Medicare Online and ECLIPSE data elements

Medicare Online and Electronic Claim Lodgement and Information Processing Service Environment (ECLIPSE) common data elements or fields that you might need to enter as part of a claim.

Common data elements or field terms

Different practice management software packages may have different data element or field names and locations to enter claiming data.

Ask your software developer or check your software help guide to find out more about how to enter data to lodge claims.

Health professional claim type where you should use the field or data element.

The table below explains common data elements or field terms and who can use them to make claims.

Data element or fieldDescription and usageWho can use it
Service text or Free text

Only use this field when you need more information to support the claim for assessment. The field limit is 50 characters for Medicare claims. The limit for DVA claims is 100.

Check the table below for text field abbreviations. You can use the abbreviations if you’re running out of space.

General practitioner (GP)

 

Specialist

 

Radiology

 

Allied health

Number of patients seen

This field indicates the number of patients a health professional has seen at a location. It includes patient visits to homes, hospitals, institutions or nursing homes. Use this for group attendance items, such as counselling.

You must supply this when you claim. If you don’t, you’ll get overpaid.

General practitioner (GP)

 

Specialist

 

Allied health

Duplicate service override indicator

This field indicates whether multiple services performed on the same day by the same health professional are separate services.

Set values:

  • Y = not a duplicate service. You need to either set time of service or include information in the service text field to support your payment
  • N = duplicate service.

General Practitioner (GP)

 

Specialist

 

Radiology

Referral issue dateThis is the date the referral was issued or written by the referring health professional. Use DDMMYYYY format.

Specialist

 

Radiology

 

Allied health

Referral period type code

This code indicates the length of the referral period. The set values are:

  • S = standard referral period is 12 months for GPs or 3 months for specialists
  • N = non-standard period. You need to enter the time the referral is valid for in months - must be between 1 and 98
  • I = indefinite period.

Specialist

 

Radiology

 

Allied health

Referral override type code

This code indicates why referral services were provided without a referral from another health professional.

The indicators or codes are:

  • H = Hospital - an in-hospital referral for a privately admitted patient, generated in a hospital for a service in that hospital. For these claim types, referred within and facility ID data will populate automatically. You don’t have to enter these details in the service text. For other online claim types you need to enter either the hospital provider number (facility ID) or the hospital name in the service text.
  • L = Lost - a lost, stolen or destroyed referral. This applies to initial attendance items only and a referral is needed for subsequent attendances.

 

E = Emergency - a referral in an emergency situation. This applies to initial attendance items only, and a referral is needed for subsequent attendances.

 

  • N = Not required or Non-referred.

 

  • R = Remote Exemption (DVA only).

Claim types for ECLIPSE in-patient medical claims (IMC) are:

  • Agreements (AG)
  • Schemes (SC)
  • billing agent, Medicare and private health insurer (MB)
  • billing agent, Medicare only (MO).

General practitioner (GP)

 

Specialist

 

Radiology

 

Allied health

Request issue dateThis is the date the requesting health professional wrote the request. Use DDMMYYYY format.

 

Specialist

 

Radiology

 

Allied health

Self-deemed

Self-deemed codes indicate that a health professional has provided a service that would usually be a referred service without a referral or request.

There are 3 self-deemed codes:

  • SD = self-deemed - a service provided by a consultant physician or specialist as an additional service to a valid request.
  • SS = substituted service - a service provided that has replaced the original service requested
  • N = not self-deemed.

Submit all self-deemed diagnostic imaging services without additional service text. If you need to add more text, begin the service text field with 'Self-deemed'.

 

Specialist

 

Radiology

Field quantity

Use this field for radiation oncology services - Medicare Benefits Schedule Group T2 services.

It’s used to provide the number of fields of treatment delivered to the treatment site or the quantity of time blocks for services.

If you don’t supply this information when claiming, you may get underpaid.

Specialist

 

Radiology

SCPIdUse the Specimen Collection Point (SCPId) to identify the site where the pathology specimen was collected.Allied health

Abbreviations for text fields

If you need to provide more information about a service, use an abbreviation in place of the full description, where you can.

Ask your software developer or check your software help guide to find out how to add more information to claims.

CodeDescription
HGLLeft
HGRRight
HOLLeft eye
HORRight eye
HU2Non-contiguous body areas
HU3Contiguous body area with different setup required
HX1Not for comparison
HX2All x-rays specifically requested
HX4Hand, wrist and forearm
HX5Forearm and elbow
HX6Elbow and humerus
HX7Foot and ankle
HX8Ankle and leg
HX9Leg and knee
HXAKnee and Femur

You can contact us for more information at the eBusiness Service Centre.

Page last updated: 15 June 2024.
QC 74207