Defence and health contractor Bupa say problems with a new system for referring military personnel to psychologists are "teething issues" that should be resolved within the next two weeks.
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Health giant Bupa took over the contract for Defence's health services at the start of July, but problems soon started to emerge, including delays in referring military personnel to see a practitioner, and delays in paying psychologists, leaving some thousands of dollars out of pocket.
One Canberra psychologist said he was still waiting to be paid for invoices from seven weeks ago, and had concerns military personnel who had been referred to see a psychologist weren't being seen, with the referrals stuck with the contractor.
"We are not being paid regularly. I have had to sit on the phone for hours and plead hardship. I've been paid for some [of the work], but others been paid nothing."
The psychologist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he couldn't turn away the military clients needing help he already had on the books, but his costs were piling up while he wasn't paid. He also hasn't got any new work from Defence since Bupa took over, unless he was specifically named in the referral.
Defence has denied it has taken Bupa to court over the issues, but said in a statement "the ADF Health Services contract has a robust performance management framework to ensure Bupa meet the required standards".
"Defence has requested Bupa provide regular updates on the issue, which Bupa has been doing. Bupa has put a robust remediation plan in place, which includes improvements and enhancements to the information and communications technology system, and a dedicated invoice processing team to meet the demand."
Defence said there had been no financial penalties against Bupa for the invoicing issues and that the backlog for paying them had been halved over the last two weeks, and was expected to be resolved in the next 10 days.
Both Defence and Bupa have played down the issues, saying "teething issues" had arisen with the invoicing, which was "consistent with the establishment of a new process and are not anticipated to be a long-term problem".
Bupa's system has been custom-built for the contract with Defence, taking over a process that was previously contracted to Medibank.
Defence has maintained there are procedures in place to ensure personnel assessed as urgently needing to see a psychologist are able to do so.
"Where a clinician has assessed their patient as requiring high priority review, procedures are in place to ensure that this occurs in a clinically appropriate time frame. Defence has a clinical triage process in place to assess the clinical urgency of cases and ensures appropriate referral of patients accordingly," the statement said.
Bupa has apologised for the delays in paying psychologists, saying it is taking action to fix the problems and ensure the professionals are paid.
"Inconsistencies in Bupa's master data system for some individuals within our network of providers have contributed to this delay. Bupa acknowledges that there have also been extended wait times when providers have attempted to contact us to discuss the status of invoices."
Bupa's spokesowman said the company was working with Defence to assess the urgency of those needing treatment and ensuring they are referred within appropriate time frames.
Eyebrows were raised at Defence when Bupa won the contract to provide health services, as the company has been in the headlines for failings in its aged care facilities.
Know more? Contact sally.whyte@canberratimes.com.au