For audiology
Billing and medical-aid claims for audiology practices
NetPractice submits audiology claims to South African medical schemes in real time, using the 82-prefixed five-digit tariff codes audiology actually bills — so a procedure printed as 303 on your schedule goes out as 82303, not 0303. The accepted or rejected outcome comes back in seconds, so a coding rejection is a two-minute fix on the day rather than a surprise at month-end.
The code-form trap
Audiology has the widest gap between the value of a test and the value of a device, and they are billed in completely different ways. A hearing aid is a high-value item claimed on a product code, and getting that wrong is expensive in a way a mis-billed test never is.
South African tariff codes come in two billed forms, and which one applies depends on your discipline. Medical specialists bill the bare four-digit code — a GP bills 0190 as 0190. Allied and paramedical disciplines bill their BHF discipline number followed by the three-digit procedure. Audiology is discipline 82:
| Discipline | BHF number | Billed code form |
|---|---|---|
| Occupational therapy | 66 | 66nnn |
| Podiatry | 68 | 68nnn |
| Physiotherapy | 72 | 72nnn |
| Audiology | 82 | 82nnn |
| Dietetics | 84 | 84nnn |
| Psychology | 86 | 86nnn |
| Nursing and home-based care | 88 | 88nnn |
| Biokinetics | 91 | 91nnn |
This is invisible on a tariff schedule, because the schedule prints the short procedure number and leaves the form to you. It is the most common structural coding error in allied practices, and it does not fail politely: codes come back unknown or priced at zero across the board rather than case by case. If that is what your rejections look like, check the form before you check anything else.
Each scheme’s own tariff schedule is the authority on its rates and codes. Where a scheme’s schedule disagrees with anything here, follow the schedule. Clinical technology is deliberately absent from the table above: its numbering is not consistent between schemes, so no single pattern would be correct.
What a audiology practice gets
- Diagnostic tests billed on tariff codes, devices billed on NAPPI product codes.
- High-value hearing aids, where a single rejected line is worth many consultations.
- Fitting and follow-up appointments that follow a device supply.
- Hearing-aid acousticians are a separate discipline, 83, from audiology at 82.
Plus everything every practice gets: real-time claim submission with the scheme’s verdict in seconds, invoices and monthly statements, patients and visits, clinical notes, and reports on aged debtors, daily collections and turnover.
Two things worth reading next if claims are the problem: why medical aid claims get rejected and how to read a remittance advice, which is where short-paid audiology lines usually show up first.
Audiology billing questions
How are hearing aids billed to a medical scheme?
A hearing aid is a supplied product, so it is claimed with the NAPPI code that identifies that specific device rather than with a procedure code. Most schemes fund devices from a separate benefit with its own limits, and many require authorisation first.
Is audiology the same discipline number as hearing-aid acoustics?
No. Audiology is 82 and hearing-aid acousticians are 83. If your practice does both, the claim has to go out under the right one.
Do audiology claims need an ICD-10 diagnosis code?
Yes. Every claim to a South African medical scheme needs a valid ICD-10 code, coded to the most specific level the record supports. For an injury the scheme also expects an external-cause code, and that cause code has to be a billable five-character code rather than a category heading.
What does billing software cost for a audiology practice?
On NetPractice it is R9.50 per claim with the first 10 claims each month free, and no monthly fee or contract. A practice submitting 200 claims a month pays R1,805.
Start with 10 free claims
R9.50 a claim after your first 10 each month, no monthly fee and no contract. Set up within 24 hours.