This article explains how you can capture patients written consent in order to bulk bill their telehealth consultation, as well as view a list of patients that have received a request in the Bulk Billing Consent section of the HotDoc Dashboard.
If using Best Practice and Medical Director, a copy of this will be saved into their patient file in your practice software for your record and auditing purposes. If using Zedmed, you can download the PDF copy of the patient's consent directly in the HotDoc Dashboard.
How does our Bulk Billing Consent feature work?
HotDoc can automatically send a push notification, or email, or SMS to the patient to request their consent to bulk bill the consult once the invoice has been generated for their telehealth appointment, if you have enabled the "Send notification to request patient consent" setting. We will also resend an additional notification if they do not respond to their initial notification.
The consent will send for the following:
- Any telehealth appointments in your appointment book where the appointment type name contains the following words: 'Telehealth' - ' Telephone' - ' Phone call' - ' Phone consult' - ' Teleconference' - 'Video' - ' Tele health' - ' Phone - consult'
- Any HotDoc appointment types with telehealth settings enabled
The consent request will include the date and time of consultation, item number, benefit amount, patient name and healthcare professional name.
Once the patient selects 'I agree' to provide their consent, if using Best Practice or Medical Director (Pracsoft) we will save this as a PDF to the patient's file in your Practice Software, but for Zedmed you can download a PDF copy manually in the HotDoc Dashboard.
The PDF will include the date and time the patient agreed to assign the of Medicare benefit to the practitioner, alongside the information mentioned above.
Please view the steps below to enable this and see how it works.
How to enable and send bulk billing consent requests
Select the respective tab below to see the appropriate instructions for your practice
If Best Practice is your Practice Management Software:
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If you have access to the HotDoc Dashboard, go to Bookings > Bulk Billing Consent, check the box next to Send notification to request patient consent > select Save
- After enabling the setting, once the patient has been seen for their appointment, the practitioner will finalise the visit in Best Practice with the relevant MBS items and select Save:
- Once the practitioner finalises the visit, you can click create account directly from the appointment tile in Best Practice to create the invoice:
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In the invoice ensure "Bill to" is "Medicare Direct Bill" then select Store.
Please note: If using HotDoc Payments and the patient added a payment method for this appointment, assigning this to Medicare Direct Bill will automatically cancel the HotDoc payment request.
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The patient will then automatically receive one notification in the following priority order: push notification or email or SMS, asking them to approve bulk billing for their visit:
- Emails will be prioritised over SMS as they have the highest consent response rate and are preferred as per Services Australia's recommendations here
- Push Notification is sent to the patients mobile and opens in HotDoc app
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Email & SMS are sent to the details listed in their patient file in Best Practice
Please note: It can take 5-10mins for the first sms to go through for patients
- Upon opening this, for security reasons they will be required to enter their last name and date of birth then select Verify confirm it's them before providing their consent:
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The patient will then be redirected to a page with all appropriate details for their consult in alignment with the approved digital assignment of medicare benefit form, where they will select "I agree" to provide their consent, or select "decline".
- Please note: If the patient declines, you will see this in the Bulk Billing Consent History in your Dashboard. We will not send another notification if they decline. Please contact the patient directly to capture payment or consent via an alternative method.
- If the patient is 12 years or younger, there will be a field for the guardian to enter their full name:
- If the patient is 12 years or younger, there will be a field for the guardian to enter their full name:
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After clicking 'I agree' the patient will see a confirmation message informing them their consent to bulk billing has been recorded and they can download a copy of their consent.
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A PDF document of the patient's consent is then saved in patient's file in Best Practice, under Correspondance In. Click this to open the document to view their consent.
Example of the PDF document once opened
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From here, the doctor will not need to fill in the DB4 / DB4(e) form, unless they captured consent verbally from the patient. View Services Australias page here for more.
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If the patient does not respond to their consent request on the day of their appointment, we will resend a second and final notification the next day from 9am (all timezones) via the original send method if possible.
If Medical Director (Pracsoft) is your Practice Management Software
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If your have access to the HotDoc Dashboard, In the HotDoc Dashboard go to Bookings > Bulk Billing Consent, check the box next to Send notification to request patient consent > select Save:
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After enabling the setting, once the patient has been seen for their appointment, finalise the visit in Pracsoft, ensuring:
- Invoice to: is Bulk Bill
- You've added the relevant MBS items
- Remove from Waiting Room is ticked in Visit options
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Finally, click Voucher (or Claim)
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Please note: Clicking 'Voucher'/'Claim' triggers HotDoc to sync the invoice and send a request to the patient. If your software submits a claim to Medicare upon clicking 'Claim', it may send prior to capturing consent. We recommend batch claiming to Medicare after receiving patient's consent.
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The patient will then automatically receive one notification in the following priority order: push notification or email or SMS, asking them to approve bulk billing for their visit:
- Emails will be prioritised over SMS as they have the highest consent response rate and are preferred as per Services Australia's recommendations here
- Push Notification is sent to the patients mobile and opens in HotDoc app
-
Email & SMS are sent to the details listed in their patient file in Medical Director
Please note: It can take 5-10mins for the first sms to go through for patients
- Upon opening this, for security reasons they will be required to enter their last name and date of birth then select Verify confirm it's them before providing their consent:
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The patient will then be redirected to a page with all appropriate details for their consult in alignment with the approved digital assignment of medicare benefit form, where they will select "I agree" to provide their consent, or select "decline".
- Please note: If the patient declines, you will see this in the Bulk Billing Consent History in your Dashboard. We will not send another notification if they decline. Please contact the patient directly to capture payment or consent via an alternative method.
- If the patient is 12 years or younger, there will be a field for the guardian to enter their full name:
- If the patient is 12 years or younger, there will be a field for the guardian to enter their full name:
- After clicking 'I agree' they will see a confirmation message informing them their consent to bulk billing has been recorded and they can also download a copy of their consent.
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A PDF document of the patient's consent is then saved in patient's file in Medical Director under Documents. Click this to open the document to view their consent.
Example of PDF consent
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From here, the doctor will not need to fill in the DB4 / DB4(e) form, unless they captured consent verbally from the patient.
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If the patient does not respond to their consent request on the day of their appointment, we will resend a second and final notification the next day from 9am (all timezones) via the original send method if possible.
If Zedmed is your practice software
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If you have access to the HotDoc Dashboard, go to Bookings > Bulk Billing Consent, check the box next to Send notification to request patient consent > select Save:
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After enabling the setting and once the patient has been seen for their telehealth appointment, bill the patient in Zedmed by creating a new invoice, ensuring:
- Payer: Medicare
- You've added the relevant MBS items
- Finally, click Supress
- Payer: Medicare
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The patient will then automatically receive a notification in the following priority order: push notification or email or SMS, asking them to approve bulk billing for their visit:
- Upon opening this, for security reasons they will be required to enter their last name and date of birth then select Verify confirm it's them before providing their consent:
-
The patient will then be redirected to a page with all appropriate details for their consult in alignment with the approved digital assignment of medicare benefit form, where they will select "I agree" to provide their consent, or select "decline".
- Please note: If the patient declines, you will see this in the Bulk Billing Consent History in your Dashboard. We will not send another notification if they decline. Please contact the patient directly to capture payment or consent via an alternative method.
- If the patient is 12 years or younger, there will be a field for the guardian to enter their full name:
- If the patient is 12 years or younger, there will be a field for the guardian to enter their full name:
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After clicking 'I agree' they will see a confirmation message informing them their consent to bulk billing has been recorded and they can also download a copy of their consent.
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Ensure you have a copy of the patient's consent, you can Download each PDF in the HotDoc Dashboard, by going to Bulk billing consent > Download PDF
- Please note! Consents will be removed after 30 days of sending the request to the patient. Please ensure you download these forms before then.
- You will need to download each form individually.
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Consents will download as [initials]_bulk_billing_consent_dd_mm_yy
Example of PDF once downloaded
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From here, the doctor will not need to fill in the DB4 / DB4(e) form, unless they captured consent verbally from the patient. View Services Australias page here for more.
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If the patient does not respond to their consent request on the day of their appointment, we will resend a second and final notification the next day from 9am (all timezones) via the original send method if possible.
How to view patients that received consent requests
You can view a list of patients that received a consent request in the HotDoc Dashboard under Bookings > Bulk Billing Consent. This allows you to view the:
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Appointment date and time
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The Patients' and Practitioners' names
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The status of the consent request (Request Sent, Requires Action, Declined, Completed)
- Details about how and when we sent a request (time and send method)
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Recorded of consent PDF to the patient file (Best Practice & Pracsoft only)
- A Download PDF button to download a copy of patients consent (Zedmed only)
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In the HotDoc Dashboard got to Bookings > Bulk Billing Consent where you will see a list of patient requests.
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You can filter by Patient Consent Status, Practitioner, Appointment Date or search by Patient name view specific requests:
- If Status = Request sent - Patient has been sent a first or second request
- If Status = Requires action - Patient has not responded to their second and final request. You will be required follow up with the patient manually.
- If Status = Completed - Patient has agreed and provided their consent (Completed - Via HotDoc), or you have selected Mark as Complete (Completed - Manually Actioned)
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If Status = Declined - Patient has declined consent request, please contact them to arrange payment or consent via an alternative method
- Click on any patient to view the date, time and how we sent to the request to the patient (Eg. via Push Notification, Email or SMS)
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For Best Practice and Medical Director clinics:
The Recorded in patient file column indicates if we have saved a PDF copy of the patient's written consent to their patient file. For Best Practice, this is saved to Correspondance In and for Medical Director, this is saved in the Documents tab (view steps above).- If Status = Completed - PDF of patient consent saved in patient file
- If Status = Processing - PDF processing and will soon be saved in patient file
- If Status = Waiting for consent - Waiting for patient to approve consent in request
- If Status = Manually actioned - You have selected Mark as Complete in the Dashboard
- If Status = Will not attempt - Patient declined consent request, no PDF will be recorded.
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For Zedmed clinics:
Ensure you have a copy of the patient's consent, you can Download each PDF in the HotDoc Dashboard, by going to Bulk Billing Consent > Download PDF- Please note! Consents will be removed after 30 days of sending the request to the patient. Please ensure you download these forms before then.
- You will need to download each form individually.
What to do when a patient's consent status is 'Requires action'
We will attempt to send the patient two notifications to capture their consent.
If they do not respond to their final notification, or if the patient declines the consent request, this will move into a 'Requires action' status so that you can contact the patient directly to capture their consent and Mark them as complete.
- The first notification will send on the day of the appointment after you create and process the patient's invoice.
- If no response, the next day we will resend a second and final notification from 9am.
- If no response to the final request, the following day we will move this into a 'Requires action' status.
Please view the instructions below to see how to view these and mark them as complete:
- In the HotDoc Dashboard got to Bookings > Bulk Billing Consent where you will see a list of patient requests:
- In the 'Patient Consent' status and select 'Requires action' to view patients you need to contact:
- Click on any row to view when and how the patient received their two notifications. When contacting the patient, you can use this information to inform them how they can provide their consent or capture their consent a different way such as verbally.
- Once you have contacted the patient and captured their consent, select 'Mark as Complete' and this will move to a 'Completed - Manually actioned' status.
Frequently asked questions
Does it have to be a HotDoc appointment for a request to send?
No - A request will send for any telehealth appointments booked at your practice, including HotDoc appointments with telehealth settings enabled.
Does this have to be a telehealth appointment for a request to send?
Yes - A request will send a request will send for any telehealth appointment type with the following words or phrases in the name 'Telehealth' - ' Telephone' - ' Phone call' - ' Phone consult' - ' Teleconference' - 'Video' - ' Tele health' - ' Phone - consult'
Do you resend the request to a patient if they don't reply?
Yes - If the patient does not reply on the day of their appointment, we will send a second and final notification the next day from 9am. If the patient does not reply again, the next day it will move into a Requires Action status and you will need to follow up with the patient directly. You can then select 'Mark as Complete' once you've done this.
Does a request send if we click 'Hold' on the invoice? (Best Practice)
No. At the moment, we can only send a request if you click 'Store' on the invoice.
Does this send if the invoice is billed to DVA?
No. We will only send a request if bill to is Medicare Direct Bill.
Do we still need to fill in the DB4 / DB4e form?
We have updated our consent request form to be compliant with the new assignment of Medicare benefit form approved by Services Australia. When patient's provide their consent via our feature, you will no longer need to fill in the DB4 / DB4e form!
For Telehealth services, if patients provide verbal agreement during a consultation, the provider needs to document this agreement in an approved form (DB4E or DB020) by typing in ‘patient verbally agreed’ in the patient signature field and sending a completed copy of the approved form to the patient - Please view this on their website: verbal consent.
Do I need to send the patient a copy of the completed DB4 form?
When the patient completes their form online, they have the option to download a copy of the completed form themselves.
Can we export patient data from the Bulk Billing Consent page?
No, there currently isn't a way to export patient data from the Bookings > Bulk Billing Consent page. You can sort through the history in this page by using the filters such as patient response, consent status, appointment date, and practitioner to get more refined results, or you can search for a patient using their name as well. Optionally, you would like to print the page you can do this by right clicking on the page and selecting print.
Do requests sent to patients expire?
Yes, Bulk Billing Consents will be removed from our system 30 days after they were created. If the patient attempts to click on a URL link to open a request after it has expired, they will see the below message and be directed to contact the clinic: