Important information about your Medicare Online access

Please see the message below from Services Australia:

Important information about your Medicare Online access

Soon you will not be able to submit your Medicare Online (MCOL), including Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA), Australian Immunisation Register (AIR), and Electronic Claiming Lodgement Information Processing Environment (ECLIPSE) transmissions to us until you upgrade your patient administration software.

We previously notified you that we are making upgrades to improve the security of our digital health channels, which affects MCOL, DVA, AIR and ECLIPSE.

IMPORTANT All adaptor-based claiming channels will cease after 31 March 2023.

The Adaptors to Web Services project is coming to a close. With over 98 per cent of healthcare locations already transitioned away from the aging adaptor technology, we are moving into the final phase and closure.

We would like to start by thanking you for your collaboration and support to date with Services Australia as we finalise the migration to more contemporary web services to strengthen security and authentication for online claiming.

The Adaptors to Web Services project commenced in July 2018 with an expected end date of 13 March 2022. Services Australia (the agency) worked with developers and healthcare locations to provide additional time to develop and deploy software to customers to allow for industry challenges.

The agency commenced removing access from Medicare, AIR, and DVA locations in October 2022. The agency will remove access from all remaining sites still using adaptors technology between mid-February 2023 and 31 March 2023, including for Electronic Claiming Lodgement Information Processing Environment (ECLIPSE) claiming.

What this means for RACP members

Healthcare locations that continue to use adaptor technology to submit transactions with the agency, including ECLIPSE claims (hospitals and pathology), will have their access removed commencing mid-February and no later than 31 March 2023.

We are communicating this to RACP members still using adaptors. If members already have an agreed transition date with us, access will not be removed until after the agreed date.

Sites that haven’t transitioned in time will need to contact their software developer or use alternative claiming channels to avoid disruption and additional administration pressure for their business.

Please note healthcare providers submitting ECLIPSE transactions must transition to an upgraded software product as they will be unable to claim using alternate digital claiming channels.

Alternative claiming channels

Alternative claiming channels include Health Professional Online Services. Your members can visit our website and search ‘Online options for health professionals’ to find out how to use these services.

Where RACP members aren’t able to make an electronic claim on their customer’s behalf using HPOS, the customer can submit their claim to Medicare via:

• their Medicare online account through myGov
• their Express Plus Medicare mobile app.

Consumers can read more about the different ways they can make a Medicare claim on our website by searching ‘Medicare claims’.

Next steps

Members, please speak with your software developer for help registering for a PRODA Organisation account.

If your members would like to speak to someone for more information, contact eBusiness Service Centre on 1800 700 199 (option 2) 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday (AEST).