Services Australia requires practitioners to obtain assignment of benefit approval from patients for bulk billed services.
In Halaxy, you can quickly request an assignment confirmation by sending the unpaid bulk bill invoice to your patient via SMS or email containing a payment link. When the patient clicks the link, they can review the invoice and confirm the assignment with just a click of a button.
This process is the same whether requesting Assignment of Benefit before (pre-assignment) or after (post-assignment) an appointment. You can send the invoice at any time, depending on when you would like the patient to complete the assignment.
Note
This feature is only available for unpaid bulk bill invoices. This means the invoice must be unprocessed and contain a Medicare fee, where the Rebate is the same value as the Amount.
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Open the invoice.
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In the top right, click the
paper plane icon.
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In the pop-up:
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Click the Email or SMS tab for how you want to send the payment link.
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In the Message editor, enter your message to the patient and insert the [Payment Link] dynamic term. (Recommended: Add instructions for your patients on what they need to do.)
Example of adding a payment link to an invoice email
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Click Send. Alternatively, for email, click the dropdown and select Schedule Send to send at a later time.
You have sent the patient a link to their invoice, where they can assign the bulk bill benefit to you.
Tip
Save time and use a communication template just for requesting assignment of benefit from patients. Instead of re-typing the message every time, you can just select the template in the Send Invoice pop-up.
When the patient opens the payment link, they are taken to their invoice. To assign the benefit, they must follow these steps:
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In the invoice, click Assign Benefit.
Important: The Assign Benefit will only show if the funder is Medicare, the amount is equal to the rebate about, and the invoice is unpaid.
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In the pop-up, confirm the assignor and select the patient name for signing. (If a parent or guardian is signing on behalf of the patient, they should select Other then enter their name.)
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Click Save.
After the patient confirms the benefit assignment, you receive a notification in Halaxy. When you process the bulk bill rebate, the assignment confirmation is automatically added to your claim.
Your patient's signed confirmation is also attached to your invoice as a PDF file.
On top of the assignment functionality in Halaxy, you can further automate your bulk billing workflow by scheduling an automated email message for all unpaid bulk bill invoice.
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Click Settings > Payments.
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Under Rebate Processing section, next to the Group level, click the
pencil icon. (To create settings for a specific location or individual practitioner, click Add New.)
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In the pop-up, under Assignment of Benefit Request, configure the following:
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Require an approved Assignment of Benefit: Tick to only process bulk bill claims that have an approved assignment.
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Automatically send the Assignment of Benefit request before the appointment: Tick to automatically send a request for approval of the assignment of benefit.
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Email and/or SMS: Tick your preferred method for requesting the assignment of benefit.
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Send Email/SMS: Enter the time before the appointment to send the request for assignment.
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Communication template (Email/SMS): Select the communication template to use to send to the patient. Make sure that the template includes the [Payment Link] dynamic term.
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Click Save.
An email or SMS requesting an assignment of benefit will now automatically be sent to patients who have an unassigned bulk bill invoice, according to your settings.
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