Sustainability Payments for Community Nursing and Veterans’ Home Care providers

Information for current DVA-contracted Community Nursing and Veterans’ Home Care providers about the sustainability payment process.

Background

The Australian Government announced a commitment in the 2024-25 Budget to provide sustainability payments over a two-year period from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2026 to Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) Community Nursing (CN) and Veterans’ Home Care (VHC) service providers. Sustainability payments will support the immediate viability of providers to continue providing in-home care and support services to the veteran community in the face of increasing market pressures.

The measure will support current DVA service providers so that eligible DVA clients can continue to access services that enable them to remain in their own home, reducing the likelihood of early admission to hospital and/or residential aged care.

Payment amount

The sustainability payments (payment) will be made on a quarterly basis for a two-year period from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2026. Following the end of each quarter, DVA will calculate the payment amount for all current CN and VHC service providers, based on the unique number of clients each provider has received payment for, in each month of the preceding quarter.

• The payment amount calculated will be based on date of payment, for claims paid to service providers, during each month of the preceding quarter. 
• The payment amount will be calculated based on the unique number of clients each service provider has received payment for, in each month of the preceding quarter.

The payment rate applied is $90 per unique client for CN services and $35 per unique client for VHC services, for payments processed, per month (GST exclusive).

Receiving the payment

Following the end of each quarter, an email will be sent to the email address of the nominated contact for each service provider legal entity. Emails will be distributed towards the end of the month following the end of a quarter. For the first quarter (April to June 2024), emails will be sent from August 2024.

This email will provide a summary of the amount payable to each service provider, as calculated above.

To claim the amount, providers will need to submit a tax invoice to dva.sustainability.payments [at] dva.gov.au (dva[dot]sustainability[dot]payments[at]dva[dot]gov[dot]au), and include the below details:

• DVA Calculated Amount plus GST
• Provider Legal Name
• ABN
• Provider number and/or VHC Service Provider UIN
• Postal Address
• Email Address 
• Phone Number
• Bank Account Details
  • Name of Account
  • BSB
  • Account Number

The invoice must reference CN or VHC Sustainability Payment for the current period being claimed e.g. April to June 2024. 

Please note: the invoice must be submitted directly to DVA at dva.sustainability.payments [at] dva.gov.au (dva[dot]sustainability[dot]payments[at]dva[dot]gov[dot]au). 
DVA strongly encourages you to submit your correctly rendered tax invoice within 30 days of receipt of the email.

Submission of an invoice is confirmation that the service provider agrees to receive the sustainability payment for the preceding quarter as a payment in addition to fees paid through existing arrangements for CN and VHC.

Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are available for Community Nursing and Veterans’ Home Care providers:

• Community Nursing and Veterans’ Home Care Sustainability Payments – Provider FAQs – 2024 (PDF 180 KB)
• Community Nursing and Veterans’ Home Care Sustainability Payments – Provider FAQs – 2024 (DOCX 74 KB)

Enquiries

Any questions regarding the sustainability payments, including further information about how the payments have been calculated, can be emailed to dva.sustainability.payments [at] dva.gov.au (dva[dot]sustainability[dot]payments[at]dva[dot]gov[dot]au).