Medicare Web Services extension for Bp Premier users

Best Practice Software has obtained a three-month Business Continuity extension from Services Australia on behalf of our practices to upgrade to a version of Bp Premier enabled for Medicare Web Services.

The previous cutoff date was 13 March 2022. Now, all Bp Premier sites have until 19 June 2022 to upgrade to Saffron Service Pack 3 or later. Saffron Service Pack 3 is enabled for Medicare Web Services for all Medicare and DVA online verification, claiming, and AIR functions.

This article explains your options for upgrading, and what you need to confirm if your practice upgrades after the original 13 March deadline.

Should I upgrade to Service Pack 3 before 13 March?

Upgrading to Saffron SP3 before the 13 March deadline is the easiest transition to Medicare Web Services. After upgrading, all you need to do is follow the instructions to register each Bp Premier practice location as a B2B device, and all Medicare and DVA functions will look almost exactly the same in Bp Premier as before the upgrade.

I need to upgrade after 13 March

If it is not feasible for your practice to upgrade between the release of Service Pack 3 and the March 13 original deadline, this business continuity extension gives you more time to prepare for upgrading. All customers using a BPS Minor ID will be flagged in the Services Australia system that an extension has been granted, and claims sent through the current adapter will continue to be processed. Some additional checks are required if you upgrade after 13 March.

Services Australia will reissue updated Medicare site PKI certificates to all Bp Premier sites, because current site PKI certificates cannot be used after this date. For most sites, the site PKI certificate will be updated automatically when a user logs into the software. However, some sites will not have their site certificate automatically updated, and will need to:

1. Download an updated certificate from Services Australia.
2. Manually import the site certificate into the Bp Premier certificate store.

Instructions on how to do this are in this article. To determine if your site PKI certificate has been automatically renewed, you can check the expiry date of the certificate.

Check Medicare Site PKI certificate expiry

Follow the instructions under the heading Check the site certificate expiry date in the article Check Medicare certificates for expiry. If the expiry date is into the future past 19 June 2022, you do not need to renew your site certificate, and no action is necessary until you upgrade to Saffron SP3 before 19 June.

If the certificate expires before 19 June 2022, you must manually import an updated site certificate following the instructions below.

Import a new Site PKI certificate

If your site certificate has not been automatically updated and will expire before the 19 June cutoff, follow these instructions in order:

1. Download your new Site Certificate
2. Reimport your Medicare 'OCA' certificate
3. Import your updated Medicare Site PKI certificate

Best Practice Software recommend reimporting the Organisation Certificate Authority (OCA) Medicare certificate at the same time as the Site PKI certificate , in case the OCA certificate has also not automatically renewed

Recheck the expiry date of the site certificate after renewal. If the expiry is after 19 June 2022, no further action is necessary. You will need to upgrade to Saffron Service Pack 3 before 19 June.

Last updated 17 June 2022