claiming features have enabled healthcare providers to claim for new COVID-19 and existing telehealth related services. Today, we&rsquo;re excited to extend the capabilities of <a href="https://medipass.com.au/funders/hicaps/" rel="follow">Medipass Health Insurance Claiming, via HICAPS</a> to include selected telehealth services for private health funds.&nbsp;
The growing demand to access telehealth services means a simple and consistent approach to claiming is needed to help clinic owners and practice managers reduce their administrative burden. For a list of participating funds, item codes and&nbsp;how to submit private health insurance claims for telehealth services in Medipass simply visit this <a href="https://help.medipass.com.au/en/articles/5182089-telehealth-claiming-with-private-health-insurers">help article</a>.
About Medipass - Medipass is a health payments platform helping healthcare practitioners deliver a simpler claim and payment experience. Medipass is the official Claim and Payment Partner of the Australian Physiotherapy Association.

We’re excited to extend the capabilities of Medipass Health Insurance Claiming, via HICAPS to include telehealth services for private health

Private Health Claiming for Telehealth

Today, we’re excited to extend the capabilities of Medipass Health Insurance Claiming, via HICAPS to include selected telehealth services for private health funds.

Private Health Claiming for Telehealth services available in Medipass

One Central Health is a multidisciplinary allied health and paediatric clinic providing outstanding services in Western Australia and telehealth. Their healthcare services include psychology, occupational therapy, speech pathology, behaviour therapy, dietetics and paediatrics.
As a registered National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) provider, One Central Health offers approved participants plan management and support coordination services in addition to early childhood autism assessment.
Founded by Alana Maley-Berg in 2015, One Central Health combines allied health services, comprehensive therapy and NDIS support services for children, adults, and families of all backgrounds.
<img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/rXUaS6hzQ3uljc4KdvNf" />
Growing from one to six clinics
Starting with one practice in Perth, One Central Health quickly grew to six clinics across Western Australia with its holistic and multidisciplinary approach to healthcare. As the business operations started to scale the system, processes and growing team needed to be integrated to deliver the best client outcomes.&nbsp;
One Central Health is using <a href="https://www.cliniko.com/" rel="follow">Cliniko</a> as their practice management system as the central source for all patient records. With an intuitive cloud-based software, the distributed team across all six locations can securely access treatment notes, schedule and health records to provide the best customer experience and care.
&ldquo;From a business operations perspective, we needed a seamless integration between all our systems to make the invoicing process simple and smooth for our clients,&rdquo; explains Aaron Posner Communications &amp; Business Development Officer at One Central Health. &ldquo;It allows the healthcare providers and management team to focus on client outcomes with less administrative burden.&rdquo;
COVID-19 and growing with telehealth&nbsp;
Prior to COVID-19, One Central Health primarily offered face to face consultations. During the first lockdown restrictions Alana and the team moved quickly and transitioned to telehealth provision. This provided the much needed access to care for their existing clients.
During this time Medicare was also changing rapidly with new COVID-19 item codes added to existing telehealth item codes. The complexity in claiming and payments increased and the team needed a solution that can integrate with their existing systems to streamline their new telehealth service delivery model.
Integrated Medicare claiming with Medipass
Alana first discovered Medipass through Cliniko, and quickly set up Medicare claiming in Medipass to simplify their claiming process directly in Cliniko. The deciding factor in Alana choosing Medipass is the simplicity in reducing their administrative workload.
Before using Medipass, One Central Health processed Medicare claims using their physical terminal. This meant that a client had to present their payment card, then Medicare card and finally a card to rebate the claim into.&nbsp;
For the team, the process required manually entering details such as referral information every time. Now with Medipass, and an integration into Cliniko, all this information is stored, and a claim takes less than 30 seconds.
Moving forward with telehealth
Telehealth has provided many benefits for One Central Health clients. As Alana explains &ldquo;Telehealth is a great service delivery model for us to connect with our clients! We can now offer our services to clients in remote parts of Western Australia. It provides access to vital services for all our communities.&rdquo; This is great news for One Central Health clients and partners as they continue to grow.
To learn more about One Central Health, please visit their website: <a href="https://www.onecentralhealth.com.au/">https://www.onecentralhealth.com.au/</a>

One Central Health is a multidisciplinary allied health and paediatric clinic providing outstanding services in WA and telehealth.

One Central Health: growing with telehealth

One Central Health is a multidisciplinary allied health and paediatric clinic providing outstanding services in Western Australia and telehealth. Their healthcare services include psychology, occupational therapy, speech pathology, behaviour therapy, dietetics and paediatrics.

We are pleased to announce our WorkCover Queensland feature is available to Medipass customers. The new feature removes the complexity associated with tailoring an invoice for WorkCover Queensland. Helping healthcare providers get paid quickly.&nbsp;
Every invoice is validated by Medipass to ensure worker&rsquo;s details, your practice details, item numbers and treatment costs are compliant with WorkCover Queensland&rsquo;s requirements. It&rsquo;s an easier way to raise WorkCover Queensland invoices.
Medipass' mission is to create simpler ways to claim and pay for healthcare and integrating major funding schemes into our platform is an important step. The new feature is the result of working collaboratively with our Queensland customers understanding their business operations and developing a solution that reduces their administrative burden. &nbsp;
Features and benefits of our WorkCover Queensland include:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Send your digital invoices to WorkCover Queensland from your web browser, from any device, anywhere, anytime.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">All invoice submissions to WorkCover Queensland are recorded in your Medipass dashboard, to easily identify and follow up.</li>
</ul>
How does it work? To learn more about how to enable WorkCover Queensland please contact the Medipass Support team via the pink chat bubble in your Medipass portal, or at <a href="mailto:support@medipass.io">support@medipass.io</a>. To learn more about getting set up or how to submit a WorkCover Queensland claim in Medipass simply visit our <a href="https://help.medipass.com.au/en/collections/2736596-workcover-queensland-beta">help articles</a>.
The new WorkCover Queensland feature will soon be integrated with leading practice management software. WorkCover Queensland feature is available and free of charge until 30 September, 2021. For more information on WorkCover Queensland, please visit <a href="https://www.worksafe.qld.gov.au/">https://www.worksafe.qld.gov.au/</a>&nbsp;
About Medipass - Medipass is a health payments platform helping healthcare practitioners deliver a simpler claim and payment experience. Medipass is the official Claim and Payment Partner of the Australian Physiotherapy Association and a FinTech Organisation of the Year finalist at Finnies 2020.&nbsp;

The new feature removes the complexity associated with tailoring an invoice for WorkCover Queensland. Helping healthcare providers get paid quickly.

Medipass is now integrated with WorkCover Queensland

We are pleased to announce our WorkCover Queensland feature is available to Medipass customers. The new feature removes the complexity associated with tailoring an invoice for WorkCover Queensland. Helping healthcare providers get paid quickly.

The hack to a great Graduate &amp; Internship application.
At Medipass, we have the absolute best in the business and this is reflected by the sheer amount of applications we receive whenever we open up our graduate and internship roles. In 2019, we were a sponsor for the premier university student hackathon &mdash;&nbsp;<a href="https://unihack.net/" class="bl cw lu lv lw lx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Unihack</a>&nbsp;&mdash; and met incredible talent and discussed opportunities we provide for grads and interns.
Over the next two weeks, it was as if we opened the floodgates, with over 160 applications for our software engineering internship alone. Over the next 12 months, we&rsquo;ve had well over 400 applications for various grad and intern roles. We&rsquo;re a small company and evaluating all these applicants is not an easy job.
Our first task is to identify and shortlist applicants. This is made difficult as we&rsquo;re conscious that some of the best applicants may inadvertently slip through the shortlist evaluation criteria.
When shortlisting candidates, we look for people who we feel will fit the culture and&nbsp;<a href="https://medipass.com.au/careers/" class="bl cw lu lv lw lx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">principles</a>&nbsp;of Medipass. Importantly, we want to see those values and capabilities demonstrated &mdash; in projects, participation or some other deliverable.
We believe in transparency, simplicity and empowering people. We&rsquo;re sharing our software engineering shortlist criteria &mdash; not because it&rsquo;s some great secret but because we believe it may help applicants consider how to best demonstrate their passion for the domain.
So what do we consider?
<ul class="">
<li id="251a" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls ly lz ma" data-selectable-paragraph="">Referral from someone already at Medipass or our sister company Localz:&nbsp;did you make a lasting impression on someone in our team or an alumnus? We love talking with potential recruits at events who are interested in what we do and what we stand for and we love to find out about you. We are always looking for new talent to join our awesome team.</li>
<li id="4e24" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li mc lk md lm me lo mf lq mg ls ly lz ma" data-selectable-paragraph="">Referral from university:&nbsp;your professor or TA might think you are the perfect fit. We have great working relationships with many universities and vocational schools and value their direct referrals.</li>
<li id="ff44" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li mc lk md lm me lo mf lq mg ls ly lz ma" data-selectable-paragraph="">A strong reference portfolio:&nbsp;do you have a passion for tech outside of required study? Are you working on any cool side projects? We want to hear about it! This could be a website, app, open source contributions, projects posted to github, gitlab, bitbucket, etc.</li>
<li id="526a" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li mc lk md lm me lo mf lq mg ls ly lz ma" data-selectable-paragraph="">Participation at extracurricular events relevant for domain:&nbsp;are you attending hackathons, tech meetups, university groups, HackerRank like challenges, etc? Or are you coordinating an event like this? Awesome. Tell us about it.</li>
<li id="8e6d" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li mc lk md lm me lo mf lq mg ls ly lz ma" data-selectable-paragraph="">A personalised and compelling cover letter:&nbsp;have you read up on us? Do you like what we do and our guiding principles? Did you meet one of our team who really enthused or inspired you? We look for why you would want to work uniquely with us, and why Medipass and the health domain are of strong interest to you.</li>
<li id="17e4" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li mc lk md lm me lo mf lq mg ls ly lz ma" data-selectable-paragraph="">A strong CV:&nbsp;does your CV reflect your great achievements? This should demonstrate alignment to area of study, achievements in study and previous work.</li>
<li id="63e0" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li mc lk md lm me lo mf lq mg ls ly lz ma" data-selectable-paragraph="">Experience with our programming languages and frameworks: do you have experience with JavaScript/HTML/CSS &amp; relevant frameworks such as React, Node and MongoDB? Nice! Tell us more.</li>
<li id="a581" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li mc lk md lm me lo mf lq mg ls ly lz ma" data-selectable-paragraph="">Academic achievements:&nbsp;this is certainly considered. Note that we have people on our team who have come from a variety of academic backgrounds &mdash; not all of our great developers have completed a computer science/engineering degree.</li>
</ul>
Cautionary considerations:
<ul class="">
<li id="ac4d" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls ly lz ma" data-selectable-paragraph="">Massive spelling and grammar mistakes:&nbsp;have you proofread your application? Have you asked someone you trust to give it a &lsquo;once over&rsquo; and check your wording, punctuation and grammar? A job application is intended to be your best foot forward. Massive spelling or grammar mistakes are not forgotten.</li>
<li id="bac9" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li mc lk md lm me lo mf lq mg ls ly lz ma" data-selectable-paragraph="">International candidate:&nbsp;are you an international candidate? Would we need to sponsor you? Inform us of this in your application. You would need to be SUPER strong to be considered but if you&rsquo;re the right fit for Medipass then we will consider this.</li>
<li id="1167" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li mc lk md lm me lo mf lq mg ls ly lz ma" data-selectable-paragraph="">No CV or cover letter:&nbsp;why not? We want to see what you&rsquo;re made of and sadly this happens more often than you think.</li>
<li id="c561" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li mc lk md lm me lo mf lq mg ls ly lz ma" data-selectable-paragraph="">No deliverables or participation outside of academia: we want to see some passion in the domain above and beyond a tick mark. How do you demonstrate this passion?</li>
</ul>
When reviewing candidates, we always consider that we want to work in the company of supportive and inclusive people and are committed to creating a diverse environment reflective of all of our stakeholders. To that end, we value and respect employees of all backgrounds, cultures, gender identities, sexual orientation, physical ability, age, and all other characteristics that create a varied and representative team of humans.

At Medipass, we have the absolute best in the business and this is reflected by the sheer amount of applications we receive.

People & Experience: How do we shortlist?

At Medipass, we have the absolute best in the business and this is reflected by the sheer amount of applications we receive. In 2019, we were a sponsor for the premier university student hackathon — Unihack — and met incredible talent and discussed opportunities we provide for grads and interns.

How do we shortlist?

Watch the Medipass Instalment Plan webinar recordings
In our latest live webinar, Adrian Miles (Strategy &amp; Marketing) and Adrian Perillo (COO) showcased how you can create a payment schedule for your clients and split payment across 2, 3 or 4 instalments. These instalments can be delivered over a weekly or monthly schedule right from your Medipass account.
This webinar recording covers all the common uses of Instalment Plans, key features and benefits and pricing.&nbsp;
<iframe width="736" height="414" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/clb3sym7ey8" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
To learn more about Instalment Plans, please check out our <a href="https://help.medipass.com.au/en/articles/4293021-instalments-beta" rel="follow">help article</a>, including a video walkthrough. Instalment Plans are available in beta for all Medipass customers. Create your <a href="https://connect.medipass.io/sign-up">Medipass provider account today</a>.

In our latest webinar, we showcased how you can create a payment schedule for your clients and split payment across 2, 3 or 4 instalments

Instalment Plans: Webinar recordings

In our latest live webinar, Adrian Miles (Strategy & Marketing) and Adrian Perillo showcased how you can create a payment schedule for your clients and split payment across 2, 3 or 4 instalments.

2020 has been a year we won&rsquo;t forget in a hurry.
The most important and rewarding part of 2020 was supporting Australian healthcare providers as their practices were turned upside down as they navigated how to continue taking care of their patients through a pandemic. Healthcare providers had to adapt to new ways of working and new technology, and for many that meant that traditional EFTPOS terminals would not work for them.&nbsp;
Our mission is making sure providers can get paid quickly and simply, and so we focussed our energy on ensuring we did everything we could to support healthcare providers through this time. We enabled Medicare telehealth item codes the day they were released by the government and provided access to them for free, we expanded our <a href="https://medipass.com.au/mcp/" rel="follow">card payments functionality</a> to make it easy to take Visa and Mastercard payments remotely, and we built new functionality like the ability to take a payment hold.
Through all this, we expanded our list of partners and capability. We went live with our <a href="https://medipass.com.au/blog/article/medipass-wins-nsw-government-contract-to-digitise-payments-for-icare" rel="follow">icare NSW claiming</a> capability, as well as welcomed over ten new <a href="https://medipass.com.au/integrations" rel="follow">practice </a><a href="https://medipass.com.au/integrations" rel="follow">management</a><a href="https://medipass.com.au/integrations" rel="follow"> software integrations</a>, including Nookal, PracSuite and Coviu.
It&rsquo;s been a privilege to support Australian healthcare providers and their patients in 2020. This year our community has been challenged, and yet has never felt stronger. Thank you to all our partners - healthcare providers, software vendors, insurers and associations. We can&rsquo;t wait to see what 2021 has in store.
Until then, Happy Claiming!
The Medipass team
&nbsp;

2020 has been a year we won’t forget in a hurry. Healthcare providers had to adapt to new ways of working and new technology.

2020 was all about adaptability

2020 has been a year we won’t forget in a hurry. Healthcare providers had to adapt to new ways of working and new technology. This year our community has been challenged, and yet has never felt stronger.

Watch the Medipass Payment Holds webinar recordings
Adrian Miles (Strategy &amp; Marketing) and Adrian Perillo (Chief Operating Officer) showcased Medipass&rsquo; latest product feature: Payment Holds in a live webinar.&nbsp;
This webinar recording covers all the common uses of Payment Holds and how it enables healthcare practitioners to improve client attendance and prevent &lsquo;did not attend&rsquo; scenarios for their clinics.
<iframe width="736" height="414" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c9TjkHzacxw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
To learn more about Payment Holds, please check out our&nbsp;<a href="https://help.medipass.com.au/en/articles/4296930-introduction-to-holds-and-instalments-beta">help article</a>, including a video walkthrough. Payment Holds are available in beta for all Medipass customers. Create your&nbsp;<a href="https://connect.medipass.io/sign-up">Medipass provider account today</a>.

This webinar recording covers all the common uses of Payment Holds and how it enables healthcare practitioners to improve client attendance

Webinar recordings: Medipass Payment Holds

This webinar recording covers all the common uses of Payment Holds and how it enables healthcare practitioners to improve client attendance and prevent ‘did not attend’ scenarios for their clinics.

Manage how funds are paid with Medipass Practice Level Settlement
Medipass is delighted to announce our latest product feature: Practice Level Settlement designed to give healthcare businesses of all sizes the payment flexibility and control that they need.
Practice Level Settlement gives businesses the option to customise how funds are settled for them. Businesses can choose to have one bank account for their whole business, or individual bank accounts for each location or practice within their business. This gives you more transparency and control how settlements are made for your business.&nbsp;
Running a healthcare business is complex and Medipass provides you the flexibility to customise your finances and reporting for each practice specifically. In Medipass you can create multiple practices with the ability to assign a practice manager and bank accounts for each location.&nbsp;
Practice managers can now see the remittance advice in our reporting, making it simpler and easier to align with your business structure and administrative access.&nbsp;
Features and benefit of Practice Level Settlement:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Flexibility: single or separate bank account settlement for each location.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Reporting: when you settle per practice, practice managers at each location can see their remittance advice.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Get paid fast: available for <a href="https://medipass.com.au/mcp/">Medipass Card Payments</a> and <a href="https://medipass.com.au/funders/icarensw/">icare NSW</a> payment integration.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Security: administrative access for practice managers at each location.</li>
</ul>
If you&rsquo;d like to learn more about this new product feature please contact us on <a href="mailto:support@medipass.io">support@medipass.io</a> and we will be happy to guide you through.&nbsp;

Medipass is delighted to announce our latest product feature: Practice Level Settlement. Giving you the flexibility how funds are paid

New feature: Practice Level Settlement

Medipass is delighted to announce our latest product feature: Practice Level Settlement designed to give healthcare businesses of all sizes the payment flexibility and control that they need.

Improve patient appointment attendance, and simplify the payment experience
Medipass continues to focus on new payment innovations that enable healthcare practitioners to drive efficiencies in their practice, while also supporting new methods of care. It&rsquo;s all part of our mission to make it easy to pay for health care.
A key issue we have heard from customers is the lack of a simple solution that enables them to simultaneously:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Improve client attendance rates and prevent &lsquo;did not attend&rsquo; scenarios.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Simplify the post-service payment process.</li>
</ul>
These issues are particularly pressing for our customers who deliver telehealth consultations, and those that allow online bookings.&nbsp;
Medipass is delighted to announce the release of Payment Holds. Holds, or pre-authorisations, have been a common tool used by hotels to ensure that funds are made available and can be used after a service is delivered. In Medipass, we allow you to place a hold on the client&rsquo;s payment card, which is valid for up to seven days. Once a service is delivered, a Payment Hold can be easily converted to a payment for the service.&nbsp;
This simple payment solution means that not only do healthcare providers have confidence that funds are available, and a patient is more likely to attend their booking, but also enables a more streamlined payment process, where a patient does not need to spend unnecessary administrative time with a practice assistance, finalise payments. Instead, a practice can simply convert a hold to a payment, and a patient is free to leave.
Learn more
To learn more about Payment Holds, please check out our <a href="https://help.medipass.com.au/en/articles/4296930-introduction-to-holds-and-instalments-beta">help article</a>, including a video walkthrough. Payment Holds are available in beta for all Medipass customers. Create your <a href="https://connect.medipass.io/sign-up">Medipass provider account today</a>.

Medipass continues to focus on new payment innovations that enable healthcare practitioners to drive efficiencies in their practice.

Introducing Payment Holds

Medipass continues to focus on new payment innovations that enable healthcare practitioners to drive efficiencies in their practice, while also supporting new methods of care.

<a href="https://www.agrowingunderstanding.com.au/">A Growing Understanding Speech Pathology</a> is a respected and independent Newcastle speech pathology service, with a reputation for high quality and evidence based care. Founded by Lauren Haskins, a leading speech pathologist passionate about helping children and their families build confidence in communication.
Starting with patient outcomes in mind, Lauren and A Growing Understanding team have built a successful clinic with the right mix of technology, team and processes to provide a delightful client experience.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/RhhfVJIYQ9CUKyuriGKh" alt="undefined" />
Challenges for a growing business
Since establishing A Growing Understanding in 2016, Lauren has grown the clinic with a team of experienced speech pathologists and client experience officers across multiple locations in New South Wales&rsquo; Hunter region. The need to streamline and automate their process became apparent as the business started to scale.&nbsp;
&ldquo;We are growing quite significantly with three sites in Port Stephens, Lake Macquarie and Newcastle, the systems in place need to support our entire service regardless of the site,&rdquo; says Lauren. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s about the systems in place to make sure our growth is sustainable and providing great experiences for the families we serve.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;
&ldquo;We want to automate as much of our processes as possible. Previously we were using terminal machines in our clinics with manual work to get those payments processed, our team was contacting clients and manually keying details into the terminal. This meant book-keeping and reconciliation could be a challenge with errors that can occur with manual process,&rdquo; added Lauren.&nbsp;
Right time and the right support
Lauren is also a <a href="https://www.clinicmastery.com/">Clinic Mastery</a> member, a progressive health business academy helping clinic owners align their purpose with growing a thriving business. Medipass was introduced to Lauren as a health payment solution that can streamline Private Health Insurance claims and Medicare rebates by integrating with <a href="https://www.cliniko.com/connected-apps/medipass/">Cliniko, their Practice Management System</a>.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Clinic Mastery&rsquo;s Grow Your Clinic weekend was the first time I&rsquo;ve heard about Medipass and Fahad (Head of Partnerships, Medipass) was presenting. We love Clinic Mastery and they are definitely a driver of our growth,&rdquo; added Lauren.&nbsp;
Finding the right support with Medipass
&ldquo;When I was registering our providers for Medipass, everything I needed to do was served on a silver platter by the Medipass&rsquo; support team. I love a good live chat! It doesn&rsquo;t matter if the response is instant or takes 20 minutes, as long as it's a quality answer it gives you the trust and assurance that you&rsquo;re supported by their team,&rdquo; explains Jordan Farrelly, the client experience officer at A Growing Understanding.
&ldquo;When we were starting to introduce Medipass to our clients, for a family with kids in tow and wanting to leave promptly, removing those extra few steps in manually processing a payment means they can get out in a timely manner,&rdquo; added Jordan.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The biggest impact for our business is Medipass&rsquo; virtual terminal. It&rsquo;s very very easy to use and depending on the personality of our clients and what will get their attention, I can choose to send an SMS message or use the virtual terminal to take a payment.&rdquo;&nbsp;
The Medipass solutions A Growing Understanding has implemented
Medipass Card Payments - A Growing Understanding uses Medipass Card Payments to digitally process debit and credit cards. This includes the ability to use the Medipass Virtual Terminal to save and process card payments, or, send a link to a patient to pay using their smartphone (including Apple Pay or Google Pay functionality). Learn more <a href="https://help.medipass.com.au/en/articles/3821081-medipass-card-payments">here</a>.
Medicare - A Growing Understanding used to process Medicare claims using their physical terminal. This meant that a client had to present their payment card, then Medicare card and finally a card to rebate the claim into. For the team, the process required manually entering details such as referral information every time. Typically it took anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes. Now with Medipass, and an <a href="https://www.cliniko.com/connected-apps/medipass/">integration into Cliniko</a>, all this information is stored, and a claim takes less than 30 seconds. Learn more <a href="https://help.medipass.com.au/en/collections/1743878-medicare-and-dva#medicare-claims">here</a>
Connecting technology with patient outcomes
Responsible for helping A Growing Understanding get started was Lawrence Yum, our Customer Success Specialist at Medipass.&nbsp;
&ldquo;At the heart of what we do is help clinic owners get paid faster. Ultimately when a clinic is spending less time processing payments or on administrative tasks, they have more time to focus on their patient&rsquo;s experience. At the end of the day our goal is to assist clinic owners, their providers and admin staff with their patient experience and we play a relatively small piece of the puzzle. But I&rsquo;m proud to have been able to help Jordan and Lauren from A Growing Understanding with getting started!&rdquo; added Lawrence.&nbsp;
To learn more about A Growing Understanding, please visit: <a href="https://www.agrowingunderstanding.com.au/">https://www.agrowingunderstanding.com.au/</a>

A Growing Understanding is a respected and independent Newcastle speech pathology service, with a reputation for evidence based care.

A Growing Understanding: aligning patient outcomes

A Growing Understanding Speech Pathology is a respected and independent Newcastle speech pathology service, with a reputation for high quality and evidence based care.

A Growing Understanding: aligning patient outcomes with new technology

As a general practice medical centre for over 60 years, <a href="https://www.maximfamilymedical.com.au/">Maxim Street Family Medical Practice</a> provides comprehensive care to families around the Ryde area in Sydney. Maxim offers a variety of services including preventative care, immunisations, women's health, children's health, travel medicine and skin checks with a team of friendly doctors and onsite pathology for blood tests.&nbsp;
The investment in cloud-based software platforms is a high priority for Maxim in staying ahead of the curve in digital technology. Leveraging the use of project management software, collaboration tools and videoconferencing apps, the Maxim team is focused on delivering the best care while maintaining excellence and efficiency in its operations.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/9aVpq64bQTKJ4bvorjHD" alt="undefined" />
<h6>(From L-R Dr. Camilla Holt, Dr. Phoebe Holdenson Kimura and Dr. Brendon Wong)</h6>
Business continuity and COVID-19
Maxim was well prepared for the challenges of COVID-19. All their systems, including practice management software, telephone, and payments infrastructure can be scaled and adapted to the significant changes required for patient safety and business continuity during the pandemic.
In an industry governed by the stringent collection, storage and processing of data, Maxim turned to Medipass to develop a contactless payment solution to optimise their workflow. With a streamlined approach to accept payments from their patients.
&ldquo;40% of our patients are private billing and we need a way to collect payments without patient contact, and an easy-to-use platform our staff will like,&rdquo; explains Jonathan Lee, the managing director of Maxim Street Family Medical Practice on the challenges presented by COVID-19.
Implementing contactless health payment with Medipass
&ldquo;Medipass is a first mover in contactless healthcare payments and we were excited to see what they could offer us. There was a bit of work to get things set up, but it's now working pretty well for us and we've been really happy with the support we've received. They really listen to our feedback,&rdquo; says Jonathan, since implementing Medipass to take payments for private billing. Understanding the complexity of a healthcare business was also a deciding factor for Maxim in choosing Medipass.
&ldquo;Context is important in healthcare, other online payment platforms are hard to implement because it needs a software developer, and some payment facilities are designed for the food and beverage industry not healthcare focused,&rdquo; added Jonathan.&nbsp;
Another component of Medipass that was important to Maxim was the ability to centrally manage all administration within one platform. With Medipass, Jonathan is able to manage his staff, control who has access, and have a central point for all payments. When a new member or provider joins the team, Jonathan is able to add them to the Maxim Medipass account and enable them to process payments immediately.
As the leading health payments platform, personal health information collected by Medipass is processed locally, never transferred or stored outside of Australia. Medipass&rsquo; <a href="https://medipass.com.au/blog/article/medipass-achieves-iso-27001-certification/">ISO 27001 compliance</a> is the hallmark of protecting personal health information, validated by an independent auditor.&nbsp;
Implementing digital icare NSW invoicing with Medipass&nbsp;
Maxim was one of the first practices to sign up to the icare NSW beta program with Medipass. Since then they have gone live with the full solution and are able to use Medipass to digitally invoice for Workers Compensation in NSW.
&lsquo;Digital icare invoicing will be a game changer and solve the biggest problem of matching deposits from insurers with the invoice we&rsquo;ve created,&rdquo; says Jonathan pointing to why he embarked on the initial beta program, and he&rsquo;s excited about the opportunity to drive further efficiencies in processing Workers Compensation invoices in News South Wales.&nbsp;
The Medipass solutions Maxim Street Family Medical has implemented
Medipass Card Payments - Maxim uses Medipass Card Payments to digitally process debit and credit cards. This includes the ability to use our Virtual Terminal to save and process card payments, or, send a link to a patient to pay using their smartphone (including Apple Pay or Google Pay functionality). Learn more <a href="https://help.medipass.com.au/en/articles/3821081-medipass-card-payments">here</a>.
icare NSW - Maxim uses Medipass to digitally submit invoices for Workers Compensation to icare NSW. Prior to this, invoices had to be sent via email or manually, and the reconciliation process was difficult. With Medipass, Maxim is able to digitally raise an invoice, validate the injured workers claim number within the invoice, attach supporting documentation, select item codes and submit. Medipass gives real-time status of invoices and detailed reporting for reconciliation. Learn more <a href="https://help.medipass.com.au/en/articles/3029551-how-to-submit-an-invoice-to-icare-with-medipass">here</a>
What&rsquo;s next for Maxim and Medipass
Maxim is working with Medipass as an early beta tester for a number of our new features. The partnership explores new and innovative ways to enhance the patient experience and minimise any points of friction. The payments journey was the beginning and Maxim is planning on maximising the use of contactless payments, utilising the icare NSW digital invoicing solution and finding more ways to create efficiencies in their practice.
To learn more about Maxim Street Family Medical Practice, please visit <a href="https://www.maximfamilymedical.com.au/">https://www.maximfamilymedical.com.au/</a>

As a general practice medical centre for over 60 years, Maxim Street Family Medical Practice provides comprehensive care to families.

Maxim Street Family Practice is optimised for growth

As a general practice medical centre for over 60 years, Maxim Street Family Medical Practice provides comprehensive care to families around the Ryde area in Sydney.

Forward-thinking Maxim Street Family Medical Practice is optimised for growth

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many healthcare businesses and its wider community. For businesses that embrace new technologies, they have adapted and continue to deliver a better customer experience.
<a href="https://pinnaclehealthgroup.com.au/" rel="follow">Pinnacle Health Group</a>'s purpose is to inspire and create healthy changes in every workplace &ndash; through delivering convenient healthcare, innovative corporate health services, integrated wellbeing programs, and wellness centres for organisations and clients across Australia.&nbsp;
With seven locations in Australian CBDs including Melbourne and Sydney, Pinnacle provides quality physiotherapy, massage, podiatry, nutrition and other wellness services from their clinics.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/iIvGK5YqRg2wQZ1Fx1Mn" alt="undefined" />
The digital health payments journey&nbsp;
Pinnacle is focused on delivering the best customer experience, embedding digital technology, whether seamless booking, client intake assessments, the best assessment tools and support services or ways to engage clients. Surrounding all the technology Pinnacle uses is a unified focus on delivering the best experience both in and out of their wellness clinics.&nbsp;
Pinnacle embarked on a partnership with Medipass to not only find ways for their team to simplify the payment and claiming process but to also include the client in that process and make their journey seamless.&nbsp;
Highly in demand for their services, when clients have completed their session, as in many clinics they would line up at reception to pay, while new clients arrive to check in. Pinnacle wanted to use this time to engage their clients instead of focussing on administrative tasks such as processing payments.&nbsp;
"Previously up to five clients will walk up to reception waiting to pay, a process that involves swiping cards, getting them to sign receipts, then putting their payments through manually. It&rsquo;s quite a slow process especially waiting for the terminal to load. It can take 15 minutes to process these payments for all the clients,&rdquo; explains Rima, the lead practice manager at Pinnacle Health Group.&nbsp;
Partnering with a health payment platform
In late 2018, Pinnacle turned to Medipass to provide a digital payment experience for their clients. The journey started when the Medipass team helped Pinnacle identify new ways to process Private Health Insurance claims without a terminal and an easier way for clients to pay on their smartphone.&nbsp;
Starting with just one location at 120 Collins street in Melbourne, Rima introduced Medipass to her regular clients, and soon after she was training all other Pinnacle locations and the wider team on how to implement Medipass in their operations. &ldquo;Clients quite liked it and found it quite easy with many joining and testing it out,&rdquo;&nbsp;says Rima.
Delivering a better payment experience&nbsp;
Since implementing Medipass, the front desk experience has changed considerably for the better. There's no more awkward conversations about issues with cards and terminals, conversations are all about building rapport and delivering a delightful experience at the front desk.
&ldquo;Clients will now finish up their consultation, they will be walking out on their phone approving the SMS payment request letting us know it&rsquo;s all good to go. It takes 30 seconds to process payments now. Clients really like the quick process, they don&rsquo;t have a lot of time and they don&rsquo;t want to be waiting,&rdquo; says Rima since the implementation.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Medicare claims on a terminal could sometimes take between 2 - 5 minutes. With Medipass integrated into our Practice Management System, it saves all the information such as referrals and the Medicare information. Before, looking up this information was clunky, now it takes less than 10 seconds to process a claim.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad we did the Medipass implementation before COVID-19, our clients appreciate the care we&rsquo;ve taken in introducing contactless payment options, we can also take the payment over the phone, and it made a lot of clients trust coming in and reducing the contact.&rdquo;&nbsp;
The Medipass solutions Pinnacle has implemented
Medipass Card Payments - Pinnacle uses Medipass Card Payments to digitally process debit and credit cards. This includes the ability to use our Virtual Terminal to save and process cards, send a link to a patient to pay using their smartphone (including Apple Pay or Google Pay). The Pinnacle team was able to enable this solution in a matter of hours, and now with their extended offerings such as telehealth, the team can process payments no matter where they are. Learn more <a href="https://help.medipass.com.au/en/articles/3821081-medipass-card-payments">here</a>
Medicare - Pinnacle used to process Medicare claims using their physical terminal. This meant that a client had to present their payment card, then Medicare card and finally a card to rebate the claim into. For the Pinnacle team, the process required manually entering details such as referral information every time. Typically it took anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes. Now with Medipass, and an integration into their Practice Management System, all this information is stored, and a claim takes less than 30 seconds. Learn more <a href="https://help.medipass.com.au/en/collections/1743878-medicare-and-dva#medicare-claims">here</a>
Private Health Insurance - Pinnacle uses Medipass to create an Uber-like experience for their clients. As a session ends, the client is sent a SMS payment request with a link. When they click on it, they are directed to a checkout with their summary of service, health fund benefit and can pay the gap using a stored credit card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. This is a quick process that automatically updates their Practice Management System, and the clients don&rsquo;t have to wait or line up at reception. Learn more <a href="https://help.medipass.com.au/en/articles/2210608-how-to-create-a-private-health-insurance-invoice-in-medipass">here</a>
Better client outcomes through better partnership
"Our busy corporate clients are time poor, technology literate and early adopters. We survey and interview our corporate clients regularly. The feedback has always been constructive with clients wanting more creative ways for us to engage with them. As we analysed the step by step process of the client experience - the area that needed the most work was the client farewell experience. Standing in line to pay was slow, inconvenient and 'old school'. With Medipass we were able to work out a beautiful way of farewelling clients without the fuss,"&nbsp;says Tom Bosna, Managing Director at Pinnacle.
The partnership between Pinnacle and Medipass is the result of focusing on the best customer experience. Fahad Rahman, Head of Partnerships at Medipass explains &ldquo;The partnership Medipass has developed with Pinnacle over the last couple of years is something we&rsquo;re very proud of. The collaboration between our teams is not only leading to efficiency for Pinnacle&rsquo;s operations, but tangible outcomes for Pinnacle&rsquo;s clients.&rdquo;
To learn more about Pinnacle Health Group, please visit: <a href="https://pinnaclehealthgroup.com.au/">https://pinnaclehealthgroup.com.au/</a>&nbsp;

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many healthcare businesses and its wider community.

How Pinnacle delivers a better customer payment experience

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many healthcare businesses and its wider community. For businesses that embrace new technologies, they have adapted and continue to deliver a better customer experience.

Medipass today announced the latest platform update, Payment Links, a new way for health providers to get paid. Payment Links are a really flexible way to charge for your services. Creating a Payment Link via Medipass, allows you to send a unique link to your patients to collect payment via a preferred channel (eg. send in a live chat conversation, SMS, email, add to your invoice). In just a few steps, you can create a Payment Link in Medipass, share it, and your patient can pay for your services simply and easily and when it&rsquo;s convenient to them.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/NuDAIMPp578?autoplay=0&amp;rel=0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

<h3>Features and benefits of Payment Links include.</h3>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Charge for your consultations and create your link</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Share it anywhere, accept payments from different channels (text message or email)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Get paid simply, patients don&rsquo;t need a Medipass account or an app to make a payment, they can pay with ease.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Payment links expire after 30 days</li>
</ul>
Medipass Payment Links are available now. Learn more about <a href="https://medipass.com.au/mcp/" rel="follow">Medipass Card Payments</a>.&nbsp;
About Medipass:
Medipass connects healthcare Providers, Insurers and Patients, to make health payments simple, safe and fast.&nbsp;Medipass integrates with leading practice management systems and with Australia&rsquo;s leading government and Private Health Insurers. 
With over 13,000 customers across Australia, Medipass is Australia&rsquo;s leading health payment platform.&nbsp;In response to COVID-19, Medipass is making all telehealth claims free of charge until at least 30 September 2020.&nbsp;

Medipass today announced their latest platform update, Payment Links, a new way for health providers to get paid.

Medipass Payment Link adds more ways to get paid

Medipass today announced the latest platform update, Payment Links, a new way for health providers to get paid. Payment Links are a really flexible way to charge for your services.

Medipass Payment Links offer more ways to get paid

With approximately 30% of the Australian population living in regional, rural or remote areas, telehealth provision has been essential in addressing the disparities in the availability of speech therapy practitioners in these areas compared to urban areas for the past decade [1].&nbsp;
As of 13 March 2020, Medicare announced the release of new temporary Medicare Benefits Scheme (MBS) telehealth items for speech therapists as part of the mission to reduce the community transmission of COVID-19. As aspects of telehealth provision and regulations are a confusing topic for many, we&rsquo;ve answered the most common enquiries regarding telehealth services for speech therapists, including provider and patient eligibility and claiming processes, below.
Provider eligibility
As a speech therapist practising in Australia, you do not require any additional accreditation or approval to start providing telehealth services under the MBS, aside from your standard Medicare provider number. This remains consistent regardless of the COVID-19 temporary benefits.
Provider technology
To satisfy MBS criteria, telehealth consultations can be completed via either videoconferencing or audio-only. The items you claim will differ depending on whether you have consulted via video or audio. The MBS states that there are no specific equipment requirements, and widely available video calling apps like Zoom and Facetime can be used. Speech Pathology Australia (SPA), however, recommends that the technology used should be driven by your client&rsquo;s needs, and that you should familiarise yourself with a variety of technology options including for webcams, audio, interactivity platforms and your connectivity. Read more on these options <a href="https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/SPAweb/Resources_for_Speech_Pathologists/Professional_Resources/HTML/Telepractice.aspx">here</a>.&nbsp;
Provider location
You do not need to be in your regular practice to provide telehealth, but you should use your provider number for your primary location throughout COVID-19.&nbsp;
Practice recommendations
Aside from meeting the MBS eligibility, SPA recommends taking appropriate steps to reduce your professional and clinical risk including obtaining informed consent, having indemnity insurance, respecting privacy requirements, having an emergency plan, and considering whether a recording of the session is clinically justified.
Patient eligibility
From 13 March 2020 to 30 September 2020 (inclusive), all Australian residents that hold a valid Medicare card and are not admitted into hospital or an emergency room at the time of consultation are eligible to receive both new existing MBS telehealth services and existing MBS telehealth services. There are no geographical restrictions between the patient and provider, and the services do not need to have any relation to diagnosing, treating or suspecting COVID-19.&nbsp;
Patient technology and other requirements
It is important that you let your patients know if they require any additional tools or technology to complete a consultation with you, especially where it is a video consultation. You should also make it clear to your client, or their carer, whether a carer or facilitator is required at their appointment. This can include parents, partners, health assistants, support workers and other professionals.
Speech Pathology Australia&nbsp;
Aside from government regulations, SPA has provided guidance and resources to ensure that practitioners are following the Association&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/SPAweb/Members/Ethics/spaweb/Members/Ethics/Ethics.aspx?hkey=5c5556d0-327f-4d06-8e89-fd1a638e543a">code of ethics</a>, are familiar with SPA&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/SPAweb/Members/Position_Statements/SPAweb/Members/Position_Statements/Position_Statements.aspx?hkey=b1a46941-246c-4609-bacc-1c1b5c52d19d">position statement</a> when it comes to telepractice in speech pathology, and understand that they are bound by other <a href="https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/SPAweb/Members/Position_Statements/SPAweb/Members/Position_Statements/Position_Statements.aspx?hkey=b1a46941-246c-4609-bacc-1c1b5c52d19d">core documents</a>.
MBS, insurers &amp; telehealth
Medicare benefits scheme
Under the MBS scheme, you are able to claim for telehealth consultations for:
<ul>
<li>Chronic disease management</li>
</ul>

<ul>
<li>Autism management - assessment/diagnosis - early intervention for children with autism, pervasive developmental disorder or disability, under 13 years</li>
</ul>

<ul>
<li>Autism management - treatment - for children with autism, pervasive developmental disorder or disability, under 15 years</li>
</ul>

<ul>
<li>Follow-up chronic disease management for those of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent</li>
</ul>

You will find the item codes to claim for the appropriate appointment length on the noted pages of <a href="http://www.mbsonline.gov.au/internet/mbsonline/publishing.nsf/Content/0C514FB8C9FBBEC7CA25852E00223AFE/$File/COVID-19%20Bulk-billed%20MBS%20telehealth%20Services%20-%20Overarching%20200420.pdf">this document</a>. You will find three item codes for each item, depending on whether it&rsquo;s a video telehealth item under the temporary MBS benefits, audio telehealth item under the temporary MBS benefits, or is an existing item (outside of the COVID-19 temporary items) where geographical restrictions may apply.
All services provided using the MBS telehealth items must be bulk billed for Commonwealth concession cardholders, children under 16 years of age, and patients who are more vulnerable to COVID-19. For a full list of those that are considered vulnerable at this time, see page 2 <a href="http://www.mbsonline.gov.au/internet/mbsonline/publishing.nsf/Content/0C514FB8C9FBBEC7CA25852E00223AFE/$File/COVID-19%20Bulk-billed%20MBS%20telehealth%20Services%20-%20Overarching%20200420.pdf">here</a>.
Funding telehealth services
There are a number of funding streams that support telehealth for speech pathology, alongside standard payment directly from the client. This includes:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">NDIS - clients under NDIS may claim telehealth speech pathology services, regardless of how their plan is being managed</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">MBS - as per the above, MBS is covering specific speech pathology services up to and including 30 September 2020</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">DVA - consultations and clinical assessments may be delivered by speech pathologists to all eligible DVA clients via telephone or video conferencing attendance for the period 1 April to 30 September 2020</li>
</ul>
Private health funds
A number of private health funds, including ahm, Bupa, Medibank, NIB and others have made provision where customers that already have extras cover for speech pathology can access these services via telehealth. To confirm if your client is eligible, either you or they must contact their private health insurer and assess their level of cover and extras inclusions. If they are eligible, you must bill the patient directly for their consultations, and they must then make a claim to their insurer online. Remember, different time periods apply for different health funds, with many ending this extension on June 30, 2020.
While speech therapists were previously required to bulk-bill all telehealth consultations claimed under MBS during COVID-19, as of April 14th, this is no longer necessary and you may charge a gap fee if your patient is not aged under 16 or considered vulnerable.&nbsp;
Claiming telehealth with Medipass
Medipass is an innovative cloud-based claiming platform that is helping speech therapists raise and settle claims from anywhere without a physical terminal. Medipass supports all claiming pathways including existing and new MBS telehealth bulk-billing, other Medicare claims, private health insurers and DVA claims. For private health insurers, the &lsquo;patient-funded&rsquo; functionality means an SMS will be sent to your patient to collect payment, which they can then claim back.
The platform is accessed from your smartphone, laptop or tablet, integrating seamlessly with your existing software. Internal validation features mean that your claims are checked for missing information before you hit submit, reducing the bounce-back of unprocessed claims for Medicare, as well as over 19 health funds and insurers. During this complicated time, Medipass is here to keep health service provision simple, allowing reporting and reconciliation to be easily completed within the platform.
To support our clients, Medipass will not be charging any fees relating to all bulk-billed telehealth services for Medicare and DVA claims until at least 30 September 2020.
[1] - https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=5188284d-97f9-43fd-ac7e-6703aee48152&amp;subId=205928

We’ve answered the most common enquiries regarding telehealth services for speech therapists.

Speech therapists: Telehealth claiming guide

As aspects of telehealth provision and regulations are a confusing topic for many, we’ve answered the most common enquiries regarding telehealth services for speech therapists.

Speech Pathologist: Telehealth claiming guide

(Update 13 August 2020)&nbsp;From 7 August 2020 until 31 March 2021, an additional 10 individual psychological therapy sessions are available to eligible patients under the existing Better Access to Psychologists and through the MBS (Better Access) initiative. Medicare is currently processing the new MBS item codes in the system, and is not available for claiming as of 13 August. For more information, please visit the <a href="http://www.mbsonline.gov.au/internet/mbsonline/publishing.nsf/Content/Factsheet-10MentalHealthSessions" rel="follow">Factsheet for additional 10 MBS Mental Health Sessions</a>.
While telehealth services for psychologists and clinical psychologists have been available under the Medicare Benefits Scheme (MBS) for some time, as of 13 March 2020, Medicare announced the release of new temporary MBS telehealth items as part of the mission to reduce the community transmission of COVID-19. Combined with Australia&rsquo;s current social distancing rules, this has seen the rapid uptake of telehealth by all eligible health professionals, as a means to protect themselves and their patients, while keeping their clinics open.
Currently, confusion exists around the eligibility, provision, claiming and insurer involvement when it comes to telehealth in the field of psychology. We&rsquo;ve answered the most common telehealth provider enquiries regarding these temporary MBS items, as well as pre-existing telehealth services, below.
Eligibility
For providers
As a psychologist or clinical psychologist, to provide telehealth under MBS, you do not require any additional accreditation or approval to start using telehealth services, aside from your standard Medicare provider number. This remains consistent regardless of the COVID-19 temporary benefits.
Consultations can be completed via either videoconferencing or audio-only. The items you claim will differ depending on whether you have consulted via video or audio. There are no specific equipment requirements, and widely available video calling apps can be used.
You do not need to be in your regular practice to provide telehealth, but you should use your provider number for your primary location. As per normal, your patient can only claim up to twenty psychological therapy or focused psychological strategies services per calendar year, inclusive of face-to-face, telehealth or telephone services.
For patients
From 13 March 2020 to 30 September 2020 (inclusive), all Australian residents that hold a valid Medicare card and are not admitted into hospital or an emergency room at the time of consultation are eligible to receive both the new temporary and pre-existing MBS telehealth services. There are no distancing restrictions between the patient and provider, and the services do not need to have any relation to diagnosing, treating or suspecting COVID-19.&nbsp;
This is a big change to the regular pre-COVID-19 criteria, where your patient must reside in a telehealth-eligible area. We have detailed this with regards to road distance and remoteness areas <a href="https://medipass.com.au/blog/article/how-to-deliver-telehealth-services-under-medicare/">here</a> under &lsquo;patient eligibility&rsquo;.
MBS, insurers &amp; telehealth
Medicare benefits scheme
Under the MBS scheme, you are able to claim for telehealth consultations for:
<ul>
<li>Mental health attendances&nbsp;</li>
<li>Autism management (psychology)</li>
<li>Eating disorder management&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
You will find the item codes to claim for the appropriate appointment length on the noted pages of <a href="http://www.mbsonline.gov.au/internet/mbsonline/publishing.nsf/Content/0C514FB8C9FBBEC7CA25852E00223AFE/$File/FAQ%20-%20COVID-19%20Psychology%20-%2008052020.pdf" rel="follow">this document</a>. You will find three item codes for each item, depending on whether it&rsquo;s a video telehealth item under the temporary MBS benefits, audio telehealth item under the temporary MBS benefits, or is an existing item (outside of the COVID-19 temporary items) where geographical restrictions apply.
All services provided using the MBS telehealth items must be bulk billed for Commonwealth concession cardholders, children under 16 years of age, and patients who are more vulnerable to COVID-19.&nbsp;
Private health insurers
Psychology Australia has announced that the majority of private health insurers are covering their customers for psychology services, delivered via telehealth, for eligible members.. This includes:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Bupa&nbsp;- until 30 September 2020, you can claim telehealth psychology services for those already receiving treatment by you.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Medibank and ahm - from 30 March until 30 September 2020, you can claim telehealth psychology services for those already receiving treatment from you, as well as those needing to consult for the first time.&nbsp;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">nib has also included psychology telehealth services as part of their members COVID-19 support package for those eligible</li>
</ul>
The positions for what a private health fund might allow you to claim are changing, and are different between funds. Therefore, we recommend that for this time period, you bill your patients directly for their consultations, and then they can make a claim to their insurer online themselves.
While one-on-one telehealth consultations are covered, it has been reported that some of the big private health insurers are not including virtual group psychotherapy sessions in this cover, even if the patient had previously been receiving and claiming their group care sessions. Sessions will still be covered for in-person attendance.
Claiming telehealth with Medipass
Medipass is an innovative cloud-based claiming platform that is helping psychologists to raise and settle claims from anywhere without a physical terminal. Medipass supports all claiming pathways including existing and new MBS telehealth bulk-billing, other Medicare claims, private health insurers and DVA claims. For private health insurers, the &lsquo;patient-funded&rsquo; functionality means an SMS will be sent to your patient to collect payment, which they can then claim back.
The platform is accessed from your smartphone, laptop or tablet, integrating seamlessly with your existing software. Internal validation features mean that your claims are checked for missing information before you hit submit, reducing the bounce-back of unprocessed claims for Medicare, as well as over 19 health funds and insurers. During this complicated time, Medicare is here to keep health service provision simple, allowing reporting and reconciliation to be easily completed within the platform.
To support our clients, Medipass will not be charging any fees relating to all bulk-billed telehealth services for Medicare and DVA claims until at least 30 September 2020.

As a psychologist to provide telehealth under MBS, you do not require any additional accreditation aside from your Medicare provider number.

Psychologists: Telehealth step-by-step claiming guide

Psychologists: Your telehealth step-by-step claiming guide

Medipass update: To support health professionals and their clinics during this time, Medipass has made all telehealth claims free of charge until at least September 30th, 2020*. We have already updated our platform to support <a href="http://www.mbsonline.gov.au/internet/mbsonline/publishing.nsf/Content/Factsheet-TempBB" rel="follow">all new COVID-19 MBS item codes</a>, updates to item codes that can now be used in a telehealth scenario, as well as existing telehealth MBS item codes. This makes us a complete solution for all telehealth providers nationwide.
From March 2020, we have observed an exponential increase in the number of eligible health professionals preparing themselves and their clinics for telehealth consultation. This comes as no surprise, given the government&rsquo;s announcement on March 11th to allocate $100 million for a new Medicare-funded service for people in home isolation or quarantine as a result of COVID-19. The funding boost includes temporarily doubling bulk-billing incentives for GPs to provide both face-to-face and telehealth services combined with the addition of a range of new Medicare telehealth items that can be claimed from March 30th.
Item codes will include GP services and some consultation services provided by other medical specialists, nurse practitioners, mental health treatment, chronic disease management, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health assessments, services to people with eating disorders, pregnancy support counselling, services to patients in aged care facilities, children with autism, and after-hours consultations. From 1st April 2020, further telehealth MBS items will be added for pathology.
For the full list of the new items that can be bulk-billed under Medicare, and easily claimed via our digital claiming platform, click <a href="http://www.mbsonline.gov.au/internet/mbsonline/publishing.nsf/Content/Factsheet-TempBB">here</a>.
It&rsquo;s definitely worth noting, that &ldquo;from 6 April 2020, it is a legislative requirement that the new telehealth services must be bulk billed for Commonwealth concession card holders, children under 16 years old and patients who are more vulnerable to COVID-19&rdquo;.
and
&ldquo;Health providers may apply their usual billing practices to the telehealth items for patients who do not fit the above criteria. Providers are expected to obtain informed financial consent from patients prior to providing the service; providing details regarding their fees, including any out-of-pocket costs.&rdquo;
The definition of 'vulnerable' people that&nbsp;must&nbsp;be bulk billed are those that: are required to self-isolate or quarantine, aged 70+ years, are pregnant or have a child aged under 12 months, identify as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent and are at least 50 years old, are being treated for a chronic health condition, are immunocompromised, or meet the current national triage protocol criteria for suspected COVID-19 infection.
The 22 new MBS telehealth items have been added for consultant physicians, geriatricians and consultant psychiatrists, and can be found <a href="http://www.mbsonline.gov.au/internet/mbsonline/publishing.nsf/Content/Latest+News+April+2020" rel="follow">here</a>.
This means that providers will have a choice, for some patients, and some item codes, whether to bulk bill or not. It&rsquo;s really important to read the detailed description for the updated codes when raising claims to make sure you're using the appropriate method for your patient.
In addition to the push for increased access to telehealth, the government has announced it is temporarily doubling the Practice Incentive Program Quality Improvement (PIPQI) payments for GP practices that open for face-to-face services, for a minimum of four hours per day. This is designed to ensure practices stay open to provide face-to-face services for essential patients with conditions that are not suitable for treatment via telehealth.
Telehealth: Immediate benefits to practitioners during COVID-19
Telehealth gives many practitioners that would otherwise be forced to close, a way of allowing their patients to continue to access the primary care they need. The intent is to help contain the virus, while helping practices manage their financial impacts due to patient movement hesitations, or restrictions like in New Zealand, Japan, Italy, and other countries. The $100 million Medicare funding package means this service is entirely bulk-billed, with no out-of-pocket expense for patients.
Promoting the uptake of telehealth may also contribute to reducing pressure on hospital emergency services that are already fighting an important battle, while limiting exposure to others in a waiting room.
Setting up telehealth in your clinic or business
Telehealth consultations are those completed over the phone or via video conferencing software.&nbsp;Medipass recommends looking for software options that are cloud-based, provide encryption between providers and users, and where users are authenticated using a strong security protocol.
For further reading, we have compiled the following instructional resources:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">How to get started with telehealth by Karen Finnin <a href="https://www.karenfinnin.com/how-to-get-started-with-telehealth/">here</a></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">How to choose a telehealth video platform by Karen Finnin <a href="https://www.karenfinnin.com/how-to-choose-a-telehealth-video-platform/">here</a></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">RACGP telehealth video consultations guide <a href="https://www.racgp.org.au/running-a-practice/technology/clinical-technology/telehealth/telehealth-video-consultations-guide">here</a></li>
</ul>
More information about protecting yourself, your team and your patients during COVID-19
For those practices continuing to treat patients or clients in their rooms, the government is starting to provide more advice around educating your patients on COVID-19, how to handle a suspected case who attends your practice, and even how to clean your rooms effectively.
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Australian Government Coronavirus (COVID-19) National Health Plan <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/resources/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-national-health-plan-resources">resources</a></li>
</ul>
If you're treating patients with a disability who are some of the most vulnerable and at risk of COVID-19, the Disability Services Consulting has released an e-Learning module to provide best practice in infection prevention <a href="https://training.disabilityservicesconsulting.com.au/products/infectionfree">here</a>.
Medipass Card Payments and telehealth
If you&rsquo;re thinking about conducting fully patient paid consults&nbsp;or raising patient claims for eligible MBS telehealth items. Medipass Card Payments might be the right option for you. Medipass can facilitate an SMS payment flow to your patients, allowing you to process a payment simply and quickly in a telehealth scenario or take a Visa or MasterCard credit or debit card payment over the phone or other scenarios where the cardholder is not in front of you. Join the waitlist to get priority access for Medipass Card Payments <a href="https://medipass.com.au/medipass-card-payments/">here</a>.
Ready to get started with Medipass? Register your practice for Medipass easily and simply <a href="https://connect.medipass.io/sign-up?_ga=2.124431823.414145874.1585619133-1029530346.1585280326">here</a>
About Medipass
Medipass is a health payment platform helping software developers and health practitioners deliver a simpler claim and payment experience. Medipass is the official Claim and Payment Partner of the Australian Physiotherapy Association and a Fintech Organisation of the Year finalist at the Finnies 2019.
*Any telehealth consultations where there is an associated patient out of pocket charge (eg. scheme credit or debit transactions) will still occur the relevant transaction fee.

Medipass has made all telehealth claims free of charge until at least September 30th, 2020

COVID-19: Medicare and telehealth service provision

Medipass has made all telehealth claims free of charge until at least September 30th, 2020.

Medipass supports COVID-19 Medicare item codes for telehealth services

(Update 6 April 2020) - As the Government continues to expand out the changes to MBS items eligible for use in a telehealth scenario, it&rsquo;s important to read the detailed descriptions on MBS items as they are updated. For example, providers may have a choice, for some patients, and some item codes, whether to bulk bill or not.&nbsp;
(Update 13 March 2020) - The Australian Government&rsquo;s $2.4 billion COVID-19 health package includes <a href="http://www.mbsonline.gov.au/internet/mbsonline/publishing.nsf/Content/Home" rel="follow">updated Medicare item codes</a> for telehealth services and these new codes have been added to the Medipass platform.
The Australian Government has today announced a $2.4 billion COVID-19 health package that will include Medicare bulk-billing for telehealth consultations, new temporary fever clinics and fundings for a new advertising campaign.&nbsp;
The new Medicare COVID-19 specific item codes will be fully bulk-billed to allow general practitioners, nurses and allied mental health professionals to charge for telehealth consultations for people with coronavirus symptoms who are remained in self-isolation or quarantine.
The past two years have seen a surge in the uptake of telehealth services across Australia. Over 235,000 telehealth consultations were completed last year, an increase of over 43% from the year prior. As telehealth services are subsidised under the Medicare Benefits Scheme (MBS), this equated to over 37 million dollars claimed by Australian healthcare professionals in the past year alone.&nbsp;
The growing demand for telehealth services presents a significant opportunity for clinics to reach more patients while improving their bottom line. Unfortunately, many are hesitating due to confusion about the telehealth process, patient and practitioner eligibility, and the complexity of the telehealth claims process. Here is an overview of what you should know about telehealth when evaluating its potential for your practice.
Telehealth - The basics
&lsquo;Telehealth&rsquo; is the provision of health-related services and information through telecommunication technology, instead of being physically present during an appointment. These health services include clinical advice, education, training services and consultations, which include patient assessment, diagnosis and treatment. While there is no specified platform through which these services must be conducted, both video and audio must be used throughout any consultation. The benefits of telehealth services include:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Improved accessibility to healthcare services for those that live in regional, remote and rural areas, or are fly-in-fly-out workers</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Broader patient reach for practitioners, eliminating any reliance on proximity and transportation</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Improved affordability for patients and profitability by practitioners by eliminating travel costs and time is taken away from work for travel</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Reduced burden on patients, families, carers and health professionals from travelling</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Reduced patient stigma associated with visiting a clinic, especially involving mental or sexual health</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Eliminating proximity to those that have contagious illnesses, e.g. influenza</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Greater opportunities for professional development and education for practitioners</li>
</ul>
Who is eligible to provide and receive telehealth services? (pre-COVID-19 eligibility)
Practitioner eligibility (pre-COVID-19)
Practitioners do not require additional accreditation or approval to offer telehealth services. If you fall into one of the following twenty-one professional categories, you can provide these services under the MBS item numbers specific to your practice. You can additionally check your eligibility criteria <a href="https://www.humanservices.gov.au/organisations/health-professionals/services/medicare/mbs-and-telehealth/about/eligibility" rel="follow">here</a>.
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Optometrist</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Psychologist</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Clinic psychologist</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Occupational therapist</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Social worker</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Midwife</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Obstetrics practitioner</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Practice nurse</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Nurse practitioner</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioners Or Aboriginal Health Worker</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Anaesthesiologist</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Sexual health medicine specialist</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Addiction medicine specialist</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Neurosurgeon</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Palliative medicine specialist (consultant physician)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Pain medicine specialist (consultant physician)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Geriatric medicine specialist (consultant physician)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">General practitioner</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Consultant physician</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Consultant occupational physician</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Non-specialist practitioner</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Specialists, consultant physicians and psychiatrists</li>
</ul>
Patient eligibility&nbsp;(pre-COVID-19)
Aside from being eligible for Medicare rebates and not being admitted into a hospital or emergency room at the time of consultation, patients must meet criteria that are specific to their location and physical distance from your clinic to eligible for MBS-funded telehealth services.&nbsp;
All patients must have a road distance of at least 15km between the patient and provider. The exclusions to this rule are when the patient is residing at an eligible residential aged care facility or is present at an Aboriginal Medical Service or Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service.
All patients that are not accessing mental health services must also be residing in a Remoteness Area (RA) classification of between 2-5, as classified by the Australian Statistical Geography Standard. This means that the patient is outside of a major city (RA1). Mental health services use the Modified Monash Model (MMM) for geographical classification instead, identifying whether a patient&rsquo;s residence is very remote, remote, rural or a city. Patients in an MMM area of between 4-7 are eligible for telehealth. You can find your patient&rsquo;s RA or MMM classification <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/resources/apps-and-tools/health-workforce-locator/health-workforce-locator" rel="follow">here</a>.
MBS claiming for telehealth services with Medipass
With new MBS item numbers for telehealth services currently available, clinics that lack efficient and simple claiming processes may struggle to comfortably onboard and maintain these in-demand services. Medipass is an innovative cloud-based claiming platform that is streamlining the claims process for telehealth and all other healthcare services.&nbsp;
Medipass allows you to raise and process claims from any location and at any time, without a physical terminal. The platform is accessed from your smartphone, laptop or tablet, integrating seamlessly with your existing software. Internal validation features mean that your claims are checked for missing information before you hit submit, reducing the bounce-back of unprocessed claims for Medicare, as well as over 19 health funds and insurers. Your profitability isn&rsquo;t impacted by the high administrative time taken to complete claims, and your reporting and reconciliation are also easily completed within the platform.
 Ready to bring telehealth to your practice? Get started with Medipass <a href="https://medipass.com.au" rel="follow">here</a>.

The growing demand for telehealth services presents a significant opportunity for clinics to offer new ways to deliver patient care.

How to deliver telehealth services under Medicare

There&rsquo;s been a change in how the Australian government subsidise Medicare claiming, and this could lead to changes to how you manage your Medicare claiming.
<a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/organisations/health-professionals/services/medicare/medicare-easyclaim">Medicare Easyclaim</a> is a service that enables patients to claim their Medicare benefit through the EFTPOS terminal of their provider, and have it paid into the patient's bank account via a debit card. The Easyclaim channel sits alongside other claiming channels like ECLIPSE and Medicare Online.&nbsp;
Until recently, the Australian Government funded banks for the Medicare Easyclaim service. A fee per Medicare claim processed was paid by the government.
This subsidy was removed in early 2020. The lower margins for Medicare claiming, combined with the increased adoption of non-terminal solutions like Medicare Online, may result in some banks exiting the Medicare claims processing market. In these scenarios, providers will be required to either change terminals, or adopt a digital Medicare claiming solution that does not require a terminal at all.
We will continue to monitor how this change impacts the industry, and advise customers if we see changes that may impact them.
If you are left without a Medicare Easyclaim solution, then Medipass might be right for you. Features and benefits of Medipass include:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Support for DVA, Telehealth, in-patient and other claim types not available via Easyclaim.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">No monthly fees, pay-as-you-go pricing for Medicare claims starting at $0.22 per claim.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Unlimited support with assisted Medicare on-boarding for new businesses.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Integration to a number of leading practice management systems.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Reconciliation and compliance reporting to prevent accounting errors.</li>
</ul>
Medipass is available now with flexible pay-as-you go pricing. For more information on Medipass and how we can assist you during this transition please visit&nbsp;<a href="https://www.medipass.com.au" rel="follow">www.medipass.com.au</a>&nbsp;
About Medipass - Medipass is a health payment platform helping software developers and health practitioners deliver a simpler claim and payment experience. Medipass is the official Claim and Payment Partner of the Australian Physiotherapy Association and a Fintech Organisation of the Year finalist at the Finnies 2019.

There’s been a change in how the Australian government subsidise Medicare claiming, and this could lead to changes to your business.

How Medicare Easyclaim changes may impact your business

There’s been a change in how the Australian government subsidise Medicare claiming.

Medicare Easyclaim changes

By March 2022, Medicare will migrate vendor integrations to a new web services model. The aim of this move is to modernise the platform, ensure higher security standards and provide for a more scalable method of processing transactions.&nbsp;
This will mean that software vendors currently integrated to Medicare via legacy adaptor technology will need to develop new integrations, re-test, re-certify and deploy the new integration across their software suite.&nbsp;
The following channels will migrate to web services:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Medicare Online</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Department of Veterans&rsquo; Affairs (DVA) via Medicare Online</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) via Medicare Online</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">ECLIPSE</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">PBS Online</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Aged Care Online</li>
</ul>
Additionally, the process for enabling healthcare providers for online claiming via software vendors will change. Either software vendors or provider associated organisations - community clinics, hospitals, private practices - will need to specifically activate each practice location in PRODA and associate it with a particular software package.&nbsp;
What does this mean for software vendors?
Increased security requirements - the Medicare web services migration comes with increased security requirements that a software vendor must or should - depending on requirement - attest to, including:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Software and application development, testing, operation and support is conducted within Australia;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">If cloud-hosted, cloud computing providers must be listed on the Australian Signals Directorate&rsquo;s (ASD) Certified Cloud Services List;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">All data must remain onshore, within the Australian jurisdiction;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Software hosted by the cloud computing provider must reside on server infrastructure physically dedicated to Australian Government use;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Permanent privileged access to the cloud infrastructure must be limited to individuals who are Australian citizens and hold Australian Government Negative Vetting Level 1 security clearance or above;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Data at rest is encrypted using approved algorithms;&nbsp;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Security code review is conducted on all parts of software during the development lifecycle;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Security penetration testing is performed after each major software release; and</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Development strategies comply with the Australian Cyber Security Centre&rsquo;s Essential Eight.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
Redevelopment of the integration - the current Medicare integration is based on adapter technology which will be incompatible with the new web services. Software vendors will need to re-integrate, re-test and re-certify with Medicare. With this integration a new software vendor agreement is required.
How can Medipass help?
Instead of integrating directly to each payment and funding solution, software vendors can integrate to Medipass to enable a range of payment and claim options. That means less development effort for you as software developer as well as more features for your customers.&nbsp;
Medipass provides:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">An out of the box integration solution - via a Software Development Kit (SDK) and web application experience that contains a set of predefined user experience with processing rules for Medicare, DVA, private health funds and other claim types. This means that clinical, booking or other service data can be sourced from any system to create a claim and validated interactively in a managed user interface prior to submission - you as a software vendor are not required to build or maintain a set of user interfaces with changing processing rules for each funding type</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Fully compliant integration - including attesting to the security requirements for Medicare web services, private health funds and PCI DSS. Medipass handles compliance with the various funders and provides technical patterns for software vendors to easily achieve compliance without re-integration, testing and certification</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Fully supported by Medipass - support for payments is complex and only growing in complexity as the number of integrations grows. One PMS vendor mentioned that over 40% of their support calls related to claim and payment transactions. Because Medipass only manages payment and claim integrations, we also provide associated real-time support and specialised assistance, and at no cost to the software vendor</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">In addition to Medicare, DVA and private health, Medipass supports additional funders like icare and NDIS with more in the pipeline. This single integration is designed to support all funding options in Australia</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Medipass has a strong investment in confidentiality, integrity and availability controls that have been attested, certified by accredited third parties (<a href="https://www.jas-anz.org/our-directory/certified-organisations/4ab52ac6-7b05-456d-b3b4-145daf3d745c" rel="follow">Medipass ISO 27001 security certification</a>). This provides greater assurance over the processing of highly sensitive data. At current, Medipass is one of only two vendors that is both ISO 27001 certified for the entirety of services and certified for direct claims processing to Medicare</li>
</ul>
Ready to integrate with the new Medicare web services while reducing your development effort? Get in touch with the <a href="https://medipass.com.au/for-software-vendors/">Medipass team today</a>.&nbsp;
About Medipass - Medipass is a health payment platform helping software developers and health practitioners deliver a simpler claim and payment experience. Medipass is the official Claim and Payment Partner of the Australian Physiotherapy Association and a Fintech Organisation of the Year finalist at the Finnies 2019.

By March 2021, Medicare will migrate vendor integrations to a new web services model.

Upcoming changes to Medicare Web Services

Upcoming changes to Medicare web services

A new benchmark for an Australian health payment platform
Medipass today announced it achieved ISO 27001 certification by an accredited auditor. This milestone is a major move for Medipass on its mission to maintaining the security and privacy of personal data for the healthcare industry.
In order to achieve the ISO 27001 certification, a company must show it has a precise and continuous approach to managing information security risks that affect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the company and customer information.&nbsp;The certification covers all Medipass services and products and across all ISO 27001 annex clauses. &ldquo;Aligned to new security and privacy requirements mandated by Medicare, private health and state-based insurers, Medipass have heavily invested in controls and external attestation of operating effectiveness across our people, processes and technology&rdquo; says Pete William, co-CEO at Medipass. This news comes in the wake of many recent initiatives and accomplishments of the company, including: - Medicare bulk bill and patient claiming integration - Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) claiming solution - Launch of our SDK to enable Medipass functionality to be seamlessly integrated by software vendors To learn more about Medipass ISO 27001 certification and to view our accreditation, visit:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jas-anz.org/our-directory/certified-organisations/4ab52ac6-7b05-456d-b3b4-145daf3d745c">https://www.jas-anz.org/our-directory/certified-organisations/4ab52ac6-7b05-456d-b3b4-145daf3d745c</a> About Medipass - Medipass is a health payment platform helping software developers and health practitioners deliver a simpler claim and payment experience. Medipass is the official Claim and Payment Partner of the Australian Physiotherapy Association and a Fintech Organisation of the Year finalist at the Finnies 2019.

A new benchmark for Australian health payment platform Medipass today announced it achieved ISO 27001 certification.

Medipass achieves ISO 27001 Certification

Medipass achieves ISO 27001 security certification

Since we began our journey in 2016, our mission at Medipass has been to help providers get on with taking care of patients by making healthcare payments easier.
When it comes to health, delivering any meaningful change usually requires a range of industry partnerships, and this is especially so when it comes to delivering against our mission. In 2019, we continued our strong tradition of partnering, collaborating with a range of providers, software vendors, insurers, schemes, associations and patients, to deliver a health payment platform that is better than ever.
Here are some of the things, including partnerships and integrations, we are most proud of:
We released our <a href="https://medipass.com.au/blog/article/why-healthcare-software-vendors-are-choosing-to-partner-to-deliver-their-payments-capability">health payment platform</a> SDK which enables software vendors to leverage our functionality and deliver it to their customers, where Medipass takes care of all support queries and associated scheme accreditations and compliance. We were proud to launch this in October with Cliniko, one of Australia&rsquo;s leading software vendors.
We announced our successful bid to support <a href="https://medipass.com.au/blog/article/medipass-wins-nsw-government-contract-to-digitise-payments-for-icare/">icare NSW</a> with their Payments Transformation program, which will enable digital claiming, adjudication and payment for NSW providers who deliver icare services.
We launched both our <a href="https://medipass.com.au/blog/article/medipass-now-integrated-to-medicare/">Medicare</a> and <a href="https://medipass.com.au/blog/article/medipass-adds-support-for-the-department-of-veterans-affairs-claiming/">Department of Veterans&rsquo; Affairs integrations</a>, enabling providers to digitally raise claims to both these services for straight-through approval. Our customers tell us that our implementation is one of the simplest and most intuitive of its kind, and we completely agree!
We extended our HICAPS partnership to include <a href="https://medipass.com.au/blog/article/medipass-adds-support-for-overseas-health-cover-claiming/">Overseas Health Cover</a>, enabling general and medical specialists to raise claims for their patients who are visiting Australia, either as an overseas student, worker or visitor.
We were endorsed by the <a href="https://medipass.com.au/blog/article/medipass-partners-with-the-australian-physiotherapy-association/">Australian Physiotherapy Association</a> as their official Claim and Payment Partner, a great testament to the solution we&rsquo;ve developed and its ability to support new healthcare claiming experiences.
Thank you to our all our partners; providers, software vendors, insurers, schemes, associations and patients alike, for continuing to choose Medipass. These initiatives, along with a hundred smaller ones delivered day by day, have enabled us to get ever closer to our vision of a health industry powered by seamless payment experiences.
None of these achievements would be possible without the incredible team we&rsquo;ve built, each bringing their own unique specialism and superpowers which enable us to continue to lift Medipass to even greater heights.
We plan to continue to do just that in 2020, as we unveil the innovations and new partnerships that we are working on right now across the industry.
Until then, Happy Claiming!
Pete and Adrian

Our mission at Medipass has been to help providers get on with taking care of patients by making healthcare payments easier.

2019 was a year of Partnerships

In 2019, we continued our strong tradition of partnership and collaboration.

2019 was a year of partnerships

As health payments become more complex, interest in specialist Health Payment Platforms grows.
Building great software that users love is challenging. But building great software for the healthcare industry is a whole new level of difficulty, which is only increasing in complexity.
Practice Management Software (PMS) has delivered significant benefits and efficiencies across healthcare. Practices can now access digital records of clinical notes, can easily enable patients to book themselves online, can facilitate invoicing and more.
But as the world has embraced software, the expectations of what a PMS should and must do have only increased.&nbsp; Healthcare practitioners are looking for advanced functionality that also meets ever-increasing levels of compliance. Today, a PMS needs to not only be able to raise invoices but be at the forefront of experience design, patient engagement, security and privacy, all while moving to the cloud.&nbsp;And then there are payments.
Software vendors have traditionally integrated to one or two bank EFTPOS terminals to process patient payments, Medicare and Allied Private Health Insurance. Or, they might integrate directly for Medicare services. But the world of health payments has expanded rapidly, with new requirements that will change how these services are delivered.
There are three key industry changes we are seeing:
1. Health insurers and schemes are digitising
Unlike payments or Allied Private Health Insurance, the majority of statutory and state-based insurers are not digital. They operate with manual invoices, where practitioners send invoices, which are adjudicated and paid. But this is changing as most insurers now see the efficiency and experience benefits that digitising delivers, and many are now in the middle of payments transformation programs that will help deliver straight through approvals.
While this is a great benefit to the health industry, it equates to a significant increase in the number of individual integrations that a PMS must now support for their customers.
2. Increased compliance validation
Probably the most important trend we are seeing is the increasing compliance and certification requirements from all organisations, in particular, Medicare and state-based insurers.&nbsp; This is being driven by increased community expectations about how patient data is managed, and expectations that these standards are passed onto all suppliers who access that data.
Multi-factor authentication, PCI compliance, full encryption and Australian data residency are now just table stakes. We are increasingly seeing the following as base requirements when dealing with health data:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Australian operations with all development and operational support conducted in Australia.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Negative vetting security clearance for privileged operations and cloud support teams.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Background police checks for all personnel.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">ISO27001 compliance, validated by a qualified independent auditor.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">IRAP certified infrastructure for all systems processing healthcare data.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Safe Harbour / Know Your Customer (KYC) validation for all businesses accepting payments.</li>
</ul>
These requirements are passed onto integrated vendors, necessitating investments across people, technology and processes.&nbsp;
3. An exploding number of consumer payment options
Lastly, there is an exploding number of ways that consumers can fund their out of pockets. It feels like there is a new Buy Now Pay Later provider (e.g., Afterpay,&nbsp; Zip Money, LatitudePay) announced each week. Then there are the new overseas payment providers, like Alipay and WeChat. And we haven&rsquo;t even mentioned the New Payments Platform and what that can enable.
It is increasingly difficult for software vendors to meet all the payments requirements and expectations of their customers alongside meeting the core requirements of a PMS. In the same way that software vendors are moving away from managing their own servers and data centres (ie, they use AWS or Azure), they increasingly understand that payments integrations are specialised and complex, and their development effort is best placed on other features being requested by their users.
This is where Health Payment Platforms step in, aggregating all healthcare payment integrations and making this service available to software vendors.
Partnering with a Health Payment Platform (HPP) delivers PMS vendors a range of benefits, including:
1. PMS vendors no longer need to do the development work
Instead of integrating directly to each payment and funding solution, PMS vendors only need to integrate to the HPP to enable a range of payment options.&nbsp; That means less development effort as well as more features.
2. Fully compliant integrations
A HPP&rsquo;s speciality is ensuring they are fully compliant with all the security and privacy requirements of insurers, and ensuring that this integrity is maintained right through to the PMS. This means a PMS does not need to spend the time and effort associated with meeting extended requirements, as most are met by the HPP.
3. PMS support effort is significantly reduced
This is often the most important factor. Support for payments is complex and only growing in complexity as the number of integrations grows. One PMS vendor we spoke to said that over 40% of their support calls related to claim and payment transactions. They were very interested in options that allowed them to not only reduce these calls, but also provide a better customer experience.
Because a Health Payment Platform will manage the integrations, they also manage associated support, offering customers specialised assistance, and at no cost to the PMS.
Increasing digitisation and instant approval of health payments will drive the next level of efficiency and experience improvements as providers are paid faster, and patients are no longer unnecessarily out of pocket. But this change will require a new level of specialism, sitting between the insurers and the PMS vendors, and offered as a service.

This is what Medipass was built to solve, solely dedicated to making it easy for practitioners and software vendors to access all payment solutions, and get paid quickly.&nbsp;
If you are a software vendor and would like to learn more about how we can support your customers, <a href="https://medipass.com.au/for-software-vendors/" target="_blank" rel="follow noopener">reach out to us here</a>, we would love to chat.

As health payments become more complex, interest in specialist Health Payment Platforms grows.

Benefits of partnering with a Health Payment Platform

Why healthcare software vendors are choosing to partner to deliver their payments capability

The demand for efficient, home-based healthcare services like physiotherapy, podiatry and other allied professions is at an all-time high. The past ten years has seen a 130% increase in Australians choosing to remain at home while receiving care services, compared to just a 4% increase in those choosing to move into residential care facilities. With 54,000 new Australians entering in-home care in 2017, nearly 500,000 Australians with a disability now covered by NDIS, and an increasing life expectancy that is expected to exceed 90 years by 2044, for clinic-owners, mobile health provision is an opportunity worth exploring.
Unfortunately, many mobile healthcare practitioners are turning away opportunities to service this growing market due to the significant administrative burden and the resulting impact on their profitability. The processes behind the provision of home-based health services for mobile practitioners must be simple, efficient and integrated if the service is to be a key focus whilst remaining viable.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Medipass is a digital payment and claims solution that is currently helping thousands of Australian practitioners optimise their claims processes, improve their patient experience, and reduce the hours spent on administrative tasks while they&rsquo;re on the road. Here are two ways that you can use Medipass to simplify your claiming process and maximise your profitability as a mobile practitioner during home-visits.
Streamlining and digitalising your claims process
With many patient assessment and information forms now being completed digitally, Medipass brings your insurance claiming, payment and reconciliation systems up to speed. Private health fund, Medicare, DVA and NDIS claims are all submitted from one digital platform on your own device, with instant approval (where available for the respective funder), status updates, and auto-population of your patient&rsquo;s details.&nbsp;
Key claim details are validated prior to submission, reducing the rate of unprocessed claims bouncing back or requiring further manual review, which has been shown to occur in up to 77% of claims on review of one Australian insurer. Combined with detailed daily status reporting that significantly reduces the need for ongoing manual reviews, you can save hours of administrative time every week, maximise your treatment time with your patients, and get paid faster.
No more manual invoicing back at the office
The manual invoices that must be completed at the end of a long day of home visits are both a time-consuming burden on mobile practitioners and a source of payment delays. Whether the paperwork is due to be completed by the practitioner or administrative staff back at the office, it requires many additional hours - and headaches if any information is missing or incomplete.&nbsp;
Medipass eliminates the need for manual invoices. The cloud-based software, accessed from your tablet, smartphone and laptop wherever you travel to, enables users to quickly and easily create invoices and process claims on the spot. This eliminates your back-office effort while helping you get paid faster.&nbsp;
Medipass also integrates seamlessly with your existing practice management and payment systems without a physical terminal. It features a user interface that is simple, intuitive and easy-to-use, with a digital dashboard that tracks the progress of your invoices. With free unlimited support, Medipass is designed to improve both the practitioner and patient experience, supporting the efficient and timely delivery of mobile health services across Australia.
Ready to optimise your mobile healthcare services?
Rising to meet the growing demand for in-home healthcare service provision is no small task - but it shouldn&rsquo;t be a complicated one, either. Simplifying your claims and payments experience starts with the creation of a <a href="https://connect.medipass.io/sign-up/" rel="follow">free Medipass account</a>. Our support team will then guide you through the features that can help your mobile practitioners from day one - and keep you prepared for growth in the years to come.
Get started with Medipass <a href="https://medipass.com.au/" rel="follow">here</a>

The demand for efficient, home-based aged care services like physiotherapy is at an all-time high.

Mobile therapy provision: Meeting the growing demand

Mobile therapy provision: effectively meeting the growing demand

Straight through processing for DVA claims has never been easier.
Our mission at Medipass is to create better ways to claim and pay for healthcare, and integrating to Australia&rsquo;s largest funders and insurers is critical to our vision. That is why we are pleased to announce that practitioners can now use Medipass to raise claims with the Department of Veterans&rsquo; Affairs (DVA), to have them instantly approved and paid the next day.
The DVA is one of Australia&rsquo;s largest and most important publicly funded healthcare programs. Established in 1976, the purpose of the DVA is to support &ldquo;those who serve or have served in the defence of our nation and to commemorate their service and sacrifice&rdquo;, which includes war veterans, members of the Australian Federal Police and their dependants.
As part of their purpose, the DVA provides $4.3 billion in health and wellness funding for over 183,000 veterans and over 109,000 dependants every year, with services delivered by over 168,000 health practitioners. This makes the DVA one of Australia&rsquo;s largest funder of health and wellness services, equivalent in size to that of Australia&rsquo;s largest private health insurers.
Like all our integrations, our DVA experience has been designed to a new standard of simplicity and functionality, enabling health practitioners to easily understand how to raise a claim, to save patient card information, and to know what additional information is required by DVA to successfully process their claim.
With Medipass, payment times go from weeks to less than two days, and without the fuss of back and forth questions associated with manual claims.&nbsp; We know this is valuable to providers, especially because DVA claiming is not available in any EFTPOS terminal solution.
If you are a practitioner; DVA claiming is available in beta to providers who have signed up to Medipass Pro.&nbsp;
If you are a software vendor; DVA is part of our API and SDK library, enabling you to add DVA functionality without the complexity or ongoing support requirements. Contact us here to discuss how to access this functionality. <a href="https://medipass.com.au/for-software-vendors/">https://medipass.com.au/for-software-vendors/</a>
Happy claiming, from the Medipass team.

Straight through processing for DVA claims has never been easier. A better way to process DVA claims and payments.

Medipass adds support for DVA claiming

Medipass adds support for the Department of Veterans' Affairs claiming

Last week, Fahad and I drove from Melbourne to Adelaide (via the scenic coastal route) for the 2019 Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA) <a rel="follow" href="https://transform.physio/">annual conference</a>, about a 1000km journey give or take. Why? This is a question we were asked many times before (and after) so let me talk you through the logic and why we&rsquo;re really glad we did... and will try and do it again next year too.
Being a regional or remote healthcare practitioner is hard, trust me I know from personal experience, and it&rsquo;s why we&rsquo;ve been really excited to see healthcare practitioners in regional areas sign up to our service right from launch three years ago. Despite our humble beginnings, some of our very first customers live and work on the route we took so how could we not pop in and say hi, and thanks!&nbsp;
We had some amazing conversations and learnt a great deal. Whilst resisting the urge to turn this into a travel blog, here&rsquo;s the important stuff that really resonated.
1. You will often work across multiple locations
Patients/clients are way more spread out - obvious, we know - but it really impacts the kinds of business model you might need to operate to be effective and successful. A number of the healthcare staff we talked to worked across multiple sites and even businesses, travelling regularly between practice locations to provide better coverage and more convenience for their patients. Then there are those practitioners who are conducting home visits and/or exploring telehealth platforms - for patients with appropriate funding (eg. home care packages and NDIS in particular), providing these businesses with an opportunity to differentiate with new service delivery models.
2. Multiple locations = multiple processes (and often multiple costs), requiring innovative business solutions
If a practitioner is visiting multiple locations to practice, we heard regularly that there was more to do to stay organised and maximise the time spent at each location. Compound that with the need to have the same &lsquo;stuff&rsquo; (phone/internet/rooms/admin staff/software/etc) to make the business work at each location, meant our rural practitioners were often looking for new innovative solutions to make their business run smoothly and efficiently and they were often early adopters, more willing to try new technology and solutions out.
3. You might describe yourself as a multitasker
In some areas, with healthcare services few and far between, the local healthcare practitioner needs to be resourceful and be able to cover a broad range of problems and conditions. Being able to tap into the local networks and community support channels is key and we heard about a great example of the local physio working with their community to coordinate urgent funding for an NDIS participant who was struggling to make their support plan work under the new system. Being proactive, efficient and organised really helps, particularly if you&rsquo;re running most things on your own.
4. Broadband connections are getting better (but blackspots still exist)
Despite the Melbourne to Adelaide coastal route being a popular tourist run, our telcos still have a way to go to connect everyone up. With myself on Telstra and Fahad with Optus, accessing a mobile connection between towns at times still proved challenging. However, in contrast, most towns, and the businesses we chatted to, were happy with their broadband connection (albeit, after many years of frustration)!&nbsp;
5. The software can really help
Assuming (4) isn&rsquo;t an issue, there are some great cloud-based software solutions available to healthcare practitioners that really help with (1), (2) and (3). From online booking functionality (HotDoc, Health Engine, Cliniko, etc), to practice management software (Cliniko, HealthKit/Halaxy, Nookal, Coreplus, etc), and accounting systems (Xero, MYOB, Quickbooks, Reckon etc), there are plenty of options available. However what we consistently heard was that taking payments is pretty much the same as it&rsquo;s always been - cash, card (at the terminal) or manual invoice - and that&rsquo;s why some of our earliest adopters of Medipass are from regional Australia. By reducing the hardware cost burden, integrating to other clinic software to reduce admin, and providing a means to take payment on the go, our proposition is worth a look. But we still have work to do&nbsp; - more software integrations, more healthcare funders (DVA, workers compensation insurers, etc) and a simpler onboarding experience were all called out. These are challenges we are up for and will continue to focus on.
We really enjoyed the opportunity to say hi and thanks in person. Hearing first hand what works and what doesn&rsquo;t was great, and that&rsquo;s why driving to a conference is better than flying. If you have ideas for our 2020 itinerary let us know - you can follow Medipass on our social channels and send through your ideas.
(BONUS) A big Lobster (or insert appropriate animal, fruit, veg, etc) puts you on the map
Grabbing a photo of a giant Lobster was always going to be a thing on this trip (might&rsquo;ve even anchored the route), and with smartphone selfie cameras getting better and better and a ready-made audience on social media, that tourist cliche will always help raise the awareness of regional towns and their world-class produce! Not sure if it drives more healthcare business though&hellip;is selfie-arm a thing?
<img height="225" width="179" alt="APA2019_road_trip-1.jpg" src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/Rq2v62c4RIa8JMwRQmLv" />&nbsp;<img height="224" width="179" alt="APA2019_road_trip-2.jpg" src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/FkazxPgJRo6x0XMaQqMc" />&nbsp;<img height="224" width="179" alt="APA2019_road_trip-3.jpg" src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/Ui14U0miSj6hQCvZYj0P" />&nbsp;<img height="224" width="168" alt="APA2019_road_trip-4.jpg" src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/wdvzQI1TTq7CwseRPPw6" />

We drove from Melbourne to Adelaide (via the scenic coastal route) for the 2019 Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA) annual conference

Why driving beats flying to a conference

We drove from Melbourne to Adelaide (via the scenic coastal route) for the 2019 Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA) annual conference.

Why driving beats flying to a conference - a few things we learnt about delivering healthcare services in regional Australia

With approximately one million Australians currently battling eating disorders (ED), the Australian Government&rsquo;s commitment to helping more people access and afford the help they need with a dedicated <a href="https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/BD89F349ED5817F4CA25836600134833/$File/Fact-Sheet-Eating-Disorders-17-December-2018.pdf">Medicare Benefits Scheme</a> (MBS) item number for eating disorder treatment has seen an outpouring of support from organisations, individuals and families of those affected.
Aside from the mental and physical impact of living with an eating disorder, one in three people are going into debt in pursuit of treatment, and one in four are delaying or discontinuing treatment due to the cost. With $110.7 million being invested in helping 30,000 Australians annually over the next four years, this Medicare funding aims to achieve both better treatment outcomes and raise the national percentage of those affected receiving treatment, which currently sits at 25%.
Psychologists and dietitians - what this means for you
Psychologists and dietitians can expect an increase in service demand and delivery from November 1st, 2019. Alongside encouraging more people to access ED treatment services without being discouraged by the cost, the number of Medicare-funded sessions will also increase four-fold.
Dietitians will be able to complete up to 20 patient sessions for those eligible under the MBS, increasing from the current five-session allowance under the chronic disease management plan. Psychologists will be allocated up to 40 sessions, an increase from just ten under the current mental health treatment plan. Psychologists can also be involved in the initial diagnosis, alongside a GP or paediatrician, to confirm eligibility to receive this support.
With this significant positive change for Australia only months away from commencing, now is the time that psychology and dietetic clinics should be ensuring that their Medicare claiming and billing processes are streamlined, effective and easy for patients and admin staff alike.&nbsp;
Medipass Pro - the Medicare solution
Medipass is a simple yet comprehensive solution, equipping dietetic and psychology clinics for growth without interruption or delays - both in November and for the years to come. Medipass is an online, cloud-based platform that saves time and money by simplifying and optimising the billing process.&nbsp;
Medipass Pro is designed specifically with efficient Medicare claiming as its key feature, enabling easy submission of both bulk-billed and private patient claims in high volumes whilst minimising errors and claim rejections. Medipass Pro helps your clinic by:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Not requiring a physical terminal to complete your Medicare claims - all claims are raised and processed online from your existing computer or mobile device</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Enabling you to easily raise Medicare claims from anywhere, anytime - like when travelling to remote clinics and after hours</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Not requiring in-person transactions - you can complete online claims for remote video / teleconference consultations without hassle</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Auto-populating provider details and patient Medicare information for existing patients</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Maintaining full transparency on your Medicare claim and payment status instantly after submission</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Integrating their complex validation rules to ensure eligibility and payment</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Easily integrating with supported practice management systems&nbsp;</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Providing settlement reports for easy referencing and accounting</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Offering free, unlimited support</li>
</ul>
For more information on how to best prepare your clinic for increases in Medicare claim numbers, please contact us at support@medipass.com.au.
Alongside Medicare claims, Medipass also processes your private health fund and compensable insurer claims from the same digital software. You can learn more about how Medipass saves your clinic time and money with insurer payments <a href="http://medipass.com.au">here</a>.

Psychologists and dietitians can expect an increase in service demand and delivery from November 1st, 2019.

Major Psychology & Dietician Medicare benefit changes

Major Medicare benefits change for psychologists and dieticians for eating disorder treatments

(Update 11 August 2020) - The Australian Government&rsquo;s COVID-19 health package includes&nbsp;<a href="http://www.mbsonline.gov.au/internet/mbsonline/publishing.nsf/Content/Home" rel="follow">new Medicare item codes</a> for telehealth and telephone services and these new codes have been added to the Medipass platform.
The Australian Government has announced a COVID-19 health package that will include Medicare bulk-billing for telehealth and telephone consultations, new temporary fever clinics and fundings for a new advertising campaign.&nbsp;
The new Medicare item code will be fully bulk-billed to allow general practitioners, nurses and allied mental health professionals to charge for telehealth consultations for people with coronavirus symptoms and remain in self-isolation or quarantine.
At Medipass, we respond to multiple questions about health care claims every day. This article aims to summarise the top questions that come from allied health providers asking about how Medicare claiming works.
<h2 id="d5a0" class="mv mw ch ao an eq mx my mz na nb nc nd ne nf ng nh" data-selectable-paragraph="">How big is Medicare claiming?</h2>
The Department of Human Services has a wealth of information on Medicare claiming, spanning spending, volumes, patient demographics and more.&nbsp;<a href="http://medicarestatistics.humanservices.gov.au/statistics/mbs_item.jsp" class="bl cw nn no np nq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Click here</a>&nbsp;to delve into these statistics.
Interestingly, the top claimants types, by service counts, were:
<ul class="">
<li id="09da" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Psychologists, including Clinical Psychologists with 5.2 millions claims</li>
<li id="1f0f" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Podiatrists with over 3.2 million claims</li>
<li id="bd30" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Aboriginal health and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners with over 2.55 million claims, and</li>
<li id="62f5" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Physiotherapists with over 2.5 million claims</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="9661" class="mv mw ch ao an eq mx my mz na nb nc nd ne nf ng nh" data-selectable-paragraph="">Who is eligible to claim Medicare benefits?</h2>
While there are different rules for different conditions, most patients require a valid referral from a GP or Medical Specialist in order to claim for an allied health service. Referrals issued under the following schemes allow allied health providers and their patients to claim Medicare benefits:
<ul class="">
<li id="97b5" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Chronic Disease Management (CDM) &mdash; formerly Enhanced Primary Care/EPC</li>
<li id="2f48" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Focused Psychological Strategies (FPS), including the Better Access initiative</li>
<li id="a524" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Pregnancy Support Counselling</li>
<li id="4871" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Group Allied Health Services for People with Type 2 Diabetes</li>
<li id="0bf2" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Allied Health Services for people of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent</li>
<li id="b2b5" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Children with Autism, Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD), including the Better Start program</li>
<li id="5f46" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Patients with Anorexia Nervosa and other eating disorders, from November 2019</li>
</ul>
Depending on the scheme, the following professions may qualify to raise claims:
<ul class="">
<li id="084b" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners</li>
<li id="b4a1" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Aboriginal health workers</li>
<li id="e755" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Audiologists</li>
<li id="9fc8" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Chiropractors</li>
<li id="6d14" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Diabetes educators</li>
<li id="d595" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Dietitians</li>
<li id="6c39" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Exercise physiologists</li>
<li id="6be7" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Mental health workers, including social workers</li>
<li id="87c7" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Occupational therapists</li>
<li id="9f5a" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Osteopaths</li>
<li id="f9d2" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Physiotherapists</li>
<li id="74d2" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Podiatrists</li>
<li id="d69e" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Psychologists</li>
<li id="10d8" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Speech pathologists</li>
</ul>
Further information on these schemes can be found&nbsp;<a href="https://www.humanservices.gov.au/organisations/health-professionals/subjects/mbs-programs-and-initiatives-allied-health-professionals" class="bl cw nn no np nq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.
<h2 id="ce5e" class="mv mw ch ao an eq mx my mz na nb nc nd ne nf ng nh" data-selectable-paragraph="">Bulk bill or patient claim?</h2>
It&rsquo;s your choice as a provider whether your process bulk bill claims, patient claims, or a combination of both.
Bulk billing&nbsp;means the patient assigns their right to a Medicare benefit to you. In other words, Medicare pays you directly, instead of the patient. The patient doesn&rsquo;t pay anything out of pocket, and Medicare pays you after you have submitted the claim on the patient&rsquo;s behalf. However, bulk bill claims have a rate cap and providers cannot charge over this cap. For example, a physiotherapy session for Chronic Disease Management (CDM) typically pays the provider $53.80.
Patient claims (PCI)&nbsp;are when the patient or a claimant (e.g., a parent) pays you for the full amount of the service, and you lodge a Medicare claim on their behalf. If the claim is accepted, Medicare will pay the designated amount directly to the patient or claimant. It&rsquo;s up to you what you charge for a patient claim service &mdash; there is no rate cap. For example, a physiotherapy session for CDM where the provider charges $100, the patient will pay the provider $100 and typically receive a benefit from Medicare of $53.80.
Overall, 86% of all Medicare claims are bulk billed. However, we have found that for allied health professionals the percentage of bulk bill claims is closer to 65%.
<h2 id="77f7" class="mv mw ch ao an eq mx my mz na nb nc nd ne nf ng nh" data-selectable-paragraph="">How do I claim from Medicare?</h2>
There are four main channels used by health professionals for Medicare claims:
<ul class="">
<li id="7847" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">PRODA: Medicare&rsquo;s own online web portal which allows providers to submit and manage claims. PRODA is free and supports most claim scenarios for allied health professionals. However, PRODA does not integrate with practice management systems and does not process patient/claimant payment cards. Many providers report a non-intuitive lodgement and complex reconciliation experience.</li>
<li id="c6e0" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Medicare Online: This is the channel used to process Medicare claims via another software program, including from within your practice management software. Medicare Online supports all allied health claiming scenarios except for Medicare reciprocal country claims. Medipass&rsquo; Medicare solution leverages Medicare Online.</li>
<li id="fa21" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Easyclaim: Medicare claims processed via a physical terminal, such as those offered by HICAPS, CBA, ANZ or Tyro. Many Easyclaim terminals integrate with practice management systems and most terminals can also process customer card payments. However, Easyclaim does not support all claim types permitted by other channels, such as telehealth claiming, exception referrals, hospital in-patient services or DVA claims. Easyclaim does not provide integrated reporting on bulk bill claim status and related settlement.</li>
<li id="8c4a" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Eclipse: Eclipse is an electronic claiming channel that is typically used for hospital in-patient (admitted) claims and is always initiated from a practice management or hospital management system. Although Eclipse supports allied health claims, it is more typically used by hospitals and medical specialists for in-patient, imaging, pathology and other diagnostic service scenarios.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="4fad" class="mv mw ch ao an eq mx my mz na nb nc nd ne nf ng nh" data-selectable-paragraph="">Telehealth</h2>
It&rsquo;s difficult for a patient to pay and claim for Telehealth services. Currently, common processes include:
<ul class="">
<li id="9fe8" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">A bulk bill claim is processed via the provider&rsquo;s practice management software. The patient provides their Medicare card details either over the phone or during the telehealth consult</li>
<li id="694d" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">Patient claims are processed fully out of pocket where the patient provides their credit card details either over the phone or during the telehealth consult and an invoice is emailed to them to claim back with Medicare</li>
<li id="ef89" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li nu lk nv lm nw lo nx lq ny ls nr ns nt" data-selectable-paragraph="">The patient is emailed an invoice to pay via direct transfer or similar</li>
</ul>
The Medipass claiming experience is entirely online. Because Medipass doesn&rsquo;t rely on hardware or terminals to process Medicare claims or out of pocket fees, it&rsquo;s a perfect solution for telehealth consult claiming. Patients no longer have to manually claim with Medicare using an invoice, and it also means that there is less of an administrative burden (and you avoid potential security risks) in taking the patient&rsquo;s credit card details.
<h2 id="8ac7" class="mv mw ch ao an eq mx my mz na nb nc nd ne nf ng nh" data-selectable-paragraph="">When do I get paid?</h2>
When submitted during Medicare business hours, over 92% of all valid Medicare claims are approved in real-time. The remainder require Medicare review and potentially a clarification from the patient or provider. Once approved, Medicare will usually issue the benefit payment by the next business day.
For patient claims, you are paid by the patient/claimant, which could happen immediately if you accept cash. Although this means that patients/claimants are out of pocket for the entire amount, many will see a benefit payment from Medicare that same day.
If you make a successful bulk bill claim prior to 9pm Canberra time on a Medicare business day, a payment will usually be issued to you by Medicare the following business day. Claims made Saturday, Sunday and public holidays are considered as processed the following business day.
<h2 id="0cbe" class="mv mw ch ao an eq mx my mz na nb nc nd ne nf ng nh" data-selectable-paragraph="">This is just the tip of the iceberg</h2>
Medipass is committed to our vision of being a central connection point for you to all the healthcare funding bodies in Australia. We want you to be able to lodge, track and settle all healthcare claims and payments through a single, simple, interface and get paid as quickly as possible. It&rsquo;s by no means an easy task, but our team is well equipped for the challenge.
If we have more questions, feel free to&nbsp;<a href="https://medipass.com.au/contact-us/" class="bl cw nn no np nq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reach out to us</a>, or you can also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.humanservices.gov.au/organisations/health-professionals/health-professionals-contact-information" class="bl cw nn no np nq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">contact Medicare directly</a>.

This article aims to summarise the top questions that come from allied health providers asking about how Medicare claiming works.

An introduction to Medicare claiming for allied health

An introduction to Medicare claiming for allied health providers

<section class="jy jz ka kb kc">
<div class="ae kd ab ef v w">
Medipass is pleased to announce that we are the official&nbsp;Claim and Payment Partner&nbsp;of the Australian Physiotherapy Association.
Medipass is on a mission to simplify healthcare payments, enabling the industry to move away from payment experiences that are complex, slow and an administrative burden.
In order to create brilliant payment experiences that support the healthcare industry, we are pleased to be an endorsed partner of the Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA).
As the APA&rsquo;s exclusive Claim and Payment Partner, we aim to not only educate and support members reduce the time they spend on payments administration, but also learn from members, to make sure the solutions we deliver continue to enable them to deliver the best patient care they can.
APA members will hear more from the APA and Medipass, including exclusive Medipass benefits available to them.
</div>
</section>
<section class="jy jz ka kb kc">
<div class="ae kd ab ef v w">
Who is the APA?
The Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA) is the peak body representing the interests of Australian physiotherapists and their patients. They are well known for being committed to providing professional excellence and career success for APA members, which translates into better patient outcomes and improved health conditions for all Australians.
Learn more about Endorsed Partners of the APA&nbsp;<a href="https://australian.physio/aboutus/partner-services" class="bl cw nc nd ne nf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.
</div>
</section>

Medipass is pleased to announce that we are the official Claim and Payment Partner of the Australian Physiotherapy Association.

Medipass is an endorsed partner of the APA

Medipass partners with the Australian Physiotherapy Association

<section class="kd ke kf kg kh">
<div class="ae ki ab ef v w">
Medipass has been selected to partner with Insurance and Care NSW (icare) to build their next-generation payments capability, aimed at improving the payments experience for icare participants and providers.
We are delighted to announce that icare will be integrating to Medipass. Once implemented, this will allow healthcare practitioners and service providers who deliver services which are funded by icare to:
<ul class="">
<li id="fe2b" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li lj lk ll lm ln lo lp lq lr ls lu lv lw" data-selectable-paragraph="">digitally raise icare payment requests from the Medipass platform and supported practice management software;</li>
<li id="ffa4" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li lx lk ly lm lz lo ma lq mb ls lu lv lw" data-selectable-paragraph="">have payment requests adjudicated and approved in real-time;</li>
<li id="205c" class="lf lg ch ao lh b li lx lk ly lm lz lo ma lq mb ls lu lv lw" data-selectable-paragraph="">quickly receive payment for services.</li>
</ul>
For icare providers, this means reduced administration time and cost, enabling them to get on with taking care of those who have been injured.
For NSW residents, this means greater certainty that their icare claim will be paid in a timely fashion.
Our icare partnership complements our existing agreements with HICAPS for Private Health Insurance and&nbsp;<a class="bl cw mu mv mw mx" target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://medium.com/medipass/medipass-adds-support-for-overseas-health-cover-claiming-57706194d827">Overseas Health Cover</a>, Specsavers for&nbsp;<a class="bl cw mu mv mw mx" target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://medium.com/medipass/you-can-now-claim-your-insurance-benefit-online-with-specsavers-6b9f81adf78a">online claiming</a>&nbsp;and our fully digital&nbsp;<a class="bl cw mu mv mw mx" target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://medium.com/medipass/medipass-now-integrated-to-medicare-d6208cee8173">Medicare</a>&nbsp;integration.
If you would like to learn more about our solution (including PMS integration options), please don&rsquo;t hesitate to&nbsp;<a href="https://medipass.com.au/contact-us/" class="bl cw mu mv mw mx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">contact us directly</a>. Alternatively,&nbsp;<a href="https://share.hsforms.com/1RzgyU3oeT3q7n-qumhnCJw3868o" class="bl cw mu mv mw mx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sign up to our newsletter</a>&nbsp;and we&rsquo;ll send you our latest announcements, as they happen.
</div>
</section>
<section class="kd ke kf kg kh">
<div class="ae ki ab ef v w">
About icare
<a href="https://www.icare.nsw.gov.au/" class="bl cw mu mv mw mx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">icare</a>&nbsp;is committed to delivering better cover, treatment and care to the people of NSW for a range of insurance schemes, including Workers Compensation and Lifetime Care. icare insures over 310,000 NSW businesses and 193 NSW Government agencies and protects around 90 per cent of public and private sector workers in NSW &mdash; that&rsquo;s approximately 4 million people. Whether a person is severely injured in the workplace or on our roads, icare supports their long-term care needs to improve their quality of life. This includes helping people return to work.
</div>
</section>

Medipass has been selected to partner with Insurance and Care NSW (icare) to build its next-generation payments capability.

Medipass wins contract to digitise icare payments

Medipass wins NSW Government contract to digitise payments for icare

Raising Medicare claims has never been easier
Medipass is on a mission to create better ways to claim and pay for healthcare, and integrating major funding schemes into our platform is critical. Today we&rsquo;re pleased to announce that providers can use Medipass to raise Medicare claims.
As Australia&rsquo;s primary public healthcare funder, integration to Medicare systems must cover a range of complex use cases. There are multiple rules that differ for every profession and service delivered. In many of today&rsquo;s existing Medicare integrations, this complexity has been exposed to end users and providers, requiring them to decipher how best to fill in a claim in order to have it approved.
With our integration, we took the opposite approach. Our solution is tailored by profession and service item, meaning that the user interface changes depending on who you are and what you&rsquo;re claiming for. And because of our deep payments experience, our solution enables patients to pay at the same time as they approve their Medicare claim, all from their mobile phone. One click from a patient, and it&rsquo;s all done.
This ability to enable patients to claim and pay from their mobile phone means that a patient can be in the provider&rsquo;s office or across the country via a remote consultation. This is a great win for tele-health providers grappling with how to finalise payments for their eligible services.
This outcome-focussed approach, designed around how providers work, has delivered a Medicare integration that takes unnecessary complexity away from the provider. It&rsquo;s simple and a delight to use.
Our Medicare integration supports General Practitioners, Medical Specialists, Dentists and Allied Healthcare Professionals. Providers are able to lodge:
<ul class="postList">
<li name="9897" id="9897" class="graf graf--li graf-after--p">General and referred services;</li>
<li name="6407" id="6407" class="graf graf--li graf-after--li">Permitted tele-health scenarios;</li>
<li name="f866" id="f866" class="graf graf--li graf-after--li">Permitted remote, regional, residential aged care facility, in-home, after-hours and other out of consultation room scenarios;</li>
<li name="7de4" id="7de4" class="graf graf--li graf-after--li">Hospital inpatient scenarios;</li>
<li name="48af" id="48af" class="graf graf--li graf-after--li">&hellip;and so much more.</li>
</ul>
Due to demand, we have created a waitlist for Medicare functionality. To request access, please&nbsp;<a href="https://medipass.com.au/pro/" data-href="https://medipass.com.au/pro/" class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">click here</a>&nbsp;to provide us your details, and we&rsquo;ll be in touch shortly.

Today we’re pleased to announce that practitioners can use Medipass to raise Medicare bulk bill & patient claims.

Medipass now integrated to Medicare

2018 has been an extraordinary year for Medipass. Healthcare is a vast and complex industry, and we&rsquo;re exceptionally proud of all we&rsquo;ve accomplished in only twelve months. Here&rsquo;s a snapshot&hellip;
<ul class="postList">
<li name="71ff" id="71ff" class="graf graf--li graf-after--p">In an Australian first, we partnered with Specsavers and HICAPS to allow&nbsp;<a href="https://medium.com/medipass/you-can-now-claim-your-insurance-benefit-online-with-specsavers-6b9f81adf78a" data-href="https://medium.com/medipass/you-can-now-claim-your-insurance-benefit-online-with-specsavers-6b9f81adf78a" class="markup--anchor markup--li-anchor" target="_blank" rel="noopener">instant online claiming</a>&nbsp;from private health insurance when purchasing optical items</li>
<li name="862b" id="862b" class="graf graf--li graf-after--li">We worked with HBF to open up applications for their new Dental Arrangement to dental practitioners in Western Australia</li>
<li name="8d9b" id="8d9b" class="graf graf--li graf-after--li">We digitised the invoicing process at&nbsp;<a href="http://help.medipass.com.au/medipass-for-providers/transactions/submitting-a-garrison-health-services-invoice" data-href="http://help.medipass.com.au/medipass-for-providers/transactions/submitting-a-garrison-health-services-invoice" class="markup--anchor markup--li-anchor" rel="nofollow noopener nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Garrison Health Services</a>, providing faster payment terms and increasing transparency</li>
<li name="017b" id="017b" class="graf graf--li graf-after--li">We built and released our&nbsp;<a href="http://help.medipass.com.au/medipass-for-providers/transactions/private-health-insurance-transactions-without-an-app-beta" data-href="http://help.medipass.com.au/medipass-for-providers/transactions/private-health-insurance-transactions-without-an-app-beta" class="markup--anchor markup--li-anchor" rel="nofollow noopener nofollow noopener" target="_blank">web approvals solution</a>, allowing you to process a HICAPS Go transaction without needing your patients to download an app</li>
<li name="f96a" id="f96a" class="graf graf--li graf-after--li">We welcomed even more&nbsp;<a href="http://medipass.com.au/funds" data-href="http://medipass.com.au/funds" class="markup--anchor markup--li-anchor" rel="nofollow noopener nofollow noopener" target="_blank">new health funds</a>&nbsp;who enabled for HICAPS Go, including our latest three: Police Health, Nurses Midwives Health and Emergency Services Health</li>
</ul>
After such a busy year, our team will be taking a well-deserved break between December 24 and January 2. Medipass support (including live chat and emails to support@medipass.com.au) will be monitored during that time, but non-urgent requests may see a slower response than usual.
Thank you for all your support this year. From everyone at Medipass, we&rsquo;d like to wish you a safe and restful holiday season, and a very happy new year. We can&rsquo;t wait for 2019!
<figure name="3624" id="3624" class="graf graf--figure graf-after--p graf--trailing">
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</figure>

Healthcare is a vast and complex industry, and we’re exceptionally proud of all we’ve accomplished in only twelve months.

2018 has been an extraordinary year

As part of a wider evolution of our visual identity, Medipass is launching a new logo. Our old logo has served us well, but the time has come for it to evolve.<img class="progressiveMedia-image js-progressiveMedia-image" data-src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1440/1*LVE68Plhrwm1gi4X9Sungw.png" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1440/1*LVE68Plhrwm1gi4X9Sungw.png" width="399" height="122" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" />
<figure name="2b6c" id="2b6c" class="graf graf--figure graf-after--p" style="text-align: left;">
<figcaption class="imageCaption">New Medipass&nbsp;logo</figcaption>
</figure>
We&rsquo;re proud to cultivate a culture of continuously improving our products and delivering the best experience to our customers. This year, we&rsquo;ve taken some time to look inward, and we&rsquo;re realigning our visual identity with where we are heading as a company: delivering the best digital health payment experiences.
At a basic level, logos are symbols made up of text and images that help to identify a brand. But when we delve a little deeper, the job of a logo is really to help our customers understand what we do, who we are and what we value.
Our old logo wasn&rsquo;t living up to that task. It was created at a time when the business was in its infancy, and pointed in a different direction to where we&rsquo;re headed today. It also had some technical issues which meant it was difficult to scale, and it often looked blurry &mdash; not characteristics you want in a logo!
<figure name="d1b1" id="d1b1" class="graf graf--figure graf-after--p">
<div class="aspectRatioPlaceholder is-locked">
<div class="aspectRatioPlaceholder-fill"></div>
<img class="graf-image" data-image-id="1*7ageY6tzExrDl-Rf2Ufr3g.png" data-width="457" data-height="96" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1440/1*7ageY6tzExrDl-Rf2Ufr3g.png" width="328" height="69" /></div>
<figcaption class="imageCaption">Old Medipass&nbsp;logo</figcaption>
</figure>
Our new logo was crafted in alignment with our guiding principles, and is informed by both where Medipass has come from and where we&rsquo;re going in the future.
A mature colour palette; strong, crisp shapes and generous spacing deliver a more refined approach, while still maintaining a visual connection to the original.
<figure name="1d39" id="1d39" class="graf graf--figure graf-after--p">
<div class="aspectRatioPlaceholder is-locked">
<div class="aspectRatioPlaceholder-fill"></div>
<div class="progressiveMedia js-progressiveMedia graf-image is-imageLoaded is-canvasLoaded" data-image-id="1*79NOIH_uJC_2ObHeSBkEBQ.png" data-width="603" data-height="573" data-scroll="native"><canvas class="progressiveMedia-canvas js-progressiveMedia-canvas" width="75" height="70"></canvas><img class="progressiveMedia-image js-progressiveMedia-image" data-src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1440/1*79NOIH_uJC_2ObHeSBkEBQ.png" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1440/1*79NOIH_uJC_2ObHeSBkEBQ.png" /></div>
</div>
</figure>
Over the next few months you&rsquo;ll see not only our logo evolve, but also other visual elements aligning to this new direction on our website, in our communication with you, and throughout our portals.
We love our new logo, and hope you do too.

Medipass is launching a new logo. Our old logo has served us well, but the time has come for it to evolve it.

We love our new logo, and hope you do too

We’ve got a new logo

Because life happens during business hours.
A business is only as good as its people, and that&rsquo;s especially true of start-ups.
But good people have lots of options, including working for the bank or telco down the road. We know that working at Medipass is the best option for the right people, so we are continually focussed on how we build our culture to create a place that attracts them.
An important part of how we work is that while we provide a clear strategic direction and regular team catch-ups, we don&rsquo;t like to micro-manage the day-to-day. This includes not just what you work on, but flexibility on where you work and how. It&rsquo;s one of the aspects of Medipass we&rsquo;re most proud of.
In the early years of my career, the years where I wore a suit and tie every day, if I woke up with a grizzly throat, I&rsquo;d still come to work. If I had a delivery arriving, I&rsquo;d book it for the morning so I could still get to the office in the afternoon. I paid the expensive city GP so I could make an 8am appointment and make it to work by 9.
This is not how great talent want to work. That&rsquo;s why we enable staff to work flexibly, in ways that work for them and still support the team.
Sure, we cover basic things, like:
<ul class="postList">
<li name="0709" id="0709" class="graf graf--li graf-after--p">Wake up not feeling 100%, but not really &ldquo;sick&rdquo;? Work from home.</li>
<li name="ca68" id="ca68" class="graf graf--li graf-after--li">Got to pick up the kids from school? Go for it.</li>
<li name="29e1" id="29e1" class="graf graf--li graf-after--li">Train line closed and replaced by buses? Nightmare, stay home.</li>
</ul>
But this ends up being more meaningful as staff apply the guidelines to their circumstance. For me, I work from home on a Monday because it means I can go to my kids&rsquo; school assembly. It also means I get quiet time to power through some of the more complex issues that I might be working on.
It worked differently for Michelle, from our Customer Success team. She leads a double life as a performer, and had shows at night in Adelaide. For a month she worked remotely during the day and performed at night. She ended up winning a festival award.
It was different again for Billy, one of our software engineers. His girlfriend was volunteering in Vietnam for 10 months, and he wanted to spend some extended time over there. He worked remotely for two months, chatting with us during the day on Slack and video conference while he worked on building our platform.
In practice, most staff come into the office most of the time. But our flexible work approach means that when life happens during business hours, you can get it done without stress, guilt or an arduous approval process.
We don&rsquo;t encourage this way of working simply because we&rsquo;re nice people, but because it&rsquo;s a better way of working, enabling us to attract and retain talented staff who love their job even more.

A business is only as good as its people, we are focused on how we build our culture to create a place that attracts the best talent.

Why we embrace flexible working

Our base product is free so you can see for yourself just how easy Medipass is.

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Medipass is free for patients. Sign up now for cardless quotes, claims and payments.

For individuals

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Contact us to learn more about how Medipass can help you connect with your providers and members.

For funders

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Digital payment solutions to help healthcare providers get paid fast.

Start accepting payments and processing claims

Features and integrations specifically designed for healthcare, enabling providers to simply raise payment requests and get paid.

Access to all Medipass features with a transparent, pay-as-you-go pricing structure. No minimum monthly fee, no contract, cancel anytime.

Our software connects you to Medicare, HICAPS and more, to allow you to raise claims from the one place.

We are fully digital and provide you instant transparency over the payment status. No terminal required.

We have a range of integration partners so you can access Medipass features directly in the practice management system you use everyday.

Simplify your billing. Spend less time managing payments, and more time seeing patients.

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Medipass enables you to raise payment requests with Medicare, HICAPS and directly with patients for out of pocket services.

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Medipass news & articles

Tyro Payments to acquire Medipass Solutions [Updated]

Medipass to support digital invoicing for Comcare

Medipass adds support for NDIS invoicing