GOOD NEWS!

HICAPS is finally up and running for the clinic! What this means is that, provided you have the appropriate level of cover and that your Health Fund participates in the HICAPS program for Remedial Massage, you will be able to process your Health Fund Rebate on-the-spot, at the time of payment!


HOW IT WORKS:

Bring your Health Fund Card with you to your appointment. At the end of your consultation, I will swipe your Health Fund card through the HICAPS terminal and - voilà! - HICAPS will determine how much rebate you receive and credit it to your account! You may then use EFTPOS, VISA, MasterCard or cash to pay the remaining gap. It's simple!

Please note that your Health Fund card is required to take advantage of on-the-spot claiming with HICAPS, as the actual card must be swiped through the terminal to confer your rebate. Simply providing me with your specific details - such as your Health Fund account number - is not sufficient, as there is no scope within HICAPS to manually enter in your Health Fund details through the terminal's keypad.


HEALTH FUND REBATES:

Health Fund rebates vary, depending on the individual Health Fund and the specific plan you have with your Health Fund. The average rebate is between $25-40. To receive rebates for my services, you must have cover for Remedial Massage. I am a registered Remedial Massage Provider with nearly every Health Fund, so chances are excellent that, provided you have coverage for Remedial Massage, you will be able to claim a rebate for my services.


A NOTE ON HCF:

Some Health Funds - such as HCF - may participate in HICAPS for services such as dentistry, physiotherapy, etc., but not for Remedial Massage. In these instances, HICAPS on-the-spot claims cannot be made. However, you should still be able to manually claim your rebate from your Health Fund. Upon full payment of your account, you will be emailed a PDF receipt that will allow you to claim any rebate you may have owing from your Health Fund. Many Health Funds allow for online manual claims - check with your Health Fund for more details. For a complete list of Health Funds that participate in the HICAPS program for Remedial Massage, click HERE.

ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS:

I now have the ability to accept payments via EFTPOS, MasterCard or VISA, in addition to cash payments. At this time, no extra fees apply to processing of credit card payments. (Sorry, I do not accept AMEX or Diners.)


HEALTH FUND & HICAPS UPDATE:

I am still waiting for my new HICAPS provider number, which is issued on a per-location basis. So at this point in time, I am unable to process Health Fund rebates on-the-spot. I will update this blog just as soon as I receive this number.

In the meantime, clients may claim their refund from their Health Fund themselves, using the PDF receipt I will issue upon payment. So far it has been confirmed that NIB, BUPA & HCF have all updated my details, and are issuing rebates for Remedial Massage under my name (provided, of course, that you have the appropriate level of coverarge). Please note that this is not an exhaustive list, so there may be other Health Funds that are up-to-date; these are simply the Funds from which I know my clients so far have been able to claim.

As the HICAPS provider number is the same as the Medibank Private provider number, clients with this Health Fund (or any other Health Fund that has yet to update my details) will simply need to hang on to their receipts until the Health Funds have updated their databases. Once the databases are updated, clients should then be able to retroactively claim their rebates. I am hoping that all Health Funds will have updated their databases by mid-February, at the latest.

Dealing with Health Funds can sometimes be very confusing and frustrating, both for clients and practitioners. Unfortunately, every Health Fund has different processing times for updating their databases with a practitioner's new details, and there seems to be no way of speeding up this process. Rest assured, however, that I am working with the ATMS to get all of my details updated to the appropriate Health Funds as quickly as the individual Health Funds' processing times will allow.