The move is an exciting policy change to improve fund members’ access to mental health service. It follows close monitoring by the funds of the AASW’s progress through the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme and self-regulation.

Accredited Mental Health Social Workers must have a Medicare Provider number to provide the services covered by these private health funds.

Teachers Health is the largest industry-based health fund with over 145,000 memberships covering over 300,000 people across Australia. From 1 April 2017, it will recognise counselling services received by an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker with a Medicare Provider number for a benefit under its Top Extras cover.

Over 80 per cent of its membership base holds Top Extras cover. The benefits available under Top Extras for this service include:

UniHealth is a sub-brand of Teachers Health, offering the same products, benefits and services as Teachers Health. UniHealth is primarily made up of educators from the TAFE and university sector. The benefits available under Top Extras for this service include:

From 1 April 2017, Teachers Health Fund and its sub-brand, UniHealth Insurance, will provide their 300,000 Top Extras Cover members with access to services provided by Accredited Mental Health Social Workers as a private health insurance benefit.

Members of Nurses and Midwives Health, which is also managed by Teachers Health, will also have access to Accredited Mental Health Social Workers from 1 April.

Improving access to mental health services

The move is an exciting policy change to improve fund members’ access to mental health service. It follows close monitoring by the funds of the AASW’s progress through the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme and self-regulation.

Accredited Mental Health Social Workers must have a Medicare Provider number to provide the services covered by these private health funds.

About Teachers Health

Teachers Health is the largest industry-based health fund with over 145,000 memberships covering over 300,000 people across Australia. From 1 April 2017, it will recognise counselling services received by an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker with a Medicare Provider number for a benefit under its Top Extras cover.

Over 80 per cent of its membership base holds Top Extras cover. The benefits available under Top Extras for this service include:

About UniHealth

UniHealth is a sub-brand of Teachers Health, offering the same products, benefits and services as Teachers Health. UniHealth is primarily made up of educators from the TAFE and university sector. The benefits available under Top Extras for this service include:

About Nurses and Midwives Health

Nurses & Midwives Health was launched in January 2017 and exists primarily for members of the nursing and midwife communities and their families. Currently there are approximately 400 memberships of this new Fund. In line with this, from 1 April 2017, Nurses & Midwives will recognise Counselling services provided by an Accredited Mental Health Social worker for a benefit under our Top Extras cover. The benefits available under Top Extras for this service include:

What do I need to provide services for these funds?

To provide services through their private practice, an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker must have a Medicare Provider number. Teachers Health pays a benefit to recognised providers in private practice. Private practice is defined in the Teachers Health Fund Rules as a professional practice that is self-supporting principally through fees received from patients and whose accommodation, facilities and services are not provided or subsidised by another party, such as a public hospital or publicly funded facility.

You must meet the receipt requirements for benefit purposes. Teachers Health requires an official receipt or itemised account to be submitted that is either on official letterhead of the provider or stamped with an official provider stamp that indicates the full name of the provider, practice address, contact details, ABN and the Medicare Provider Number for that location. This receipt should show the following as a minimum:

• Patient name
• Service description
• Date the service was provided
• Charge for each service
• Whether the account has been paid.

It is important that providers don’t itemise receipts using Medicare item numbers or descriptions. These will result in claim rejections.

This rule applies to all Allied Health Providers as Teachers Health and UniHealth members can also access other allied health services under a variety of programs and initiatives which provide, in most cases, a defined number of services. These services can either be claimed from Medicare or the fund but not both.

AMHSW services covered by the fund

• Counselling
• Focused psychological strategies

Services not covered by the fund

The primary intent of this recognition is to provide access to mental health services in terms of counselling and the focused psychological strategies identified by Medicare. The types of services that would not be covered include:

• telephone consults
• attendance at court
• travel time
• cancellation fees
• report writing
• supervision

For more information visit Teachers Health