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This webinar is the first of a two-part series walking through the Support at Home process in Visualcare from start to finish. Whether you’re new to Support at Home or have been using it since 1 November, this session covers the recommended intake workflow for a new participant and highlights where skipping a step can cause problems later on at claiming, invoicing and statements.
Part 2 continues the workflow, focusing on claiming, invoicing and statements.

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Questions and answers

Here are the questions raised during the session, with answers from the Visualcare team. Similar questions have been combined.

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Recordings

The recordings for both sessions are published on the Support Centre, with the presenter panel removed so the screen is larger.

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API connection and device expiry

The PRODA device used for your Services Australia API connection usually expires every six months, and it is coming up soon for many customers. Check your expiry date in Settings → Integrations → Manage. Reactivating the device before it expires is easier on the PRODA side.If the device expires, you’ll see a server error on the client profile’s Support at Home tab. This doesn’t stop claiming, but you won’t be able to link new participants to the API until it’s renewed.See Server error on the SAH tab for instructions.

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Agreements and classifications

Clone the existing agreement to copy its service codes, then use the Transfer tool on the agreement page to move upcoming shifts from the old agreement to the new one. Select the from date and match any service codes that don’t map automatically.Once transferred, set the End Date on the old agreement, tick Is Closed and click Save.See Transferring roster items to a new agreement.
If services are changing, for example adding new services and removing old ones, we recommend using the Clone and Transfer feature. If services are staying the same or you’re only adding new ones, you can either clone and transfer, or update the existing agreement.See Agreement management tips.
Classification comes through from the Services Australia API and shows on the client profile’s Support at Home tab. A participant can have more than one classification (for example AT high and classification level 6), so the product team is still working on how to display these in the classification field.For now, you can record levels in the Client Type drop-down:
  1. Create your levels in Maintenance → Client → Client Types
  2. On the client profile Details tab, under Service Status, select the level in Client Type
  3. Add Client Type as a column in the client list using the Column Chooser
Division and Groups can also be customised and allow multiple selections, if you aren’t already using them.See The classification level drop-down doesn’t have the right options.
The earliest end date you can choose is the day after the participant’s last rostered service. Check their roster and remove any services after their last day of service, including any single shifts or broken series that may have been missed. You’ll then be able to choose the actual departure date.
The Delete shifts from a date onwards button on the client profile Details tab, under Service Status, makes this quicker.

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Rostering, expenses and AT-HM

AT, HM and home support items shouldn’t be rostered, because Services Australia requires specific item codes for these that the roster can’t capture. Add them as expenses using the new look expense form instead.To pay the worker, tick Reimburse to worker and select the pay code. You can also change the unit type to minutes.
Meal preparation (SERV-0008) is rostered as a normal shift. Meal delivery (SERV-0007) is added as an expense, dated the day of delivery, with the number of meals as the quantity.For example, $105 for 7 meals delivered on 7 September is entered with a quantity of 7, and the claim file shows 7 units at $15.See SAH meal services.
Wraparound services apply to Assistive Technology and Home Modification items only (for example delivery, training or administration), so there is no wraparound to claim for rostered meal preparation.See SAH meal services.
The item drop-downs on the new look expense form come from Services Australia’s Support at Home reference data (the e-kit), which you can download from the Services Australia website. Visualcare filters the list by the service you select. For example, SERV-0063 Mobility products shows only the items under that code.The e-kit also lists the wraparound codes and health professional types, so it’s worth saving for reference.
Yes. Go to Operations → Import CSV and select Expenses as the import type. Use the second template, which handles both general expenses (for example gardening or cleaning) and the extra columns needed for AT-HM items. AT-HM items and their wraparound services can be uploaded in the same CSV.See SAH bulk import of AT-HM expenses.
In the bulk import CSV, set the AT-HM Item/Wraparound column to Wraparound (case-sensitive).
  • If the parent item is already in Visualcare, enter its expense ID in AT-HM Parent Expense ID
  • If the parent item is in the same CSV, give it a unique ID and use that same ID in the AT-HM Parent Item Id column on both rows
Check you’re using the right wraparound code for the item type. Some wraparound codes are only for Home Modifications (SERV-0067 and SERV-0068), and using them with AT items will cause an error in PRODA.
See SAH bulk import expenses.
Linking an item to an agreement doesn’t determine which funding source Services Australia draws from, as Services Australia decides this when the claim is paid. The exception is Restorative Care and End of Life, where the agreement must be linked to the correct funding source.Otherwise, the agreement-to-funding link is used for the participant and organisation dashboards.
The claim file follows the Services Australia template. In this template, the item description is mandatory when the Item Description Code refers to “Other” and for some Home Support items.
The Supplier field prints on the statement. You can enter the item description in this field along with the supplier name.

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Care management

We don’t recommend adding care management time in bulk. It should be added on the client profile Notes tab when the care partner adds a note about the time spent.Visualcare does have features to add notes in bulk and to create rosters from templates.See Tracking SAH care management time.
The Activity Type you select when adding care management time works like a care management note category. The participant and organisation dashboards use it to show where care management time is being spent in the coloured graphs.See Monitor care management time.
The Visualcare Support at Home dashboards show how much care management time has been delivered and when it hasn’t been delivered, but they don’t include a care management balance remaining to claim.You can view care management funding in PRODA under Budgets at the organisation level.See Understand the budget figures.

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Budgets, dashboards and claiming

A bulk budget refresh is currently requested via Support at support@visualcare.com.au. A product enhancement is with our team to let customers run a bulk budget refresh themselves, and we will share updates as it progresses.The best time to request a refresh is after you have reconciled your claim, so statement balances are accurate. You can also refresh an individual participant’s budget at any time by opening the SAH tab on their client profile.See Funding table.
The Support at Home Organisation Dashboard flags participants as:
  • Over Budget: projected to exceed their budget by the end of the quarter, based on what’s rostered and claimed
  • At Risk: estimated remaining balance is at 10% or less of their starting funds
See Support at Home dashboards.
Check that the participant’s Visualcare agreements are linked to the relevant funding. If this is set up correctly, send a ticket to the helpdesk with the participant and the services that aren’t showing, so we can investigate and advise.
Use Timesheets → Data Export to find claim items. It has four claim columns:
  • Claim Reference
  • Claim Item Reference: the external reference ID, which matches column E of the Services Australia payment statement
  • Claim Item Status
  • Claim Status
Choose your date range, click Reload, add the columns with the Column Chooser and export to Excel if needed.
A gap happens when Services Australia pays less than the amount claimed, usually because the participant didn’t have enough funds on the service date (for example, near the end of the quarter). The payment statement shows the item as rejected or partly paid.When you reconcile the claim, a review screen shows any gap items, which you can download. Claims with gaps move to Partially Paid or Not Paid. When you generate invoices, Visualcare creates up to three:
  • INVG: Government
  • INV: Client Contribution
  • GAP: Gap payment
Click the GAP invoice to choose who will be billed.See Gap payment workflow.
Our team is working with Services Australia to understand the adjustments process, and with a small group of customers to shape how adjustments will work in Visualcare. We’ll share more information as this progresses.In the meantime, if you need to correct an overclaim that has already been reconciled in Visualcare, contact Support with the updated payment CSV from PRODA and we can perform a data rollback.See After VC reconciliation.

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Documents

Documents attached to notes currently need to be downloaded to be viewed. If the document is also uploaded to the Documents tab, it can be viewed there without downloading.See Document storage.

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Statements and exited participants

Providers can claim for services delivered up to 60 days after a participant’s departure date, so you may still need to generate statements for exited participants for up to two months. For participants who have passed away, we know a statement can cause distress for families. Our product team is scoping an offboarding process that handles both situations, and we have requested a filter by client status on the Statements page.In the meantime, you can either:
  • Set the participant’s communication preference to Post on the Billing Preferences tab, so their statement goes into the ZIP file instead of being emailed
  • Untick them before you generate statements for the month
If an exited participant shows as Failed, it usually means they have no budget or no transactions for that period, so there is nothing to generate.See Offboarding a client (Support at Home).