The Support at Home Program is an Australian Government initiative designed to simplify and improve in-home aged care services. As a practitioner, managing billing for this program accurately is essential to ensure compliance and smooth payment processing.
Halaxy makes this process easier by allowing you to set up Support at Home as a funder, create Support at Home fees, and apply the correct billing information when applying the Support at Home fees to invoices. This guide will walk you through the steps to configure Support at Home billing in Halaxy, so you can focus on providing care while Halaxy handles the admin.
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Click Finances > Fees, then click the Funders tab.
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In the top right, click Add Funder. This will bring you to the New Funder Screen.
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In the Lookup field, enter "Support at home" and click on Import Support at Home.
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Click Save.
You have successfully created Support at Home as a new funder. Now, you must create a custom fee for this funder.
Since the Support at Home program does not have a defined set of fees, you will need to create a custom fee suitable for your practice.
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Click Finances > Fees.
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On the top right, click New Fee.
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In the New Fee screen, configure the following. (For more details on setting up fees, see related article: Add fees and services)
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Funder: Enter Support at Home and select it.
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Fee Name: Enter the name of the service you provide for Support at Home patients.
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Item Number (optional): Enter the item number used to identify the fee, if required.
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Duration (optional): Enter the number of minutes for each appointment using this fee.
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Amount / Rebate: If the aged care provider is fully paying for the service, Amount and Rebate have the same value (and must be above 0.00). If the patient is paying a partial gap amount, Amount must be higher than Rebate, with the difference being what the patient pays.
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Click Save Fee.
Note
If a patient pays a gap amount (i.e. the Amount and Rebate values are different), Halaxy automatically generates two invoices - one billed to the paying organisation (the aged care provider) to pay the rebate and one billed to the patient to pay the gap amount.
Invoices for Support at Home services will need to be billed to the patient's aged care provider, so it is important to create their aged care provider as an organisation.
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Click Contacts > Organisations.
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In the top right, click Add Organisation.
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For Name, enter the name of the aged care provider. (Tip: To ensure successful billing, it's recommended to add the organisation's ABN and address.)
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(Optional) To add card payment details (if provided), click Add Card. In the pop-up, enter the card details, then click Save
Tip
If you would like the invoice to be billed to the patient but sent to the organisation, you can set the organisation type to plan manager. This will ensure that the invoice is billed to the patient with a line for C/O (care of) aged care provider.
The paying organisation's details automatically appear on invoices billed to them, ready to be emailed or processed for payment.
From this organisation page, you can also view their invoices and current fee balance.
Every patient receiving treatment under Support at Home must have the appropriate claim information in their Funding page. Individual patient settings override the default funder settings, which means each patient can be assigned their own paying organisation which will be the aged care provider.
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Open the patient profile and click the Funding tab.
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At the top right, click New Claim.
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In the form, configure the following:
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Paying organisation: Enter and select the name of the aged care provider that is billed and receives the invoice. If you haven't created a new organisation from the previous section, enter the name and select it to add it to your organisations list.
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Invoice Schedule / Payer: You have the option to customise these fields for every patient, which overrides the default funder settings.
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Care Recipient ID: Enter the patient's care recipient ID to identify this patient's Support at Home eligibility.
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Anonymise patient details on invoice (optional): Tick the checkbox to hide the patient's name on the invoice to appear in the format HK 123456.
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Click Save.
You have successfully created a Support at Home claim for the patient. Whenever you book this patient for an appointment with a Support at Home fee, the paying organisation in the patient's claim for this funder is automatically billed.
Once you have set up the previous sections, Halaxy will automatically create invoices that are billed to the aged care provider when you create appointments with Support at Home Fees. To demonstrate:
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Open the calendar.
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Create an appointment for the patient you entered claim information for.
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In the appointment panel, add the Support at Home fee you created, then click Save.
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Click Invoice to open the appointment invoice.
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The invoice is automatically billed to the aged care provider specified in the patient's claim details for Support at Home Funder.
You can now send the invoice to the aged care provider.
Under the Support at Home program, aged care providers require evidence of service delivery from providers to meet compliance and funding requirements. Below is a list of the requirements and how they are achieved in Halaxy:
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Requirement |
Feature in Halaxy |
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Case notes, progress notes or clinical records |
Clinical notes in Halaxy are the most common way to provide evidence of service delivery. Case notes, progress notes, and other clinical records can be created from the clinical notes tab of a patient record. Additionally, clinical note templates can be used to have pre-formatted notes according to the provided service. |
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Photo for delivery of equipment or completion of services (gardening, home maintenance, etc.) |
Images can be uploaded to clinical notes, which can be sent along with the clinical note as proof of service. |
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Electronic records of sign-in/sign-out or physical timesheets/logbooks |
Electronic logging can be pasted or attached to a clinical note to keep track of sign-ins. Alternatively, if logging is tracked on a physical medium, a photo can be taken and uploaded to the clinical note. |
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Invoices |
Itemised invoices can be created in Halaxy with a list of services or items provided to the patient. This can include the time of service and the quantity of items. See set invoice template preferences. |
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Service agreements |
Patient forms in Halaxy can be used to create a service agreement between different parties. You can send the form to a patient or their aged care provider for them to sign. Once it is signed, this can be kept as evidence for your records. See set consent or service agreement form. |
If any of the above is finalised and ready for submission, you can email the clinical note or invoice by clicking on Actions > Email clinical notes on the clinical notes tab or the
paper plane icon in the invoice.
Note
It is the provider's responsibility to keep accurate records of all services delivered under the Support at Home program for compliance, audit, and payment verification purposes.
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