Approved Collection Centres

Eligibility

To be eligible, Approved Collection Centres (ACCs) must:

be owned by a current Approved Pathology Authority (APA) which owns a Category S, GX or GY Accredited Pathology Laboratory (APL)
meet the Guidelines for Approved Pathology Collection Centres on the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care’s website
provide a correctly completed application and supporting documents
pay the tax unless the ACC is co-located with a category GX or GY accredited pathology laboratory
include proof of payment with the application if payment was made by EFT. Proof of payment can be a remittance advice or bank transfer receipt.

Applications

Submit your application early to avoid delays. Processing times vary and there’s no guarantee that late applications can be processed within the desired timeframe.

New approvals

Make sure the date you submit the application is no more than 3 months before the ACC’s proposed start date.

New approvals start from the date the delegate grants the approval or, if requested, a specific date in the future.

Renewals

Make sure the date you submit the application is no more than 3 months before your current approval expires.

Submit your application before your current approval expires so your Medicare benefits don’t stop.

Supporting documents

You need to give us certain documents when making your application.

Leases, agreements or proof of ownership of the premises

If the APA is a lessee or sub-lessee, we require a current lease or sub-lease agreement.

If the APA has a non-financial arrangement to occupy the space, we require a signed agreement with the owner of the premises. The agreement must include the standard clauses and conditions expected in a standard lease.

If the APA owns the premises, we require proof of ownership, such as a rates notice or Certificate of Title that’s less than 12 months old. These forms of proof must include the APA name and ACC address.

Lease or agreement requirements

The lease or agreement must:

be current or have an extension clause, including on a month-to-month basis, valid on the date you’re applying for the ACC approval to start
be signed by both parties, for example, the lessor and the lessee
include the APA name as the lessee or party to the agreement
identify the address of the ACC
include the total area of the leased space or refer to the floor plan that includes it
be initialled by both parties if annotations have been made, to confirm they agree to the changes.

We only accept annotations for additional or minor details. If you need to make significant changes to the lease conditions or clauses, you must provide a formal lease or agreement update.

If the address or leased area isn’t included in the lease or agreement, we require evidence that links the agreement to the premises’ address or leased area.

We’ll accept any of the following:

council notice
survey report
letter signed by both parties that includes this information.

Lease or agreement extensions and changes

If the lease or agreement includes a provision for an extension or a month-to-month option, the APA must confirm in writing if they’re exercising that option. A new lease or agreement is required when all agreed options for extension have expired.

If the lease arrangements change during the approval period, the APA must provide the details, including the new lease or agreement, within 14 days. You’ll need to submit an Application for approval, amendment, renewal or cancellation of an approved collection centre form with a copy of the new lease or agreement.

A new ACC approval is required if the collection centre moves to a different location.

This table explains what supporting documents are required for certain changes with the Application for approval, amendment, renewal or cancellation of an approved collection centre form.

Change	Documents required
APA name	A Certificate of Registration from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Lessor	An agreement or letter that: is signed by both the incoming and outgoing party includes agreement to transfer the lease to the new lessor.
ACC address if the collection centre hasn’t moved	An amended lease with the correct address, along with one of the following: correspondence stating that the collection centre hasn’t moved and the reason why the address needs to be changed. council notice or another official document for land reclassification or change of address description.
Total leased area	One of the following: an amended lease with the correct area other correspondence signed by both parties.

Floor plans

You must include a floor plan with your ACC application.

Premises that are used exclusively as a collection centre

The floor plan must include the:

trading name of the collection centre
full street address
size of the premises in square metres
location of the collection centre room using colour or hash marks.

Premises that are part of a larger facility

This includes premises in a medical practice, hospital or shopping centre. The floor plan must include the:

trading name of the collection centre
full street address, including medical centre name and room details if applicable
size of the collection centre room or area, in square metres
location of the collection centre room and any shared areas with other occupants of the facility, using colour or hash marks
total shared area used by the collection centre and other occupants of the facility that you pay rent for, if applicable.

The exclusive and paid shared area measurements in your application must equal the total area provided in the lease.

If the floor plan doesn’t meet requirements, your application will be refused.

Backdated approvals

If you apply late, we can consider backdating your approval on a case-by-case basis, except when:

the application is for a new ACC
we don’t have enough information to make a decision.

To request a backdated approval, you need to provide all of the following:

a correctly completed application, including the required supporting documents
tax payment, if required
a letter of request telling us why your application is late and the reason the approval should be backdated.

The letter of request must be signed unless it’s submitted by an authorised person using Health Professional Online Services (HPOS) Form upload.

We’ll consider the circumstances and let you know the outcome.

Apply or renew using HPOS

You can apply, renew, vary or cancel your ACC through the Pathology Registration program in HPOS. You need a Provider Digital Access (PRODA) account to access HPOS. If you don’t have one, register for PRODA online. Then follow the steps to set up your HPOS access.

You need to link your PRODA account to your APA to access ACCs in HPOS. You can link by:

being nominated on an Application for approval, amendment or renewal of an approved pathology authority form, if you’re authorised to act on behalf of the APA
being nominated on an Application for approval, amendment, renewal or cancellation of an approved collection centre form, if you’re the authorised contact for any ACC
calling us to link your PRODA account to your APA, if you’re authorised to act on behalf of the APA or an ACC.

Please submit one application for each ACC location.

If you’re calling to link a PRODA account to an ACC, you’ll need to:

pass a security check
give us the APA or ACC number and name
be listed as an authorised contact for the APA or ACC
give us the registration authority (RA) number for the person’s PRODA account
confirm the access type - administrator (full access) or staff (view only access).

Tasks you can do in HPOS

Under My programs, Pathology Registration and select View, you can:

apply for an ACC
renew an ACC
view and vary some ACC details
apply to cancel an ACC
resume, discard or withdraw an ACC application
create an invoice and request a receipt

You can also:

send us manual applications and supporting documents using Form upload and selecting Pathology Providers from the Form Category
receive confirmation of application transactions through HPOS email, including ACC Notices of Approval and approval letters.

For ACC details you can’t vary in HPOS, you’ll need an Application for approval, amendment, renewal or cancellation of an approved collection centre form.

Apply by form

Fill in the Application for approval, amendment, renewal or cancellation of an approved collection centre form. You’ll need to pay any relevant tax and supply proof of payment with your form.

Upload your form and supporting documents through HPOS or mail it to us.

The person making the declaration on the form must:

submit the application using HPOS Form upload
physically sign and date the form.

Once approved we’ll send a notice of approval confirming the approval period, which you must display at the ACC.

Approved Collection Centre Register

You can view the Approved Collection Centre Register to search for an ACC or download a full list of ACCs.

Relocate an ACC

If an ACC relocates, you’ll need to submit an Application for approval, amendment, renewal or cancellation of an approved collection centre form to cancel the existing ACC and apply for a new ACC.

ACC cancellations and new approvals can’t be backdated. Submit your applications early to maximise the refund for the cancelled ACC. This will also make sure your Medicare benefits for the new ACC aren’t delayed.

A new approval isn’t required when the ACC relocates to a different room within the same premises and:

the entrance to the ACC hasn’t changed
the main address details remain the same as the original approval
the change of room is still consistent with the lease or agreement.

If the original lease agreement specifies a particular room, an amendment to lease agreement signed by both parties can be accepted.

Cancel an ACC

If you’re no longer operating as an ACC, you need to cancel your ACC approval. You can also request to cancel your ACC for another reason.

You’ll receive a partial refund of the $2,000 tax paid, for the number of days that have been cancelled for the ACC approval.

Cancellations are effective from the date we make the decision to cancel the approval, or a future date. They can’t be backdated.

You can cancel an ACC in HPOS, by selecting My programs, then Pathology Registration, View and Cancel ACC.

You can also fill in the Application for approval, amendment, renewal or cancellation of an approved collection centre form and either:

upload your form and supporting documents through HPOS Form upload
mail it to us.

You can submit applications up to 3 months before the proposed cancellation date. Submitting your application early means we can give you the maximum refund for the approval period that’s been cancelled.

ACCs obtained as part of an acquisition or merger

If you acquire or merge with another APA and it affects an ACC, you must tell us at least 30 days before the change. We need as much notice as possible before an acquisition or merger to make sure there’s minimal impact to operations.

For each ACC acquired as part of this change, we require applications requesting:

closure of the existing ACCs operated by the outgoing APA
approval of the ACCs with the acquiring APA.

The APA must provide confirmation in writing that the lease or agreement has been assigned to the APA’s new name. This is often referred to as an assignment of lease.

You can do this through either:

HPOS
the Application for approval, amendment, renewal or cancellation of an approved collection centre form, if it’s a new (acquired) or cancelled (closed) ACC.

We’ll process these requests once we receive confirmation the acquisition or merger has been successfully completed.