The new Payment Utility was first utilised in July 2019 for the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme, which provides businesses and individuals with financial assistance to offset the costs of moving goods by sea.
In an iTnews article, Services Australia has confirmed that the 30-year old legacy payments system of Medicare is set for an upgrade. A centralised, SAP-based platform named Payment Utility will replace some parts of the existing payments system to deliver welfare payments to Centrelink customers.
Australia’s real-time New Payments Platform is expected to streamline and automate inbound and outbound payments as well as deliver combined, same-day payments. Each year, the agency manages over $170 billion worth of welfare payments through Centrelink.
For over 30 years, the mainframe platform also known as the health and aged care payments system has been processing Medicare, Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, veterans, and aged care payments. The new Payment Utility replaces an important front-end component of the existing legacy Medicare payments processing system. However, it will not be able to calculate Medicare claims.
Designed as a white-label service, the redesigned platform can be used across Services Australia and other agencies as per the Digital Transformation Agency’s advice.
According to the spokesperson, the Payment Utility program is currently in its final stages of testing and preparation before wider use. The spokesperson told iTnews:
“Over the next few years, the platform will be extended to cover all Centrelink, Medicare, and Child Support payments as well as other payments.”
“The platform has been designed and built as a whole-of-government asset, and will be available for use by other government departments and agencies,” the spokesperson added.
A WPIT Work in Progress
The new Payment Utility, which is part of the billion-dollar welfare payments infrastructure transformation (WPIT) program, will be utilised by Medicare and Child support according to a spokesperson.
Back in 2016, the Department of Human Services (DHS) has selected SAP as the preferred core solution vendor (CSV) for the Welfare Payment Infrastructure Transformation (WPIT) Programme, a crucial component in the agency’s wide-ranging business transformation. Support for a project replacing Australia’s ageing welfare payment system, first implemented in the early 1980s, was announced by the Federal Government in April 2015.
The platform’s first release in July 2019 was the result of a year’s work of the payment delivery capability (PDC) project arm of the WPIT program. For the past two years, WPIT has also been focused on reforming student payments and developing core system capabilities. The restructuring and development of Centrelink’s back-end have been anticipated to be utilised for payments for jobseekers, older Australians, carers, and people with disabilities.
By mid-2022, a series of the future platform is expected to have been released and by end of 2022, Services Australia has confirmed that IBM should have supplied the IT infrastructure of the platform following a $15 million contract to install Power9 infrastructure for the period of 31 December 2019 to 31 December 2022.
Last December, the federal government has allotted $37 million for Services Australia’s disposal to ensure that the legacy Medicare payments system continues to operate and undergoes essential maintenance during the 2019-20 fiscal year. Since 2017, the government has provided approximately $210 million towards the Medicare payments systems.
