Hospital Provider Numbers (HPN) 012-19041854

Section 121-5(6) of the Private Health Insurance Act 2007 (the Act) enables the Minister for Health to grant (or revoke) a declaration that a facility is a public or private hospital for the purposes of the Act.

Facilities apply directly to the Department of Health and Aged Care (DoHAC) who are responsible for any assessment of information provided under their own processes, policies and guidelines to ensure the facility meets essential conditions.

Once a facility is declared a hospital, DoHAC email Services Australia requesting a Hospital Provider Number (HPN) be allocated. These requests are processed in National Office and the provider number is given to DoHAC.

HPNs are used by:

• the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (RPBS)
• the Department of Veterans’ Affairs during claims processing
• private health insurers/simplified billing system during claims processing
• the ECLIPSE system (an extension of Medicare Online Claiming) for in-hospital claiming

For information about becoming a declared hospital and a current listing of Commonwealth declared hospitals, see DoHAC’s website links on the Resources page.

All requests from DoHAC (for new, changes to or revocations of existing HPNs) are received, assessed and actioned by the Provider Eligibility and Accreditation Section in the Medicare Branch. The Medicare Providers, Pathology and Diagnostic Imaging team will liaise with other stakeholders in the management of each individual request, as there may be impacts on other areas (for example PBS).

Forward all enquiries about hospital provider numbers to the National Office Helpdesk.

Requests for new HPNs, changes to HPNs or revocations of existing HPNs are received directly from the Department of Health and Aged Care and are only processed by the Medicare Providers, Pathology and Diagnostic Imaging Section in the Medicare Branch. There is generally a 5 to 10 day turn around on processing of requests.

Forward all enquiries about hospital provider numbers to the National Office Helpdesk.