IT in Aged Care
eBusiness for Aged Care
eBusiness allows aged care services and ACATs to electronically sign and submit aged care forms, using the Medicare Australia eBusiness Gateway. This functionality supports government initiatives to provide services electronically.
eConnect Links
Use the links below to help find eConnect information relevant to you or your business.
Use the links below to help find eConnect information relevant to you or your business.
What is eBusiness?
The Department is working with Medicare Australia to deliver eBusiness capabilities that allow aged care services and ACATs to electronically sign and submit aged care forms. The initial focus for eBusiness has been on the five key forms that were identified by the aged care sector as priorities. These are the:- Aged Care Client Record (ACCR);
- Resident Entry Record (RER) and Departure Events;
- Resident Classification Scale (RCS);
- Residential Care Claim; and
- Community Care Claim.
The primary function of the Medicare Australia eBusiness gateway is to allow providers to lodge their aged care forms. This can be done in two ways; via direct entry into a web-form, or the lodgement via the aged care providers' own IT systems. The eBusiness gateway also supports other functions such as the registration and authorisation of eBusiness users, the ability to display and print the processing status of lodged events, make corrections to transmitted information, and the ability to display ACCR data.
Prior to software being used for aged care eBusiness the software must be tested with Medicare Australia for it to be accredited for use. The Medicare Australia website contains a listing of accredited vendors and their contact details.
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What about eACCR?
Department of Health and Ageing is working closely with Medicare Australia and state based Aged Care Assessment Teams (ACATs) in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia to electronically capture and lodge Aged Care Client Record (ACCR) information with Medicare Australia for processing within the aged care payment systems. The project also includes a mobile eACCR capability in Victoria allowing ACATs to enter assessment data directly into mobile devices to be uploaded to the office based system.Ten teams across three states were nominated to participate in a staggered 12 week demonstration phase. Findings from this evaluation period will qualitatively assess the effectiveness of the new eACCR processes and systems and assist in determining a broader rollout of the eACCR to other jurisdictions, ACATs and systems.
Why move to eBusiness?
For some time, information technology has been seen as an effective enabler for streamlining business practice, gaining efficiencies and improving business outcomes. To date, feedback from sites participating in eBusiness have supported this. A number of key business benefits have been realised which strongly support a technical upgrade and new business direction to adopt new technology tools to implement eBusiness. These benefits include:- significant reductions in staff time required to prepare and submit information;
- improvements in quality of data;
- reductions in time taken to prepare monthly claims;
- fast access to up to date status information for key transactions (eg. RCS); and
- overall improvement in business process and activities.
Resources to help get started with eBusiness?
Visit the Aged Care eConnect Resources page.Further Information
Further information about eBusiness, recent developments and how you can be involved is available from the Medicare Australia website or the Aged Care eBusiness Help Desk on 1800 195 206.The website also provides information to assist aged care providers to establish the infrastructure and business processes necessary for participation in eBusiness. Alternatively, you can email the Department at agedcare.econnect@health.gov.au or contact the Department of Health and Ageing in your State or Territory.Top of page
