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Aged Care Workforce Supplement and DVA providers 

The requirements of a new Aged Care Workforce Supplement, as part of the Living Longer Living Better Aged Care Reform package, were announced by the Minister for Mental Health and Ageing on Tuesday 5 March 2013.

The initiative will be delivered in two parts – through the Aged Care Workforce Compact and Supplement, and the Aged Care Workforce Development Plan which will be developed during 2013.

Between 1 July 2013 and 31 December 2013, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Veterans’ Home Care and Community Nursing providers may be eligible for increased funding from the date pay rises to their staff take effect (so long as all other requirements have been met).  After 31 December 2013, the increased funding for eligible providers who have made a new application will commence from the date the application is received by the Department.

Veterans’ Home Care and Community Nursing providers must commit to using the Workforce Supplement for increased wages.  If a provider has an existing enterprise agreement in place as at 1 July 2013, then that enterprise agreement must be updated to be consistent with the terms and conditions of the Compact for the provider to be eligible for the payment.

All eligible providers will need to certify that they meet the terms and conditions of the Compact to apply for the Workforce Supplement.

A pack will be sent to providers over coming weeks including a brochure and fact-sheet.  Following that, guidelines will be sent to all employers, which will include details on the application process.

Enquiries should be directed to the workforcesupplement@health.gov.au email address.
Further information on the Workforce Supplement is available at www.livinglongerlivingbetter.gov.au.
Details about Government programs to support the aged care workforce are at www.health.gov.au/agedcareworkforce.

Treatment Authority and Treatment Expectations under MRCA and SRCA

For eligible clients under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (SRCA) and the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 (MRCA) without a Repatriation Health Card, the payment of reasonable treatment costs is governed by a person’s Treatment Authority letter, Treatment Expectations for providers, and any requirements for gaining prior-approval for certain treatment types.

For more information about the role that providers play in managing treatment for these clients and requirements for treatment provision and invoicing DVA see:

Reduction in prior approval processes

In partnership with service providers, DVA is continuing to ensure access to high quality health care to the veteran community and has recently completed a review of treatment requiring prior approval.

The objective of this review was to further reduce the administrative burden on service providers.  For further information on the reduction of some prior approval processes go to:

Booked Car Scheme

DVA released a Request for Tender (RFT) for the provision of taxi and hire car services as part of its Booked Car Scheme in June 2011.  Following an extensive evaluation process, this tender has now been completed and successful taxi and hire car companies started providing transport services to eligible DVA clients on 1 March 2012.

For more information see the Booked Car Scheme page.

What's new?

Clinical Counsellors

Effective 1 November 2011, the clinical counselling provider category was replaced by the social work (mental health) provider category. Providers are required to be registered with Medicare to provide allied mental health services to eligible DVA clients. Providers can inquire about registration by contacting Medicare on 1300 302 122.  Currently contracted social workers who do not wish to register with Medicare can continue to claim for social work services from the DVA Social Workers Schedule of Fees.

  • Telehealth (Word 46KB)
  • Mental health is important for the veteran and ex-service community as mental health issues may arise from military experience.
  • vetAWARE is a veteran mental health training package developed and being delivered for the Department’s contracted community nurses by Lifeline Australia.
  • The training is free and focuses on the mental health issues of veterans, war widow(er)s and former and current service members. The training has been endorsed by the Royal College of Nursing Australia and offers 10 Continuing Nursing Education points and Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
  • For more information about the training or to register for training visit Lifeline.
  • Fees for the new Coordinated Veterans' Care Program effective 1 May 2011.
    New items are available for Coordinated Veterans’ Care Program (CVC Program) payments. These are DVA only items and do not appear in the MBS Schedule. Payments are 100% of the listed fee. 
  • From 1 March 2011, The Department of Veterans’ Affairs will pay the Transition Care daily copayment on behalf of eligible former Prisoners of War and Victoria Cross recipients who are admitted to a Commonwealth/State Government funded transition care program.
    To access this payment, providers of transition care services should:
    • Seek prior approval from DVA.
    • Be an approved provider under the Aged Care Act and be registered with either Medicare Australia or DVA.
    • Comply with the conditions set down in the Aged Care Principles.
    • Provide Transition Care within the Guidelines set by DoHA.
  • For further information regarding registration and claiming, please contact the Department of Veterans’ Affairs on 1300 550 457 (option3, option 3).
  • Practice managers' circular is available

Provider feedback

DVA welcomes your feedback. In the future we will continue to add further information to this area. If you have any ideas or suggestions how we could improve the service provider site please email us at:

providerpartnering@dva.gov.au

Please do not use this link to send DVA personal information.

What's in the service providers section

This part of the website includes information about:

  • community nursing
  • dental and allied health
  • doctors - LMOs, GPs and specialists
  • hospitals
  • pharmacy
  • rehabilitation appliances program (RAP)
  • Veterans' Homecare (VHC)
  • how to do business with DVA
  • online resources
  • partnering information
  • veterans' health treatment cards
  • veterans' special needs.

See a complete set of Factsheets about service providers.