This article explains the workflow changes associated with Medicare Web Services.
In Saffron SP2, Medicare, DVA, and Concession verification use Medicare Web Services. Online claiming and Australian Immunisation register functionality use Medicare Web Services as of Saffron SP3.
Online Claiming (Saffron SP3)
Hospital services claim changes
As of Saffron SP3, any direct bill invoices marked as In hospital must include a hospital name and provider number. The hospital must be added as a contact in Bp Premier, and the hospital's provider number must be included in the contact record.
See Online Claiming: Direct Bill for more information.
Edit pendable patient claims
In Saffron SP3, if a patient claim requires further assessment by an operator, an error will appear indicating that the claim has been marked as pendable, and adjustments may need to be made to the invoice to be accepted by Medicare.
See Online Claiming: Patient Claims for more information.
Update to the Direct Bill Claim ID generated by Services Australia
From the 3rd of September 2022, Services Australia have advised that for Direct Bill, DVA, and DVA Allied claims, the Claim ID will no longer reset to @A0001 each day for each provider. There is no change to the format of the Claim ID for these claim types. You do not need to perform any action to enable the new Claim ID.
The change to the Claim ID means that your practice staff will find it easier to locate batched direct bill claims sent through Medicare Web Services. Because the Claim ID is now unique and not reset each day, you will not have to use the sent date and provider information to search for a claim when reconciling.
See Online Claiming: Direct Bill for more information.
Correlation ID numbers
The Correlation ID column has been added to the Online Claiming Screen in Saffron SP3. You may need to provide the correlation ID to Medicare when contacting them about a batch.
You can also view correlation IDs for the batch that a particular invoice was sent in by right-clicking an invoice billed to Medicare or DVA and selecting Show Medicare/DVA transmissions in the Patient Billing History screen.
See Online Claiming: Direct Bill and Using the patient billing history for more information.
New statuses when performing a check for payments
Some terms used by Medicare and DVA to indicate claim processing statuses have changed under the Medicare Web Services framework. Your billing staff should be made aware of the new status descriptions that may appear in Bp Premier when performing a check for payments after you upgrade.
See Check for payments for more information.
Australian Immunisation Register (Saffron SP3)
Access Australian Immunisation Register information
As of Saffron SP3, Australian Immunisation Register information can be accessed from Bp Premier via the View AIR screen in the Immunisation section of the patient record.
See Access Australian Immunisation Register information for more information.
Send Immunisations to AIR from the Immunisations screen
As of Saffron SP3, individual immunisations can be sent directly to the AIR from the Immunisation screen. You are no longer required to send immunisations to the AIR in bulk, however this workflow can still be used if desired.
See Record immunisations for more information.
Patient Verification (Saffron SP2)
Concession card verification
You can now verify whether or not a patient is eligible for a concession card via the patient demographic.
Verified date added from Medicare and DVA verification
In the patient demographic, if a patient's Medicare number (or DVA number if entered) has been verified previously, the date it was verified on will appear above the Medicare/DVA button.
DVA number verification improvements
If the DVA number entered in the patient demographic does not match the number held by the DVA, an alert will appear with the number held by the DVA.
See Add a new patient for more information about Medicare, DVA and concession verification.
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