The Ministry of Health uses domicile codes, which are based on the census area unit boundaries as set by Statistics New Zealand (Section 88 p. 1088), to determine a woman’s rurality. This enables a maternity provider to claim travel to cover expenses such as fuel, vehicle maintenance, etc.

Possible claims

  • Semi Rural: First Partial module, Full module or Last Partial module
  • Rural: First Partial module, Full module or Last Partial module
  • Remote Rural: First Partial module, Full module or Last Partial module

Relevant clause is Section 88 - DA31

(2) A maternity provider may claim payment for rural travel if the woman’s usual place of residence is in a domicile identified as semi rural, rural or remote rural as listed in Schedule 2.

(4) A maternity provider may claim only the first partial fee if the woman concerned was registered with the maternity provider, but changed maternity provider during the first, second or third week following birth.

(5) A maternity provider may claim only the last partial fee if the woman concerned first registered with the maternity provider during the fourth, fifth or sixth week following birth.

(6) If subclauses (4) and (5) do not apply, a maternity provider may claim the full fee.

(7) Only 1 payment for rural travel will be paid per woman, per pregnancy except where the mother and baby have different residential addresses.

A few points to note regarding claiming travel:

  1. A maternity provider MAY NOT claim travel if only hospital visits were done, and no home visits were carried out if the woman lives in a rural area.
  2. A maternity provider MAY NOT claim for travel for hospital visits done if the facility is in a semi-rural, rural or remote rural area.
  3. A maternity provider MAY NOT claim for multiple travel modules. For example, if the woman lived in a semi-rural area initially, then moved to a remote rural area, only one fee can be claimed.

A maternity provider may claim travel if the woman initially lived locally but moved to a rural area, for example during the postnatal period, even if it was one visit.