‘Close call’: Dozens of GPs almost lose access to Medicare
Dozens of GP practices say they almost lost access to Medicare earlier this month thanks to a technical issue with Services Australia’s online system.
Services Australia recently transitioned to its new ‘web services’ system for submitting Medicare claims and accessing online services, like the PBS.
The system requires practices to be registered with the government’s online authentication system PRODA — officially, Provider Digital Access — with the previous system for authenticating access to Medicare, known as PKI certificates, supposed to be phased out on 13 March.
However, the transition has been pushed back for some practices because of delays with software upgrades, causing Services Australia to “renew” expired certificates so affected practices can continue to access Medicare.
