Information for Registered Nurses and Nurse Practitioners
Registered nurses can perform immunisations on behalf of a practitioner. The provider number of the practitioner is then used for the purpose of transmitting data to Australian Immunisation Register ( AIR ), and the AIR notification payment is forwarded to the practitioner (who the nurse is performing the immunisation on behalf of).
Nurses can register as Ancillary Immunisation Providers for AIR purposes only (ie reporting vaccinations given to children), as in the case of a nurse who is performing immunisations in a remote location without a registered Medicare provider. The nurse needs to complete the 'Application to register as an immunisation provider' form and send it to their State or Territory health department for approval. The bank account details for the AIR notification payment are also completed on this form.
When the approved form is received by Medicare Australia, a unique identification number (Ancillary Provider Number) is allocated to identify the ancillary provider and the bank account details are processed onto the AIR for future AIR payments. The ancillary provider number is only recognised for the purpose of sending immunisation data to the AIR and is not linked in any way to MBS item numbers (10993, 10999).