The Rehabilitation Appliances Program aims to provide aids, appliances and modifications that support veterans and their families through the provision of aids and appliances that may minimise the impact of disabilities, enhance quality of life, facilitate participation in the community and maximise independence when undertaking daily living activities and enhance overall well-being.

Clients may be eligible for RAP if they have an assessed clinical need for an aid or appliance and a:

• Gold Card; or
• White Card and the RAP equipment is for their accepted condition/s.

It is important to note that White Card holders are also provided with treatment and access to aids and appliances for certain conditions covered through the non-liability health care provisions once an application form has been submitted. This means that for example, if a person requires aids and appliances due to the impacts of cancer, but cancer is not an accepted condition, the aids and appliances can still be provided by RAP through the non-liability health care conditions.

Any requests for vehicles, including modifications to vehicles, should not be referred to RAP and should be considered under the relevant vehicle schemes. Further information about the relevant schemes can be found in section 10.12 [3] in this library for the Motor Vehicle Compensation Scheme under MRCA, the CLIK Compensation and Support Policy Library for the Vehicle Assistance Scheme [4] under the VEA and section 10.10 [5] in this library for the relevant DRCA provisions.

There are a number of health professionals who may be involved in the RAP assessment process. These include:

• General Practitioners (GPs)
• Medical Specialists
• Registered Nurses; and
• Allied Health professionals

The RAP National Schedule of Equipment (RAP Schedule) [7] identifies the most suitable health provider to assess, source and order each aid or appliance, under the “Assessing Health Provider” column. A list of approved assessing health providers can be found on page vii of the Schedule.

The Schedule also identifies the types of assessments recommended for each item and recommended assessments should be undertaken before an aid or appliance is prescribed or issued. Consideration must be given to whether an aid and/or appliance is suitable for the person’s clinical need and supported by evidence from a suitably qualified health professional. 

 The RAP National Schedule of Equipment [9] (the Schedule) underpins the RAP program. Once an assessment has been completed, the assessing health provider is required to check whether the recommended aid or appliance is available through the RAP by checking the current RAP Schedule.

There are specific RAP National Guidelines [9] for complex aids and appliances or those that have additional assessment processes.  The Guidelines will cover eligibility for each item, and the assessment process required. The guidelines should be read alongside the RAP Schedule. These items are clearly identified in the comments section of the RAP Schedule with the phrase RAP National Guidelines apply.

If the assessing health professional is a registered health provider, then the process for requesting items to which the RAP National Guidelines apply is straightforward. More information about DVA registered health providers can be found in section 10.2.6 [10] in this library.

The assessing health provider is required to recommend the most cost effective and clinically appropriate aids and appliances, in quantities that meet clinical need.

The supply of aids and appliances that are not listed on the Schedule must be referred in writing to rapgeneralenquiries@dva.gov.au [11] for consideration.  Requests should be submitted by an appropriately qualified health provider.  Health providers are required to submit a comprehensive assessment report demonstrating the eligible veteran client’s clinical need for the item, and include evidence that the need is not able to be met by the items already available on the RAP Schedule.

Where prior approval for an aid or appliance that appears on the RAP schedule is not required, the assessing DVA registered health provider can direct source the item through a DVA contracted supplier by completing the relevant assessment and direct order forms.  RAP Direct Order forms [13] are available on the DVA website.

There are a range of DVA contracted suppliers of equipment for RAP [14] for different types of products.  Contact details can be located through the DVA website.

In some cases, prior approval is required before the aid or appliance can be provided.  This is clearly identified in the ‘Prior Approval Required’ column of the RAP Schedule [9].

Prior approval is required for the following reasons:

• the Department has specified a mandatory prior approval for an item; and/or
• requests are above the specified financial limits; and/or
• requests are above the specified quantity limits.

A RAP delegate will need to consider all requests for items that require prior approval. Approved health providers must therefore submit all such requests to a RAP delegate after completing their assessment. If an assessing health provider requires assistance, they may contact the Health Provider enquiries number on 1300 550 457 and select option 1, then option 2, for RAP.

Further information about the RAP schedule and prior approval processes can be found on the Rehabilitation Appliances Program provider page [7] on the DVA website.

DVA registered health providers

There are many advantages in referring a client to a DVA registered health provider. This is because if that health provider is a registered DVA provider, they can source RAP aids and appliances directly through a DVA contracted supplier. DVA registered health providers can also invoice the Department directly for their work in sourcing, ordering and instructing clients on the safe use of aids and appliances provided through RAP.

Providers who are registered with the Department of Human Services (formerly Medicare Australia) to provide services through the Medical Benefits Scheme are automatically registered with DVA to provide health services to our clients. However, providers also need to complete a DVA Recipient Created Tax Invoice (RCTI) Agreement before they can be recognised as a registered DVA health care provider. An RCTI Agreement allows DVA to issue GST compliant Tax Invoices on behalf of the provider and is required for all GST-registered health providers to do business with DVA.

Further information about this process is available from the Becoming a DVA service provider page [16] on the DVA website.

More information about how to become a DVA health provider can be found in DVA Factsheet HIP01 [17].

Health providers who are not DVA registered providers

If the health professional conducting the assessment for aids and appliances is not a DVA registered provider, then the costs associated with them sourcing, ordering and if needed, providing instructions on correct use of the aids and appliances provided through RAP, should be included in the cost of case managing the rehabilitation plan.

Aids and appliances provided through the Rehabilitation Appliances Program (RAP) will be recorded on RAPTOR, RAP’s IT system. Reports are available on what items have been supplied to Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) Act 1988 (DRCA) and Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 (MRCA) clients by contacting the Manager, RAP Operations. If requested, RAPTOR reports should be printed and placed on the client’s file and in the client’s UIN container in TRIM.

The assessing health provider will be required to keep assessment forms and clinical records. This is to assist DVA in monitoring and ensuring overall appropriateness and necessity of health services being provided to the veteran community.