AIR & PRODA

How to access AIR: PRODA (Provider Digital Access)

AIR can be accessed through a few ways and depends on how you are set up as a user. AIR can be accessed via Practice Management Software or through PRODA.

Providers can access AIR through HPOS (Health Professional Online Services) using a PRODA account. PRODA is an online identity verification and authentication system for healthcare workers. It allows secure access to government online services including HPOS (which is required to access AIR).

Register for PRODA

First, register for an individual PRODA account. Then make sure your organisation is also registered in PRODA. If the organisation is already registered, you will need to link your individual PRODA account to the organisation account.

Accessing AIR via PRODA

AIR can be accessed as either an individual provider, as an individual acting on behalf of a provider or an individual acting on behalf of an organisation.

• Individual: How to access to AIR as a medical practitioner, midwife, nurse practitioner here.
• Delegate of an individual: How to access AIR on behalf of a medical practitioner, midwife or nurse practitioner here. Read here for information on AIR access for nurses acting on behalf of a GP.
• Organisations: How to access to AIR as a general practice, pharmacy, Residential Aged Care Facility, or an Authorised Nurse Immuniser with an ABN here.
  • To access AIR as an Organisation, the organisation must have an AIR provider number i.e., General Practices with more than 1 GP, Pharmacies, Residential Aged Care Facility or an Authorised Nurse Immuniser RN with an ABN. See accordion 3 below for more information.

Understanding delegations in PRODA to access AIR: NCIRS resource

Mandatory reporting to the AIR

Under the Australian Immunisation Register Act 2015 it is mandatory for all vaccination providers to report the administration of COVID-19, influenza, NIP and  Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) vaccines to the AIR

From 1 March 2024, legislative changes require all vaccination providers to report additional information to AIR.

• the route of administration for Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) vaccines; and
• the vaccine type for COVID-19, Influenza, National Immunisation Program (NIP) and JEV vaccines. There are 4 options available under the ‘vaccine type’ field: Antenatal, NIP/Commonwealth, Private, or State Program.

Practices are reminded to update their clinical software to reflect these changes:

• Medical Director: In February 2024, version 4.3 was released which includes the new AIR reporting fields and a range of other features including MyMedicare patient administration.
• Best Practice: In January 2024, Bp Premier, Orchid SP1 Revision 1 was released which includes the new AIR reporting fields.

How to record in the “Vaccine type” field

Prior to December 2024, there were four options to select from for the Vaccine type field – NIP, State, Private or Antenatal.
As of 7th Dec 2024, AIR and updated clinical softwares will have updated options for the Vaccine Type field – NIP, Antenatal and Other.

• NIP: select this option if the vaccine was funded by the NIP
• Antenatal: select this option if the patient was pregnant at the time of administration regardless of whether the vaccine was funded privately or under a commonwealth/state program.
• Other: select this option if the vaccine was privately funded or state funded

Later in 2025, this field will update again to only have two options (NIP/Commonwealth and Other) and there will be a new Antenatal indicator to flag that the patient was pregnant at the time of administration.
Please ensure your clinical software is up to date, otherwise the 4 older options will remain visible instead.

How to record: infant vaccinations 

Infants not enrolled with Medicare or not eligible for Medicare will be added to AIR when a vaccination provider reports their vaccination details. This is a manual process and can take up to 5-10 business days. Occasionally, this can lead to duplicate records.
See this infographic on how to accurately record infant vaccination details in your clinical software/AIR or how to report duplicate AIR records to AIR.

How to record: overseas flu vaccines

If a flu vaccine was administered overseas and the batch number is not available, enter ‘notrecorded’ (one word, no spaces) into AIR. For more information, see Submitting information using the AIR site.

AIR vaccine code

AIR vaccine code formats – Vaccine codes in clinical software send immunisation notifications to the AIR.

Mandatory reporting penalties

COVID-19 vaccine encounters should be uploaded into AIR at the time of administration, or within 24 hours, to ensure consumer immunisation information is up to date. Mandatory reporting requirements as of the Australian Immunisation Register Amendment (Reporting) Bill 2020.

Penalties: Fines for Commonwealth offences

Payments

Eligible vaccination providers get an information payment for:

• completing a National Immunisation Program (NIP) Schedule for a child under 7 years old and recording it on the AIR – up to $6 per completed immunisation schedule for children under 7 years old
• following up and vaccinating a child under 7 years old, who is more than 2 months overdue for their childhood vaccinations under the NIP Schedule, and recording it on the AIR – $6 per completed catch-up schedule for children under 7 years old

The information payments are paid by Electronic Funds Transfer on the second last Tuesday of each month. Immunisation payment statement summary can be accessed each month on the AIR site.

Record or update bank account details

The IM005 form can be used to record or update bank account details for the purpose of receiving AIR payments. Bank account details can also be done using HPOS.

Register for an AIR Provider Number

Use the Application to Register as a Vaccination Provider​ IM004 if you are an Individual or Organisation wanting to register as a vaccination provider for the purposes of sending immunisation data to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR).

Individual: General Practitioners

If you are a general practitioner with a registered Medicare provider number, you do not need to complete this form. You can use your Medicare provider number to submit data to the AIR as an individual.

Organisations: General practice 

General practices with either an RN or with two or more GPs should apply for an Organisation AIR provider number – also known as:

• AIR Location Provider Number (in Best Practice)
• AIR Ancillary Provider Number (in Medical Director)

To access AIR through your clinical software, this AIR provider number needs to be added into your clinical software. See below for instructions.

Organisation: Pharmacists

If you are a pharmacist, complete and submit the NSW Pharmacist immuniser declaration to register as a vaccination provider with AIR and to receive an AIR provider number . See NSW Health website for more information.

See this how to sheet for Connecting Pharmacies to the AIR

Organisation: Residential Aged Care Home (RACH)

RACHs can apply for an AIR provider number using the IM004 form. Please note, for NSW, an Authorised Nurse Immuniser must be employed on site for this form to be approved. Once approved, RACHs can access AIR through their management software (if compatible) OR use the National Provider Portal.

Using the Australian Immunisation Register

The DOH webpage provides information to health care professionals about the Australian Immunisation Register, and how they can use it to record vaccinations and generate reports.

Services Australia – AIR user walkthroughs

Manage AIR immunisation records:
This page includes how to view patient details, create new individual records, how to upload an immunisation encounter (including overseas), recording a medical contraindication or exemption and recording natural immunity.

How to view vaccination provider reports:
This page instructs you how to pull up statistical reports or identified patient reports via AIR.

AIR user guides 

• Accessing AIR using PRODA for individuals – User Manual
• Accessing AIR using PRODA for organisations – User Manual
• AIR error codes and explanations

Services Australia – eLearning platform

Services Australia AIR eLearning platform contains a number of eLearning modules, infographics and simulations for health professionals that can step you through how to access and submit to the AIR.

• Registering and accessing the AIR
• Submitting to the AIR
• AIR Reports
• AIR – Infographics

Visit the education gateway to view the range of education resources for health professionals, including resources about the AIR, Health Professional Online Services (HPOS) and Provider Digital Access (PRODA).

Quality Improvement Activities – see the Immunisation QI page

Generate AIR Overdue Report

Overdue reports can be generated from online AIR website.

• AIR10A Due and Overdue Report – Services Australia
• National due and overdue rules – Services Australia
• How to request AIR 10A report  and How to use AIR 10A report – CESPHN guideline
• Following up overdue children – CESPHN guideline

Overdue letters from Medicare

Medicare post letters to patients who are overdue for scheduled vaccines by one month or more.

Example Medicare letter: Overdue letter for adolescents

Example Medicare letter: Overdue letter for adults

Ensuring patient records are accurate

Encourage your patients to update the personal details they have recorded with Medicare (including their address and whether they identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people). The AIR uses Medicare details in its records, so the details need to be right so that the AIR will be accurate.

AIR data quality

Enhancing data quality of vaccination encounters: NCIRS

Data Quality user guide: Services Australia

Troubleshooting AIR uploads: Communicare

Clinical software enabled with AIR

List of clinical software providers who are enabled with AIR.

Medical Director

NEW MEDICAL DIRECTOR UPDATE

In February 2024, Medical Director released version 4.3 which includes the new MANDATORY AIR reporting fields and a range of other features including MyMedicare patient administration.

Since its launch, only a third of practices using Clinical and Pracsoft have upgraded to 4.3 and are benefiting from secure email, new mandatory AIR reporting fields, automated MBS fee updates, bulk online patient claiming and verification, and a redesigned Smartbar for accessing Smart Connected Care solutions and workflows.

Services Australia has advised that AIR uploads from MedicalDirector Clinical 4.2 or earlier will not be supported from 5 December 2024.

See MD userguide:  Clinical User Guide – Immunisation module

Watch MD webinar: Medicare Web Services – Clinical Workflows  (start: 19min 50sec)

Call MD support line: 1300 300 161

Nurse access to AIR web services in MD

To allow nurses to access new AIR web services features in MD clinical, the nurse must be set up in the User Database with an “AIR Ancillary Provider Number” (as shown below).

What is an AIR Ancillary Provider Number?

• It is a provider number given to an organisation to access AIR (also known as Organisation AIR provider number).
• Call AIR on 1300 650 039 to check if practices already have an existing AIR Ancillary Provider Number
• To apply for a AIR Ancillary Provider Number, complete the ‘Application to register as an immunisation provider IM004’ form and submit it to air@servicesaustralia.gov.au

Best Practice

NEW Immunisation features in BP!

As of 1 March 2024, new mandatory AIR reporting requirements have come into place. Practices are reminded to regularly update their clinical software to reflect these changes. In January 2024, Bp Premier, Orchid SP1 Revision 1 was released which includes the new mandatory AIR reporting fields.

Release Notes: BP Orchid SP1 and SP2
Reference Guide: Immunisations & Sending to AIR
Infographic: How to upload immunisation records in BP
Website: Record and send immunisations to the AIR
Website: Access AIR information
Website: Record immunisation batch numbers

Nurse access to AIR web services in BP

To allow nurses to access new AIR web services features in Bp Premier, the nurse must add the “Location AIR Provider Number” to access and view AIR data.
This needs to be added via Setup > Practice details > Practice locations > Edit (as shown below).

What is a Location AIR Provider Number?

• It is a provider number given to an organisation to access AIR (also known as Organisation AIR provider number)
• Call AIR on 1300 650 039 to check if practices already have an existing Location AIR Provider Number
• To apply for a new AIR Ancillary Provider Number complete the ‘Application to register as an immunisation provider IM004’ form and submit it to air@servicesaustralia.gov.au

Using HPOS Messages

HPOS Messages is a way to send and receive secure notifications in PRODA. It is not an email account.

See website for guides to help health professionals use HPOS Messages:

• Accessing your mailbox
• Composing mail
• Form upload

Using FORM UPLOAD in HPOS

The AIR forms will no longer be accepted if sent by email, mail or fax – it will only be accepted if submitted online using the “form upload” function in HPOS Messages. This function allows you to securely send messages with forms and supporting documents directly to AIR:

• Immunisation medical exemption (IM011)
• Immunisation history (IM013)
• Immunisation encounter (IM018)