Services Australia recently announced industry changes which requires software providers to be web services ready by 13 March 2022. In this article, Cheryl Ladikos, our Professional Education Manager uncovers the frequently asked questions including what this means, how Clinic to Cloud is already compliant, and how it can impact your practice if you aren’t using web services ready software.
Services Australia recently announced that software providers need to be web services ready by 13 March 2022. This article will cover:
- What are web services?
- What changes are being made by Services Australia?
- What are the benefits of PRODA?
- How is Clinic to Cloud compliant with online claiming?
- What impact does this have on your practice if you are not using web services ready software?
- Which software providers are using adaptor technology?
- How do you prepare for these changes?
What are web services?
Web services is a technology used over the internet so that health professionals can securely share data with Services Australia. Many software providers are using adaptor technology which will not be compatible from 13 March 2022.
What changes are being made by Services Australia?
By upgrading to web services technology, this change will affect the following channels:
- Medicare Online (including Australian Immunisation Register and DVA)
- ECLIPSE
- PBS Online
- Aged Care Web Services
The current Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) security will also be replaced with Services Australia’s own authentication system called Provider Digital Access (PRODA).
PRODA is an online verification and authentication system that verifies an individual’s identity and organisation against the Australian Business Register.
What are the benefits of PRODA?
PRODA is used to verify and authenticate an individual’s identity and there are several benefits:
- PRODA provides a higher level of security than PKI certificates
- PRODA is fully digital and portable against web enabled devices
- PRODA does not require additional hardware or software, unlike PKI certificates
- Individual PRODA accounts will never expire. If you are a health professional and you change employers, your PRODA account will remain the same because it belongs to you as an individual.
How is Clinic to Cloud compliant with online claiming?
Clinic to Cloud’s Head of Product, Gabrielle Benn, has advised that we have future-proofed our Medicare claiming solution by integrating with a Medicare certified web services partner to ensure our customers are not impacted by any future Medicare adaptor updates.
We are fully compliant with the required web services functionality to be formally introduced on 13 March 2022 which reduces reliance on traditional PKI certificates. There are many benefits to this change including that the providers must only register their provider numbers via PRODA once to start successfully receiving payments and do not have to renew location certificates every 2-5 years. This means there is no disruption to your claiming services over time and reduces any risks associated with having to upload certificates via CD or receive PKI pass phrases from Medicare via mail in future.
What impact does this have on your practice if you are not using web services ready software?
If you are not a Clinic to Cloud user or not using web services ready software, your software provider may be affected by these changes and strenuous efforts will need to be made to make sure they are compliant by 13 March 2022. If your software provider cannot make these changes in time, it means that your practice will not be able to submit online claims for Medicare, AIR, DVA, PBS Online or Aged Care services.
Which software providers are using adaptor technology?
Services Australia has compiled a list of providers who are currently using adaptor technology. From 13 March 2022, software that use adaptor technology won’t be able to access services.
At the time of writing this article, this list includes:
- Best Practice
- Coreplus
- Direct Control
- Genie Solutions
- Healius
- Incisive
- JAM Software
- Medical Director
- Medilink
- Medipass
- MediRecords
- Power Diary
- Pro Medicus
- Shexie
- And more...
The full list of software providers who use adaptor technology can be found here.
How do you prepare for these changes?
Step 1: Contact your software provider and confirm when they plan to upgrade your software. You need to ensure that they upgrade to web services ready software by 13 March 2022.
If you are a Clinic to Cloud user, you do not need to contact us as we are already compliant and using web services ready software.
Step 2: Download the Web Services eKit from this webpage and read Factsheet 1 – Web Services Medicare Online, DVA, AIR, ECLIPSE and PRODA Nov 2020.
This will provide detailed instructions on how you can prepare for web services.
For more information about:
- Web Services, visit Services Australia – Web Services for Digital Health and Aged Care Channels
- Health Professionals Online Services and PRODA, visit Services Australia - HPOS
- Online claiming, visit Services Australia - Education Services for Health Professionals
- Or call Services Australia on 1800 700 199 (call charges may apply)
If you are interested in finding out more about Clinic to Cloud’s practice management software and use our web services ready platform, click here to Book a Demo or call us on 1800 940 584.
