Who needs to do this?
Practice groups who:
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Signed up to Halaxy before 24 February 2022
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Process Medicare, DVA or bulk bill claims
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Have multiple practitioners or multiple locations
Sole practitioners with only one location only need to assign their individual Minor/Location ID as their Medicare Location ID (see steps 1 to 4) .
With Medicare now fully integrated with Halaxy, claims can be instantly processed within the Halaxy platform. With this updated integration setup, a Medicare Location ID is required to link your practice locations to Medicare.
Your practice must now comply with Medicare's Location ID requirements to continue processing claims on Halaxy.
With the updated integration, the way to processing Medicare claims online is the Medicare Location ID. This ID allows Medicare to identify your practice location as a Halaxy software user. The Medicare Location ID is generated by Halaxy and comes in the format CLK#####.
This means:
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Claims must now be processed with an ID linked to a location, not an individual practitioner.
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Previously, you were provided with a Minor ID / Location ID as an individual practitioner so you could use your own ID across all your locations.
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Now, each practice location must have its own unique Medicare Location ID for all practitioners to use when processing Medicare claims at that location.
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Individual practitioner Minor IDs or Location IDs will soon be phased out by Medicare and become obsolete.
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If you do not have a Medicare Location ID for your location/s yet, you must request or assign one on Halaxy and, if necessary, update your details registered with Medicare. (Full steps are outlined below.)
Note
There is no interruption of service during the migration process, so your practice can continue claiming while your details are being updated.
Your practice should assign one person - usually the practice owner or principal practitioner - to perform this migration process.
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Click Personal > Locations.
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Under the practice location you wish to register, click Request a Location ID.
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In the Assign or Request a Medicare Location ID pop-up, configure the following settings:
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Assign existing Location ID (recommended): You can use one of your practitioners' Location/Minor IDs to become the Medicare Location ID for this location. This way, you won't need to resubmit any details to Medicare. After selecting this option, choose the existing ID to assign to this location. (Caution: Medicare requires each physical practice location to have its own unique Location ID.)
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Request a new Location ID: If you are requesting a new Medicare Location ID altogether, select this option and follow the rest of the process outlined in this article: Set up Medicare Location ID for online claims. This process requires you to resubmit registration forms to Medicare.
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Click Submit.
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If you assigned an existing Location ID, the next step depends on how you want to receive bulk bill and DVA rebates:
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If all practitioner rebates are paid into a single account for the practice: Set up a Payee Provider Number for your location, using the provider number of the practitioner whose Minor ID was assigned to be the Medicare Location ID. This saves you from having to complete a new Online Claiming Provider Agreement with Medicare because the Payee Provider Number was already registered with the Location ID you assigned. This also means you don't need to submit new registration forms every time a new practitioner joins your practice.
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If rebates are paid into different accounts: Each practitioner must register their Provider Number and bank account with the new Location ID for each location on new Online Claiming Provider Agreements.
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Once your Medicare Location ID is assigned, every practitioner at one location can begin using the same assigned Medicare Location ID when processing claims.
If you have multiple practice locations, you need to do repeat this process for every location.
Click the question to view the answer.
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I have locations that are online only. Do they need separate Location IDs?
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Will claims be interrupted while we migrate to this new setup?
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My Location ID is changing. What forms do I need to resubmit?
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I already use Payee Provider Numbers. Do I still need to do this?
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I'm still confused. How can I find out more information on Location ID migration?
If an online location is part of the same practice as a physical location (i.e. you use the same Provider Number), then it does not need to be separately registered, as it is considered the same practice. Simply assign the same Location ID as the physical location to the online-only location.
No, you'll be able to process claims throughout the entire process (your old Location ID will automatically be used while Medicare updates your details).
If you are creating a new Location ID instead of assigning an existing Location ID, we recommend submitting your paperwork to Medicare as soon as possible, then advising us that you have done so that we can activate your new Location ID as quickly as possible.
Your existing setup will continue to work until the end of 2022, but we encourage all users to follow the process above as soon as possible to ensure your claiming remains seamless. This will also reduce the administration required whenever you add a new user to your group.
You only need to resubmit your forms if your Location ID is changing and you do not use Payee Provider Numbers - which is why we recommend using them! Your Location ID will change if:
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you request a new Location ID for a location instead of assigning an existing Location ID to the location, or
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you have multiple locations, or
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there are multiple practitioners in your group.
Payee Provider Numbers are a useful way to save on paperwork, now and into the future. If you use Payee Provider Numbers, only the Payee Provider Number needs to be registered with the Location ID instead of every practitioner's Provider Number. This saves on paperwork if you have multiple practitioners in your group.
Note that using a Payee Provider Number means all bulk bill and DVA rebates go into the same bank account, so they are not suitable if every practitioner needs to receive rebates into separate accounts.
You do not need to resubmit your forms if you are a sole practitioner who only operates out of one location. Simply transfer your Location ID to your location. The details that Medicare will have on file will still be accurate because your registered Provider Number and Location ID will not have changed.
You should submit one of the following:
If you have never registered with Medicare: Submit the Online Claiming Provider Agreement (HW027)
If you have previously registered but need to update your details/Location ID at up to three locations: Submit the Provider registration for Electronic Funds Transfer payments form (HW029)
If you need to register up to six practitioners at a single location, where all six practitioners have rebates paid into the same account: Submit the Banking details online claiming form (HW052)
My practice has multiple practitioners. How can I migrate to the new setup without having everyone resubmitting forms?
If all the practitioners in your practice receive bulk bill and DVA rebates into the same bank account, consider using a Payee Provider Number.
This allows you to show a Payee Provider Number on your invoice, which will cause Medicare to pay rebates into the listed payee's bank account instead of the servicing provider's bank account.
Only the Payee Provider Number needs to be registered with Medicare (instead of every Provider, saving you the trouble of having every practitioner register.
If Medicare already has the Provider Number you choose to use as the Payee Provider Number and the Location ID registered as a pair, you do not need to re-register for that location at all, as Medicare will already have your details linked.
Payee Provider Numbers are not suitable if every practitioner gets bulk bill and DVA rebates paid into separate bank accounts.
You will still need to assign a Location ID to each location you want to claim from. However, if you have previously registered the Payee Provider Number and the Location ID you use as a pair, you do not need to resubmit your forms to Medicare.
Note that using a Payee Provider Number is entirely optional.
Feel free to contact us directly and we'd be happy to guide you through the process!
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