The My Aged Care e-Referral info pack is here!

In response to feedback shared in our survey, we have developed a My Aged Care Information Pack to help guide users through the My Aged Care e-Referral process. The pack brings together lots of handy tips and tricks to guide you through the e-Referral process including tutorial videos, PDF user guides, frequently asked questions, and user case studies.

My Aged Care e-Referrals free up precious time for healthcare workers


You can now refer your patients for assessment for Australian Government-subsidised aged care services directly from your practice management system using HealthLink e-Referral.​

More than 3,300 Australian practices are already using e-Referral. e-Referral is intuitive, easy to use and accessible through a Practice Management System by selecting ‘My Aged Care Referral’ from the HealthLink referred services tab.​

Patient information is pre-populated in the form, saving you time on manual data entry and reducing the risk of errors. It’s then sent securely and in real-time directly from your Practice Management System to My Aged Care for assessment.

How it works

 

“Quite quick and easy to complete a complex referral.”

Dr. William Poh
General Practitioner – Malvern Road Medical Centre, NSW

“Easy to use and love how it integrates with Medical Director through HealthLink”

Rosyln Fullick
Practice Manager – Weston Surgery, NSW

“It’s very easy and less cumbersome”

Dr. Adarsh Gulati
General Practitioner, Dr. Adarsh Gulati, NSW

“It makes referrals to My Aged Care so seamless being integrated into our Medical Software. We love how it auto-populates patient information and that we can attach relevant documents. It alleviates a lot of double up.”

Kay Stragalinos
Practice Manager – Station Square Medical Centre, VIC

“So much quicker with details pre-populated, user friendly”

Debbie O’Loughlin
Practice Manager – Peninsula Medical Centre, NSW

“Quick and easy to use”

Kim
Registered Nurse – Reynella Medical Centre, SA

“It is straightforward, easy to use and response is quick.”

Catherine Mouritsen
Practice Nurse – Dapto Healthcare, NSW

“User friendly, Very time effective, Clear information.”

Dr Kyaw Lynn
GP Supervisor – Yarrawonga Denis Medical Group, VIC

“Easy to access from patient notes, prepopulates data.”

Dr Jibina Majeed
GP – Grove Family Health, VIC

Key benefits of e-Referral

Faster

Get your patients to assessment faster. Referrals are in real-time.

Convenient

Completed all within your medical software. Eliminates data-entry errors and saves you time with data pre-population.

Secure

You and your patients have peace of mind knowing the referral will get to My Aged Care quickly and securely.

“I have been using My Aged Care e-Referrals since they first became available. I love how you get instant feedback on your referral if it’s not completed properly. I also really like how an e-Referral is lodged immediately with My Aged Care as soon as it’s submitted. e-Referrals are so easy to complete and save me time.”

- Loraine Evans, Practice Nurse - Pebble Beach Medical Centre, QLD.

“It is a very easy referral process. It pre-populates with a lot of patient data. I also like how a record of the referral is also put into the patient’s notes, so staff no longer need to scan a printed copy in. It is a very seamless process.”

- Emma Zanker, Practice Nurse Coordinator - Goydersline, Medical Practice, SA

“Life is so much easier now and I would recommend them to any general practice. The time saved means I can focus on the important stuff like caring for patients and not on filling out forms.”

- Casey Franchi, Nurse Manager - Chandler’s Hill Surgery, SA

“I can ensure the information I feel is important is included and I’m confident the information is going directly to My Aged Care. The e-Referrals are also confidential and easily amended.”

- Dr Eric Davey, GP - Clarence Medical Centre, Mclean, NSW

Please note: The My Aged Care fax number will no longer accept information submitted after 31 July 2023. Click here for more information.

Frequently Asked Questions

For technical support or further information on e-Referrals contact the HealthLink help desk on 1800 125 036 (Option 4) or email [email protected], and for more information about My Aged Care, please visit their website or call the My Aged Care GP support line on 1800 836 799 (Option 1).

The Australian Government’s My Aged Care service is the entry point for older Australians to access government-funded aged care. GPs support patients to access services by referring them to My Aged Care for an assessment. Depending on their needs, your patient may be referred for a:

  • Home Support Assessment to determine their eligibility to receive entry level Commonwealth Home Support (CHSP) services, which allow an older person to remain living at home. These assessments are usually conducted face-to-face in the patient’s place of residence by a RAS (Regional Assessment Service) assessor; or a
  • Comprehensive Assessment to determine their eligibility for a Home Care Package, or for residential, respite, short-term restorative and transition care. Patients may also be referred to CHSP services where appropriate. Comprehensive assessments are undertaken by an ACAT (Aged Care Assessment Team) assessor in a face-to-face context, preferably a patient’s usual place of residence.

My Aged Care e-Referral is quicker and simpler than the existing online Make a Referral form on the My Aged Care website. It is currently integrated with four practice management systems: Best Practice, MedicalDirector, Genie, Medtech Evolution, Shexie Platinum and Zedmed.

The e-Referral form is intuitive, easy to use and will be accessible through the patient’s electronic medical record (EMR). It requires very little manual data entry because it extracts information from the EMR, with the user validating patient details, and adding additional information and attachments as required.

Once submitted, the e-Referral is safely and securely sent electronically directly from your practice management system to My Aged Care for assessment of your patient’s aged care needs.

E-Referrals were introduced in response to GP feedback that the existing referral processes were too time consuming. In particular, fax referrals take longer to process, which results in patients waiting longer to be referred for assessment. E-referrals are integrated with existing PMSs and pre-populate available patient data.

To send an e-Referral, you just need to check patient details, enter information about their aged care needs and add any necessary attachments to support an assessment. This makes e-Referrals the quickest and easiest way to refer patients to My Aged Care.

The My Aged Care ‘Make a Referral’ form requires you to visit the My Aged Care website and manually enter all the required information. E-Referrals are integrated into your PMS and pre-populate patient information so you don’t need to visit the My Aged Care website, saving you time.

The e-Referral form is based on the current My Aged Care website referral form so is familiar to people who have used it before.

Yes, step-by-step video tutorials and user guides are available for Best Practice, Medical Director and Genie PMS’s. You can find them on this web-page or click the following links:

Best Practice (Lava SP3 and above is required)

MedicalDirector (3.16 and above is required)

Genie (v8.8 and above is required)

e-Referrals are available on Best Practice Lava SP3 and above, MedicalDirector 3.16 and above, Genie v8.8 and above, Medtech Evolution 10.4.4 and above, Shexie Platinum and Zedmed, which make up more than 90% of the general practice PMS market in Australia.

Some older versions of these PMSs may not be compatible with the e-Referral form or may require some additional manual configuration. Please contact the HealthLink help desk on 1800 125 036 (Option 4) or email [email protected] for advice about how to access or enable the e-Referral form.

Referrals can be made via the My Aged Care website if you are unable to access e-Referrals. Or you can use the web-based My HealthLink Portal. The My HealthLink Portal is an online portal designed to enable smaller medical practices and individual healthcare providers to utilise HealthLink SmartForms.

Here are quick guides that show you how to check what version you have in the following PMSs.

Best Practice

MedicalDirector

Genie

Medtech Evolution: Please call medtech support on 1800 148 165

e-Referrals are available on Best Practice Lava SP3 and above, MedicalDirector 3.16 and above, Genie v8.8 and above, Medtech Evolution 10.4.4 and above, Shexie Platinum and Zedmed which make up more than 90% of the general practice PMS market in Australia.

You can send and receive e-Referrals without a Practice Management System (PMS) through the My HealthLink Portal. The My HealthLink Portal is an online portal designed to enable smaller medical practices and individual healthcare providers to utilise HealthLink SmartForm technology.

By using the My HealthLink Portal, smaller organisations can submit via a web browser.

The My HealthLink Portal is protected by digital certificates and advanced HealthLink security and backed by expert technical support from HealthLink. 

You can watch a tutorial video to learn more about how the My HealthLink Portal works here: HealthLink SmartForms Tutorial – MyHealthLink Portal.

The e-Referral process is designed for people who aren’t receiving government-funded aged care services and are not registered with My Aged Care.

The e-Referral form will check if your patient meets the minimum needs and age requirements before sending the referral to My Aged Care. This includes:

  • How much assistance your patient needs with everyday tasks; and
  • That your patient is aged 65 years or older (50 years or older for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people).

 

Patients who are aged 50 years or older (45 years or older for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people) who are on a low income, homeless or at risk of being homeless are encouraged to call My Aged Care to discuss their situation.

If your patient is already registered with My Aged Care, they can contact My Aged Care on 1800 200 422 to request a new assessment or they can talk to their service provider if they wish to have a support plan review.

If you’re not sure if your patient is currently receiving aged care services, you can phone My Aged Care to find out more information before you decide to make a referral. You’ll need your patient’s consent, or that of their legal representative, to obtain this information.

If your submission has been successful, you’ll get a red message at the top of the form confirming it has been sent and acknowledged.

If your submission is unsuccessful, it will display an error message. In this case, please call the HealthLink help desk on 1800 125 036 (Option 4) or email [email protected].

To check if there are any outstanding referrals, you can access ‘Parked’ forms and resume them. Each PMS handles Parked forms differently so check out our user guides to see how you can access them.

The My Aged Care e-Referrals use end-to-end encryption to ensure privacy and security. Personal information and documents are retained securely within the My Aged Care system.

By default, the form will load the minimum information required by My Aged Care to create a record so that an assessment can be organised.

Anybody who currently has access to your PMS will be able to access My Aged Care e-Referrals. Depending on how your PMS is configured, it may be possible for practice nurses to submit an e-Referral. For more information on this, please contact HealthLink on 1800 125 036 (Option 4) or email [email protected].

All PMSs store e-Referrals in some type of inbox so you can refer back to what you have sent. However, in each PMS the name of the inbox and how you find it, is slightly different. For example, in MedicalDirector the inbox is called “letters” and when you select the “letters” tab you will see your past e-Referrals and messages.

If for some reason your e-Referral fails, an error message will appear. In the first instance, we recommend you call the HealthLink help desk on 1800 125 036 (Option 4) or email [email protected].

If it does fail, the information you already entered should be saved so you won’t have to complete the form again.

There are specific circumstances where health professionals may need to refer directly to a service provider. These circumstances are where there is an urgent need for a service based on the patient’s circumstances which, if not met immediately, may place the patient at risk. The services where this is likely to happen are:

  • nursing
  • personal care
  • meals
  • transport

 

These services would be of a time-limited duration (two weeks) with a longer-term commitment only occurring after assessment.

The preferred method for health professionals to access urgent services is by contacting the service provider directly. The service provider will, if able, provide urgent care for the patient and subsequently refer the patient to My Aged Care for an assessment of ongoing service needs.

Acceptance of the referral for urgent care will be based on the provider’s capacity to take on new clients and the relative needs of clients awaiting services.

If you do not have contact details of a provider, you can call My Aged Care on 1800 200 422 or use the Find a provider tool to search for a provider.

Once you complete the initial needs identification questions, the e-Referral form will recommend a home support (RAS) or a comprehensive (ACAT) assessment. You will be able to accept the recommendation or choose the alternative assessment before you submit the e-Referral. Download the My Aged Care – National Screening and Assessment Form fact sheet for more information.

Your patient should hear from My Aged Care or an assessment organisation within two to six weeks. They will tell your patient if they are eligible for an assessment and arrange for an assessor to visit them.

If they haven’t heard anything in this time, your patient can contact My Aged Care on 1800 200 422.

We advise providing your patient with the brochure After you’ve registered with My Aged Care for information on what they can expect after they have been referred and how they can track their progress.

You can order brochures from National Mailing & Marketing by emailing [email protected] or phoning (02) 6269 1025.

The My Aged Care fax number (1800 728 174) will no longer accept information submitted after 31 July 2023. This change is in line with the Australian Government’s Digital Transformation Strategy 2018-2025 to have all government services available digitally by 2025.

Decommissioning fax will make it faster and easier for clients to progress through their aged care journey, while ensuring sensitive information is handled safely and securely.

My Aged Care does not confirm or acknowledge receipt of information received via fax, which is point of frustration for individuals using this mechanism to communicate information. A number of alternative pathways exist for individuals to lodge this information online or over the phone, where they are provided with a reference number to follow up on progress, if required.

Get started with our tutorial videos

Please read our FAQs above to see which PMS versions support My Aged Care e-Referrals.

Get started with our PDF user guides

Best Practice

Medical Director

Medtech Evolution

User guide