DIAC’s Chief Medical Officer has provided the following update on the roll-out.
Please note that there is some concern that some migration agents are not providing the correct advice to their clients about what is required for health checks.
The rollout of our eMedical system to Medibank Health Solutions (MHS) commenced mid July 2013 under a staged rollout arrangement. The reason for this was to ensure that MHS staff received the appropriate training and support as the rollout progressed, and that DIAC was in a position to support them. The rollout is now well underway with all clinics in NSW, ACT, Tasmania and Dandenong already online. As you noted, the clinics in Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Bibra Lake were eMedical enabled on Monday 2 September 2013. All remaining MHS clinics (these are Darwin, Brisbane, Southport and Townsville) are expected to be processing 100% of cases electronically by the end of September 2013. Clients can also see which MHS clinics are online via the MHS website.
In order for clients who wish to undertake their examinations onshore at an eMedical enabled MHS clinic must:
• provide a HAP ID (TRN or HRI) to enable their health case to be located within the eMedical system – they can obtain the HAP ID from their visa case officer when they are referred for their medicals; or, if they have not yet lodged their visa application, they are required to complete the My Health Declarations (MHD) form
and
• complete their medical history questions online by using the eMedical Client service. This also enables them to consent to using eMedical and download their eMedical referral letter (which contains their HAP ID). Online visa applicants and MHD clients will be automatically directed to this service; however if a paper visa application has been lodged, clients can independently access this service using their HAP ID at
It is important to note that if clients attend an eMedical enabled clinic without completing the two steps above, their appointment may be delayed or postponed until they are able to complete these steps as MHS will ONLY process in eMedical. MHS have provided computer service kiosks to enable the completion of these steps if clients have attended without completing these steps; however, some clients may not have all the required information with them in order to complete the steps at the time of the appointment. It is therefore important that clients are encouraged to complete these steps prior to attending the appointment with MHS. For this reason, MHS have commenced communications with clients which advise them that if they do not have their HAP (or alternative) ID at a minimum, they are not able to make an appointment.
I would like to request your assistance in ensuring this information is communicated across the industry, as our staff assisting MHS have reported that clients are often directed by agents to attend with paper forms, without any health identifier such as a HAP ID, whereas clients who are proceeding through the process without the assistance of an agent are often better informed.
Further information is available on DIAC’s website at Arranging a Health Examination.
(SOURCE DIAC/MIA)