When processing a Department of Veterans' Affairs claim that includes a travel component, there are some uncertainties around the exact sum that DVA will reimburse for that travel component. In this guide, we'll explain what is happening, and walk through our suggestions to handle these invoices.
We'll cover:
How to add a travel component to DVA claims
You may wish to set up a DVA travel billable item in your Cliniko account, and add that item to your invoices to track your travel charges. Here's what your invoice might look like:
DVA do not pay travel reimbursements on the first 10km travelled, so your billable item will need to reflect this. In our example, 15km was travelled, but only 5km added to the invoice.
On the Add payment page, when beginning the claim by clicking the Claim link next to the Dept. of Veterans' Affairs logo, ensure only the service invoice item is selected for claiming. Do not select your travel invoice item if you have one:
During the claim work flow, the travel component is processed as part of the service claim itself. Hit the Process DVA claim button to proceed to the DVA claim form.
Scroll down to the Provider details section. You'll need to adjust the Provider details, so click the Show options button:
Here, you'll need to set the Treatment location to Home visit:
Further down the claim form, you'll now need to edit the service item, so click the Edit button:
And to get to the travel options, click the Show advanced options button:
Now you can select Yes to claiming travel as part of this service, and enter your whole travel distance, including the initial 10km. You'll be shown an expected travel reimbursement:
Once done, hit Submit claim at the bottom of the form:
You will be returned to the Invoice page, and the submitted claim will be shown at the bottom, including the travel information:
There is no need to enter a payment at this point, because the invoice is now awaiting DVA's approval on this claim.
Why are some DVA with travel invoices still open?
Please ensure you have your DVA payment allocation set up so that payments can be allocated automatically. Learn how to do this here.
Even though an expected travel reimbursement is displayed while processing your DVA claim, you won't know exactly what amount is being paid by DVA for the travel component until after DVA has paid it. This means that invoices that include a travel item may not automatically close, because of the uncertainty of the reimbursed amount.
If the approved amount paid is more than the invoice is asking for, the payment will not be automatically allocated to the invoice and the invoice will remain open. If the approved amount paid is less than the invoice is asking for, then the payment will be allocated to the invoice, but the invoice will have a small outstanding amount and will remain open. In the event that the approved amount matches the invoiced amount, the automatically-applied-payment will close the invoice. So what to do about those open invoices?
What is the best way to close these invoices?
Once the DVA claim has been approved and paid, you'll know exactly how much was paid for travel, and you can then manually edit the Cliniko invoice to ensure the travel item is priced correctly. Once the invoice amount matches the payment amount and the payment has been manually allocated to the invoice, the invoice will be closed.
If the approved DVA payment was too big and wasn't allocated, then once the invoice has been corrected, you can manually allocate the DVA payment to close the invoice.
If the DVA payment was too small and is already allocated, then once you correct the invoice to charge the same amount as the payment allocated to it, the invoice will be closed.
For more information on home visits and kilometre allowances for health professionals, please see pages 12-14 of this document from DVA:
Please let us know if you still have any questions about this process. We are easiest reached from within Cliniko by clicking Help on the blue sidebar, and clicking Chat with us!