HICAPS bug hits health payment system

The Health Industry Claims and Payments Service (HICAPS) has suffered an undisclosed software issue that is preventing it from processing Medicare transactions and private health fund claims.

The NAB-owned system is used by about 28,000 health service providers such as dentists and specialist practitioners nationally to process claims by health fund members on the spot, as well as Medicare and EFTPOS transactions.

A report by The Sydney Morning Herald claimed the problem was caused by the lack of inclusion of the leap year - February 29 - within an accompanying software program, although this could not be confirmed.

A spokeswoman told iTnews she was "not aware" of the reason for the bug.

In a statement on its website, HICAPS appeared to point to the issue being caused by the leap year.

"Please be assured that we are doing everything we can to fix this issue as soon as possible and expect that it will be resolved by tomorrow Thursday 1 March," the company said this morning.

This statement was later removed, replaced by an amended version that promised a fix "as soon as possible".

HICAPS urged providers to direct customers to make rebate claims directly through their insurer. It said EFTPOS transactions through the terminal are processing as normal.

The firm said in a recorded message on its support desk that it was experiencing a high volume of calls due to the issue which was "under investigation".