Contracted Service Provider Notice

Flood response

In response to the current flooding emergency affecting various regions across Eastern Australia, the Hearing Services Program (program) is monitoring flood affected areas to ensure that clients affected can receive assistance with hearing needs. The Program will collaborate with Service Providers to ensure continuity of clients’ service should any sites be affected.

Closing sites

If you are a service provider and your site will be closed temporarily, you should register the temporary site closure due to ‘natural disaster’ on the portal. Should you be unable to access the portal, please call 1800 500 726, or email hearing@health.gov.au, and your site status will be updated.

When your site re-opens, you will need to update the site’s status on the portal.

Lost or damaged beyond repair devices

If a client approaches your clinic for urgent assistance with their devices due to their regular provider being temporarily closed, you will need to transfer them to you in the portal and record their consent to provide hearing services. The transfer will initiate an email to the client’s usual service provider to advise that the client has relocated. When the client’s usual service provider re-opens, they will need to contact the client to determine ongoing arrangements.

Where a non-regular client has a damaged hearing aid that requires return to the manufacturer for repair, the treating provider should take efforts to contact the regular provider before dispatching the hearing aid to the manufacturer.  If the regular provider will reopen shortly, send for repair with a covering note outlining where the manufacturer should return the device to.

Where a client has an aid that is lost or damaged beyond repair, you may wish to provide a loan device/s until they can seek a replacement from their regular provider; and/or order a replacement aid/s.

Where a client has an urgent need for a replacement device, you will need to follow the usual procedures, including completion of a Statutory Declaration. You may wish to waive the replacement fee.

Client Records affected by flooding

If you have client records which have been affected by flooding, please email the program at hearing@health.gov.au for further advice.

The program reminds providers that the records of program clients must not be destroyed because of the disposal freeze. Please see the Freeze on destruction of client records CSPN for more information. 

Providers will be notified by the Department of Health when the freeze has ended.

Note that this does not affect Department of Veteran Affairs (DVA) clients as the replacement fee for all DVA clients is already paid by DVA.

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