Register for the program
To claim payments under the ART Storage Funding Program, clinics must:
- hold a current licence from the Reproductive Technology Accreditation Committee
- register with the Services Australia Organisation Register, which is expected to open in late 2023
- enter into a grant agreement with the Commonwealth Government.
Services Australia will provide more information about registration when it is available.
Invite your clients to take part
If you have patients who are eligible for the program, you can choose to invite them to take part.
Provide them with our fact sheet for patients.
Get written consent
Before claiming, you must get informed written consent from your patient. They must consent to sharing their personal information with:
- Services Australia
- us (the Department of Health and Aged Care).
This may include their Medicare card number and evidence of their eligibility.
This information helps us and Services Australia to:
- process and check claims
- carry out program assurance and evaluation
- collate statistics
- develop policy.
Keep supporting evidence
You must keep evidence that supports your patient’s eligibility. We may ask for this evidence when we conduct post-payment compliance audits.
For cancer patients this may be a referral to a fertility specialist from another doctor, such as a GP, oncologist, endocrinologist or haematologist.
For the pre-implantation genetic testing (PGT) group, this may be evidence of patient rebates for one of the PGT Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) items.
Do not charge for eligible services
From 1 July 2023, you must not charge cryostorage fees to any patients you intend to claim payment for.
Claim for payment
You will need to use a Services Australia payment system to make claims for funding.
Services Australia will provide more detail on the payment system before November 2023.
You must:
- only claim payments for eligible patients and cryostorage services
- submit claims for the payments to Services Australia every 6 months
- be able to provide evidence to support each claim when requested.
Claiming errors
If you do not include an eligible service in a claim submission, you can claim for that person in your next submission only.
You cannot do this if the patient has already paid for the service themselves.
Receive payment
Payment will be made to you through a Services Australia payment system. No payments will be made directly to patients.
Services Australia will:
- validate claims
- make payment for validated claims
- provide a payment statement with details.