Support Item

Learn about how Maica uses Support Items within the overall solution.

Definition

A Support Item is used to define a distinct service or product being delivered to a Participant, such as an occupational therapy session or wheelchair. Support Items capture information about the service itself as well as the service day (weekday, Saturday, Sunday, etc) , service time (morning, afternoon, etc), and many other attributes to define what a service is and how it is delivered.

A typical example of a Support Item might be:

Support Item Name

Therapy Services

Service Day

Weekday

Service Time

Morning

Unit of Measure

Hours

Support Item Name

Wheelchair

Service Day

Anytime

Service Time

Anytime

Unit of Measure

Unit

Support Item Name

Support Coordination

Service Day

Saturday

Service Time

Anytime

Unit of Measure

Hours

Purpose

The purpose of Support Items is to define the service being delivered as well as capture them in the Service Agreement for a Participant. A number of funding strutures may use Support Item differently, for example, in the NDIS, Support Items are billed differently depending on when a service is delivered. In this case, it would be useful to have mutliple Support Items for each time (such as morning or afternoon) and associate these with the appropriate Price List.

Usage

Support Items are used widely within Maica, including in the management of Service Agreements, Appointment Services, and Invoices. These records bring together the funding captured under a Service Agreement with the Appointment Service being delivered within an Appointment or Shift.

Item Number Override

An important field to call out here is the Item Number Override, specifically added for Support at Home.

The Item Number Override field allows you to define your own Support Item Numbers for Support at Home Products/Support Items when variations or custom pricing are required. This addresses scenarios where the standard Services Australia Product catalogue does not support specific pricing or item definitions.

Some Support at Home products may require alternative item numbers due to:

• Non-standard or variable pricing requirements.

• Variants such as daytime, afternoon, evening, or overnight rates.

• Gaps in the Services Australia product catalogue where no equivalent Support Item definition exists.

The Item Number Override field enables Providers to enter a custom item number that best suits these use cases.

Please refer to the field details in the table below:

Field Label	Object	Type	Description
Item Number Override	Product / Support Item	Text	Defines a custom Support Item Number for Support at Home products. Can be used when the default Services Australia item number is not sufficient.

The existing Support Item Number field can be left blank if an override value is used

Products or Support Items with an override item number can be included in:

• Price Books

• Service Agreements

• Budget Planning and Claims Processes

Please note: It is not advised to populate the Item Number Override field for NDIS Products and Services.

This field is intended specifically for Support at Home use cases where flexibility is needed for pricing or categorisation.

Final Thoughts

Support Items are the backbone of setting up your services, particularly via Appointment Services. We would typically expect a Maica solution to have potentially hundreds of Support Items to distinguish between each service. There is absolutely no issue with having many Support Items in your catalogue.