MyMedicare

MyMedicare is a system of voluntary patient registration (VPR) that aims to strengthen the relationship between patients, their general practice, general practitioner (GP) and primary care teams.

Registered practices have access to the triple bulk-billing incentives for longer Medicare Benefits Schedule telehealth services for their eligible registered patients. As at March 2024, seventy-six per cent of practices in the Murray PHN region are registered for the system.

It has been designed to rollout in stages, with additional incentives to be introduced later in the year.

MyMedicare timeline

For information and support

• General Practice Aged Care Incentive

  This incentive, which officially begins on 1 August 2024, supports general practices to deliver regular, proactive services and care planning to older people living in residential aged care homes. For more information and resources, visit our General Practice in Aged Care Incentive webpage.

• Chronic Disease Management

  From 1 July 2025, Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) items will be changing to replace the current GP Management Plan and Team Care Arrangements with a single GP Chronic Condition Management Plan. For more information and resources, visit our Chronic Disease Management webpage.

  Resources:

  • Conversation starters – MyMedicare chronic conditions management – GP
  • Conversation starters – MyMedicare chronic conditions management – Practice managers and reception
• Bulk Billing Incentives

  A key part of the MyMedicare reforms is a series of changes to Bulk Billing. These include:

  1. Triple Bulk Billing
  Introduced on 1 November 2023. The Triple Bulk Billing Incentive aimed to strengthen access to general practice care. With a particular focus on vulnerable populations. It tripled the Medicare bulk billing incentive payments for GPs when they bulk bill patients who are:

  • Children under 16 or
  • Commonwealth concession card holders.

  2. Bulk Billing Expanded Eligibility
  Starting 1 November 2025, all Medicare-eligible patients – regardless of age or concession card status – will become eligible for bulk billing incentives. This is an expansion of the Bulk Billing Incentive. At its simplest, the item descriptors for each BBI item will be updated to remove reference to children under 16 and concessional beneficiaries. The changes do not affect the BBIs for diagnostic imaging or pathology services. These changes are NOT linked to the Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program.

  3. Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program (BBPIP)
  Starting 1 November 2025. The BBPIP is an optional program. Practices participating in BBPIP will receive an additional 12.5% incentive payment on every $1 of MBS eligible services. This incentive will be split 50/50 between the GP and the practice. To be eligible for BB-PIP incentive clinics must meet and commit to the below criteria:

  • all eligible services must be bulk billed, and for all eligible patients
  • all GPs within the clinic must participate.
  • clinics must advertise their participation in the program
  • clinics must be MyMedicare registered.
• Better Access Mental Health

  Starting 1 November 2025 (subject to legislation). Medicare benefits for Better Access services will only be paid when the mental health treatment plan, its review and referrals are completed by a patient’s MyMedicare registered practice or their usual medical practitioner.

  A usual medical practitioner is someone who has provided most care in the past year or is expected to in the coming year — including other GPs or PMPs at the same practice. Patients can still choose to see a different GP or PMP for mental health support, even if that provider is outside their MyMedicare registered practice.

  Additionally, MHTP review and mental health consultation items will be removed from the MBS. GPs and PMPs will instead use time-based general attendance items to review, refer and provide ongoing mental healthcare. This gives providers more flexibility to tailor consult length to each patient’s needs.

  Further Information:

  1. Better Access Mental Health MBS User Guide. This resource was created by the National MyMedicare PHN Implementation Program and is designed to support general practices to effectively use Better Access Mental Health MBS items to deliver comprehensive, planned care for patients.
  2. Summary for general practice on the upcoming changes to Better Access. An overview of the Better Access Mental Health changes and support options
  3. Conversation starters – MyMedicare MHTP general practitioners
• How to register your practice

  To register your practice, you must:

  1. make sure you are eligible
  2. link an organisation in PRODA to Health Professional Online Services (HPOS).
  3. access the Organisation Register in HPOS to register your practice and link your eligible providers.
  4. Add the MyMedicare program in your Organisation Site Record by selecting it in the Program Registration tab.

  Download our step-by-step guide: How to register for MyMedicare. You can also see: A simple guide for registering your practice for MyMedicare.

  Access Services Australia’s Checklist and steps to register for MyMedicare on the Organisation Register

  Practice Registration Frequently asked questions

• How to register patients for My Medicare

  Who can register

  Anyone with a Medicare card or a DVA Veteran Card. For full eligibility details, visit the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing MyMedicare website.

  Ways patients can register

  1. Online or App

  • Patients use their Medicare Online Account or Express Plus Medicare app.
  • Your practice then accepts the registration in MyMedicare system.

  2. Practice-initiated

  • Your practice starts the registration in MyMedicare.
  • This triggers a notification in the patient’s Medicare online account or Express Pluss Medicare App for them to complete.

  3. Paper form

  • Give patients the patient registration form to sign at your practice.
  • By signing, they consent to join MyMedicare with your practice.
  • Your staff then completes the registration in MyMedicare.

  Extra resources

  • MyMedicare Patient Registration Checklist
  • FAQs on patient registration
  • Registering patients in residential aged care homes
  • Services Australia e-Learning guide: MYMED02 – Managing patient registrations
• Benefits

  Benefits for patients:

  • greater continuity of care with their registered practice, improving health outcomes
  • longer MBS-funded telephone calls (Levels C and D) with their usual general practice
  • triple bulk billing incentive for longer MBS telehealth consultations (Levels C, D and E) for children under 16, pensioners, and concession card holders
  • if they live in a residential aged care home, more regular visits from their GP and better care planning, from August 2024
  • if they visit hospital frequently, connections to more appropriate care in general practice, from the 2024-25 financial year.

  Benefits for practices:

  • more information about regular patients, making it easier to tailor services to fit the patient’s needs.
  • the new longer telehealth items linked to MyMedicare outlined above.
  • the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive from 1 August 2024, which will support regular health assessments, care plans and regular GP visits for people in residential aged care homes.
  • new blended funding payments to support better care in the community for people with complex, chronic disease who frequently attend hospitals. These arrangements will roll out progressively across the country over three years from the 2024–25 financial year.
  • Chronic Disease Management items linked to a patient’s registration in MyMedicare from November 2024, to support continuity of care for people with chronic and complex conditions. Patients who are not registered in MyMedicare will still be able to receive Chronic Disease Management items from their usual GP.
• Additional resources
  • MyMedicare implementation checklist for general practice (Nov 2023)
  • MyMedicare Practice Matters document (Sept 2023) – which includes CAT4 Recipes to identify patients you may want to register
  • Quality Improvement Data Cleansing Guide (July 2023) – will assist your practice with data cleansing activities which align with the MyMedicare program
  • MyMedicare GP toolkit
  • MyMedicare Registration Form
  • MyMedicare DL brochure
  • MyMedicare – Poster 1
  • MyMedicare – Social tiles
  • MyMedicare practice registration – Frequently asked questions
  • MyMedicare patient registration – Frequently asked questions
  • MyMedicare key messaging for staff and patients
  • Introducing MyMedicare – Fact sheet
  • Registering in MyMedicare – Fact sheet
  • Checklist and steps to register for MyMedicare on the Organisation Register
  • MYMED02-MyMedicare-Managing patient registrations (Services Australia’s a e-Learning Guide)
  • MBS item numbers
  • Models of primary care in residential aged care homes (RACHs)
• Webinars

  A webinar for general practices was held on 16 July 2024 to provide further information on the guidelines for the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive and provide some practical tips on the registration process. Click here to watch the webinar recording.

  Additional webinar recordings:

  • Murray PHN: Navigating MyMedicare – A guide for general practice and Aboriginal medical services (May 2024)
  • South Eastern PHN: MyMedicare Conversations (May 2024)
  • Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing MyMedicare webinars
• How we can support

  Murray PHN Quality Improvement Consultants are available for support throughout the transition to MyMedicare.

  How we can support you:

  • Develop a library of practical data-driven improvement PDSA activities (Plan-Do-Study-Act) for practices to enhance registration
  • Develop a MyMedicare Toolkit for practice support staff to support identification of priority populations for registration
  • Tips and tricks on getting registered
  • Connecting to you eLearning and resources
  • Linking your practice to digital health support
  • Data cleansing and clinical coding support

  Email mymedicare@murrayphn.org.au

If you haven’t registered for MyMedicare, help is available. Contact gpsupport@murrayphn.org.au for more information, support or resources.