My Medicare: a new voluntary patient registration model

The Australian Government committed $6.1 billion of investments in the 2023-24 Budget to lay the foundations for a stronger Medicare including the introduction of MyMedicare.

MyMedicare aims to support quality continuity of care. It will formalise and strengthen relationship between patients and their general practice, general practitioner and primary care teams.

Registration in the MyMedicare system is voluntary for practices, providers, and patients.

MyMedicare practices

From 1 July 2023, general practices can start getting ready for MyMedicare by ensuring they are registered in Services Australia’s PRODA, HPOS and Organisation Register systems.

Practice registration is available to practices that are accredited, or registered for accreditation, under the National General Practice Accreditation Scheme. An accreditation exemption until 30 June 2025 is available to non-accredited practices (including sole providers) who deliver general practice services through mobile and outreach models, including to residential aged care, disability residential settings, First Nations Australians, rural Australia, and homeless people.

MyMedicare practices will have access to:

• 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 FY2024–25.
• 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.

Practices that provide services to patients who would benefit from the new MyMedicare-linked MBS long telehealth services or provide care to people in residential aged care are encouraged to register in MyMedicare as a priority over the next three months.

If your practice is already registered and all participating providers are linked in the Organisation Register, you do not need to complete a second registration process. Once these steps are complete, you do not need to do anything else until patient registration becomes available in October 2023.

For more information on registering your practice, visit the Services Australia Health Professional Education website.

MyMedicare Patients

MyMedicare patients will have access to:

• 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.

Patients will be able to register for MyMedicare from 1 October 2023. Patients must have a Medicare or Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) Veteran card to register in MyMedicare. There will be options for patients to register online and or in-person at their registered practice.

The Department of Health and Aged Care (DoHAC) will provide information on how patients can register shortly.

More information is available on the Department of Health and Aged Care MyMedicare webpage here.

MyMedicare practice registration – Frequently asked questions | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care

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