Turning off ageing technology for Medicare Online

The Adaptors to Web Services project was required to uplift ageing technology to ensure patient and provider information remains secure, now and into the future. Services Australia granted developers and sites additional time to develop and deploy software to customers to allow for industry challenges in transitioning by this date.  

The agency will be removing access to Medicare Online (including Department of Veterans’ Affairs and the Australian Immunisation Register) using ageing patient administration software from 4 October 2022, or earlier as requested by their software developer. ECLIPSE users and complex organisations such as jurisdictions and pathology providers, will not be impacted at this stage.  

What this means 

Healthcare locations that use ageing patient administration software to submit claims or data using Medicare Online will have their access gradually removed over a 6-8 week period starting from 4 October 2022 or earlier as requested by their software developer. 

Sites that haven’t transitioned in time will need to contact their software developer or use alternative claiming channels. This may cause disruption, additional administration pressure and costs to their business. 

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.  

If you 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 or their Express Plus Medicare mobile app. 

Next steps 

We encourage you to speak to your software developer and register for a PRODA Organisation account. 

If you 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).