DVA and Open Arms

DVA and Open Arms counselling: two different pathways

"DVA counselling" usually means one of two structurally different things — general DVA treatment, or the separate Open Arms panel. They're gated differently, paid differently, and worth not conflating.

Two pathways, not one

General DVA treatment vs Open Arms

General DVA treatment

For Gold and White Card holders, billed almost exactly like Medicare. Registration is largely automatic once you hold a Medicare provider number — which means it's gated the same way Medicare Better Access is: AHPRA-registered psychologists and AASW-accredited social workers, not counsellors registered only with PACFA or ACA. A GP referral covers up to 12 sessions or one year. Claims go through DVA Webclaim, Medicare Online claiming, or practice software with DVA claim-type support — a real integration, not an emailed invoice.

Open Arms (Veterans & Families Counselling)

A separate, DVA-funded but panel-based model. You join through a formal Request for Tender process, not an open application. Open Arms outreach providers can't charge the client anything — Open Arms pays you directly per its own published fee schedule, indexed to the MBS, independent of Medicare/DVA claiming systems entirely.

What Zenvia supports today

Open Arms fits; general DVA claiming doesn't, yet

Once you're on the Open Arms panel, billing them is straightforward fee-for-service invoicing — structurally the same as invoicing an EAP company, and something Zenvia handles today: tag Open Arms as the funder, send the invoice, track it against the client file. Getting onto the panel itself requires winning a tender, which is outside anything a practice platform can do for you.

General DVA treatment claiming is a different story — it needs the same PRODA/Medicare Online-style integration and AHPRA/AASW registration gate as Medicare Better Access, which Zenvia doesn't have yet. See our Medicare page for the detail, since the eligibility and integration story is the same.

Invoice Open Arms through Zenvia

Tag the funder, send the invoice, track it against the client file.

See pricing Start free — 90 days

Billing another funder? See Medicare, NDIS, EAP, workers compensation, Victims Services NSW, Victoria's FAS, or private health fund rebates. Not sure which registration you need? See PACFA vs ACA vs AHPRA.