Enable Private Billing

If your health service bills patients privately, enable the Private Billing module.

To enable your health service to privately bill patients for services, complete the following steps:
  1. Activate the Private Billing module:
    1. Select File > System Parameters > System tab.
    2. Set Private Billing.
    3. In the confirmation window, to import your MBS Favourites into the private billing fee schedule, click Yes. You can adjust the fee schedule later.
    4. Click Save.
    5. Enter your authority code and click Save.
  2. Assign user system rights:
    1. Select File > User Groups.
    2. Select the user group to which you want to assign billing user rights.
    3. Set one or both of the following options.
      Tip: The following rights apply to both private billing and Medicare bulk billing.
      • Billing - to allow in the user group to make claims
      • Billing Administration - to allow users in the user group to administer claims
    4. Click Save.
  3. Set up at least one private billing type. See File > Reference Tables > Private Billing > Billing Type. See Billing Types for more information.
  4. For each billing type that is an organisation, there must be a record in the address book. To add organisations for private billing to the address book, select File > Address Book. For more information, see Search for an address.
  5. Set up the private billing fee schedule:
    • If you added your MBS Favourites when you activated the module, edit these records. Otherwise, add each billing item individually.
    • For each fee item, you can set a different fee for each billing type. For example, a private practice might charge $50 for a Standard Consultation to an individual and $75 for Workers Compensation because of the administrative tasks involved.
    • Link a fee item to a Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) item so a patient can claim a Medicare refund for the linked MBS item. For example, a Private practice short consult can be linked to MBS Item 3 - Brief Consult Level A.
    • To add and edit fee schedules, select File > Reference Tables > Private Billing > Fee Schedule. See Fee Schedule for more information.