We’d like to share a number of important updates with you relating to the Ophthalmic Payments service from PCSE. In this bulletin we’ve collated the latest information on:

• Mandating online electronic forms
• Paper GOS claim rejections
• PVN cancellation verification
• CET window is open
• Updated statement view – levy contributions and Point of Service fees
• Risk to inactive users on PCSE Online

Mandating online electronic claims

From 1 January 2024, it will be a contractual requirement that all GOS claims are submitted electronically via your practice management system or PCSE Online.

The vast majority of Ophthalmic practices are already submitting GOS forms electronically. We will provide ongoing support to ensure that practices currently submitting paper GOS forms transition to electronic submission.

We are working with NHS England to update the current Business Continuity Plan, which will include a new paper slip to capture patient signature during system outages or for domiciliary providers working in low signal areas. GOS regulations are also being amended for GOS 3 vouchers to be issued to patients once the system is available. We will let you know more about this over the coming months.

A new process for submitting claims electronically in respect to uncollected glasses and back vertex distance (BVD) changes will be introduced at the same time. We will share more information about these changes before 1 January 2024.

Paper GOS claim rejections

While paper GOS claims can still be processed, we recommend that you familiarise yourself with PCSE Online. Support and guidance can be found on our website here.

PCSE processed over 20,000 paper GOS claims in July. Approximately 26% of these paper GOS claims were rejected and returned to practices for resubmission due to steps being missed on the GOS claim(s).

We have identified the most common reasons for these rejections and these are consistent with the most common reasons for rejections for the last year.

If you submit any paper GOS claims, please see our top 5 reasons for paper GOS claim rejections and how to ensure your paper GOS claim is successful first time.

PVN cancellation verification

We have listened to your feedback on how easy it can be to cancel a PVN in error due to the ‘Cancel GOS6 PVN’ button being placed beside the ‘Open’ button, as shown below.

A new feature has successfully been added over the weekend to address this. From today, if you select the ‘Cancel GOS6 PVN’, you will now see another box asking you to either confirm or cancel the request, as shown below. This verification step should help you to avoid cancelling PVNs in error.

CET window is open

For those who have completed their Continuing Education and Training (CET) between 1 January to 31 December 2022, the CET claims window is now open. If you haven’t already submitted your CET claim, please make sure you do so before 2 November 2023. We are unable to process claims received after this date.

Should you need help submitting your claim, take a look at our CET claims webpage or watch our short YouTube video.

Updated statement view – levy contributions and Point of Service fees

We regularly review functionality in PCSE Online to improve your experience.

The collection and payment of levy contributions (GOS1, GOS5 and GOS6) and Point of Service (POS) fees (GOS3 and GOS4) have not previously been itemised when an adjustment is processed to a contractor’s monthly payment in PCSE Online. Contractors will see these adjustments on their monthly payment statement.

Please note, there are no changes to levy contributions or POS fees for any GOS claims, and these are not new payments.

Click here to learn more about what this means for you and what you will see on your monthly payment statement.

Risk to inactive users on PCSE Online

In order to comply with our security policies, we routinely deactivate inactive users.

Remember to regularly log in to your account to prevent this from happening.

Best wishes,

The PCSE Ophthalmic Payments Team