MyMedicare is Australia’s new voluntary patient registration model. It will enable a blended funding model that sits alongside fee-for-service while strengthening the relationship between patients, their general practice, general practitioner (GP) and primary care teams.
About MyMedicare
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What is MyMedicare?
MyMedicare is a voluntary registration system designed to improve healthcare delivery and patient experiences. It allows individuals to choose their preferred general or nurse practitioner and healthcare team.
By registering with MyMedicare, patients and practices can access a range of benefits, including longer MBS-funded telephone calls, triple bulk billing incentives for telehealth consultations, and tailored care for complex chronic diseases.
MyMedicare promotes stronger relationships between patients and their care teams, supporting person-centred care and reducing hospitalisations. It will be integrated with the My Health Record, facilitating effective communication and collaboration among healthcare providers.
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Why join MyMedicare?
Benefits for your practice
- MyMedicare integration with the My Health Record, allows hospitals and other health providers to communicate with a patient's regular GP easily.
- More information about regular patients makes it easier to tailor services to fit their needs.
- Blended funding payments are available through MyMedicare to support primary care providers keep registered patients with complex chronic disease out of hospital.
- The new General Practice in Aged Care incentive supports GPs providing regular visits, health assessments and care plans for people living in residential aged care homes.
- 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.
Benefits for your patients
- Greater continuity of care with their registered practice, improving health outcomes
- Registered patients will have access to longer MBS-funded telephone calls (Levels C and D) with their usual GP, promoting better accessibility and quality of care.
- Triple bulk billing incentives for longer MBS telehealth consultations (Levels C, D, and E) will be available for children under 16, pensioners and other Commonwealth concession card holders registered with their general practice.
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Who is eligible for MyMedicare?
To read about MyMedicare eligibility, please visit the Department of Health and Aged Care.
Key dates and notes
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November 2023 - MBS items linked to MyMedicare, bulk billing incentives increased
- Access to levels C and D telephone consultations for registered patients.
- Access to triple bulk billing incentive for levels C, D and E (video only) telehealth consultations for registered patients under 16 years and Commonwealth concession card holders.
- Removal of red tape for telehealth: no need to meet the 12-month rule for registered patients.
Visit MBS Online for more information.
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July 2024 - Frequent hospital users incentive begins
New incentives for GPs to provide quality continuity of care to people who frequently attend hospital because of complex chronic disease. The aim is to reduce the likelihood of further admissions through enhanced general practice support.
This initiative will be trialled in 9 primary health network catchments – yet to be announced – after which it will be progressively introduced over 3 years across the country.
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August 2024 - General practice in aged care incentive
- From 1 August 2024, GPs and practices registered in MyMedicare will receive incentives for providing their registered patients who permanently live in a residential aged care home (RACH) with proactive face-to-face visits, regular planned reviews, and coordinated care planning, improving continuity of care and reducing avoidable hospitalisations.
- RACH residents will be required to be registered in MyMedicare and the GP linked to the patient’s registered practice for GPs to access this incentive.
- This incentive, to be known as the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive (GPACI) will replace the GP Aged Care Access Incentive from 1 August 2024.
- It is expected that the new incentive will be a combined service incentive payment (SIP) and practice incentive payment (PIP), with GPs to receive 70 per cent and practices to receive 30 per cent. The current cap of $10,000 per GP is expected to be removed.
- PHNs will be funded to work with RACHs to match residents with a regular primary care provider in MyMedicare, if they do not already have one.
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November 2024 - Chronic disease management items
- Chronic disease management items will be linked to a patient’s registration in MyMedicare to support continuity of care.
- Patients who are not registered will still be able to receive these items from their usual GP.
- Removal of item 723
- Removal of red tape (for example, fax back)
- Rebalancing of items 721 and 732 (significant increase in item 732 and slight drop in item 721).
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2025 - Further improvements
Additional patient cohorts are expected to be incentivised through MyMedicare in 2025 and beyond. For example: patients experiencing mental ill health, and patients in the first 2000 days of life.
MyMedicare timeline
The Australian Government supplied this timeline to PHNs in August 2023. Click to download a PDF copy.
Key messages for practice staff when communicating with patients
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Reception staff
- MyMedicare registration is voluntary and free
- We consider you our patient, so would like/prefer/love you to be registered with us and your usual GP here
- You can still be a patient at this practice without being registered
- If you do register at this practice, you may be entitled to longer phone or video (telehealth) consultations that are funded by Medicare
- Registration will help the practice to deliver healthcare services that better meet your needs, including services provided by practice nurses and allied health professionals
- You can still see another GP at another practice should you wish to, but you won’t be able to access the new long (Medicare-funded) telehealth consultations
- You can register online (Medicare Online Account or the Express Plus Medicare mobile application), or we can provide you with a form.
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Clinical staff
- MyMedicare is voluntary and free
- We consider you our patient, so would like/prefer/love you to be registered with us and your usual GP here
- I can still provide health services to you if you don’t register with me (or this practice)
- If you do register with me, you will be able to access longer telephone consultations and may be eligible for longer telehealth video consultations
- Over time, MyMedicare will help this practice better understand your health needs and provide suitable services
- MyMedicare will help ensure continuity of care, provide a greater focus on prevention, and more funding to support a team of health professionals to meet your healthcare needs
- You can still see another GP at another practice should you wish but you won’t be able to access the longer (Medicare-funded) telehealth consultations
- MyMedicare will establish our relationship and identify me as your general practitioner to allow for seamless, integrated and continuous care.
Practice registration
To be eligible for MyMedicare, general practices must:
- Provide Medicare-funded services.
- Be accredited against the National General Practice Accreditation Scheme. Non-accredited practices will have 12 months to register with an accreditation agency and gain accreditation.
- Be registered in:
- Provider Digital Access (PRODA)
- Health Professional Online Services (HPOS)
- Be linked to the Organisational Register (in HPOS) with one eligible provider linked to the practice.
- Note – 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.
An accreditation exemption is available until 30 June 2025 for non-accredited practices (including sole providers) who deliver general practice services through mobile and outreach models:
- in rural settings
- in residential aged care
- in disability residential settings
- to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients
- to people experiencing homelessness.
Practice registration resources
MyMedicare Practice Registration Checklist
A step-by-step checklist created by our Digital Health team to guide practices through the MyMedicare registration process.
Visual tips for registering your practice
Services Australia provides simulated modules that take you through the process required to set up and use the Organisation Register.
PRODA & MyMedicare Registration
A comprehensive PRODA and MyMedicare registration guide.
Four steps to the Organisation Register
Simple and easy-to-use one-page guide to help you register with the Organisation Register.
Checklist and Steps
A comprehensive guide including checklists and steps to register for MyMedicare on the Organisation Register.
Patient registration
Patients can register for MyMedicare from 1 October 2023.
Patients can complete registration in one of the following ways:
- Patients can commence the registration process in their Medicare online services (Medicare Online Account or the Express Plus Medicare mobile application) and the practice staff can then accept or decline the registration in MyMedicare.
- Practice staff can start the patient registration process in MyMedicare. The patient will then complete and provide consent for the registration in their Medicare online services.
- Patients can fill out a registration form at the practice (or provided by their visiting GP) and sign the form to provide consent. The practice will then enter the patient’s registration details into the MyMedicare system to complete the registration.
- MyMedicare: “About You” Voluntary Patient Information - from the 6 April 2024, the Department of Health and Aged Care will introduce the ability for patients to provide additional information about themselves as part of their MyMedicare registration, should they choose to. Read more about the MyMedicare "About You" Update here.
The Department of Health and Aged Care have released a GP Communication toolkit here to help you engage with your patients about MyMedicare and answer questions they may have. The toolkit includes promotional material such as posters, suggested social media posts and newsletter content. SEMPHN has also provided a Key messages for staff and patients document to assist general practices in answering patient enquiries and support registration.
Please visit the Department of Health and Aged Care for further information regarding patient registration.
Patient registration resources
MyMedicare GP toolkit
An information kit to help you engage with your patients about MyMedicare and answer questions they may have.
Videos
The Department has released helpful videos to help introduce MyMedicare and explain patient registration.
Share these videos through your social channels and website, or even play them in your waiting room.
Patient registration form
The MyMedicare Registration Form is available for general practices to download and provide to their patients. Once a patient has completed the form, their practice will complete the MyMedicare registration process by entering the patient information collected on the form into the MyMedicare system.
MyMedicare Fact sheets
Information about MyMedicare for patients including the benefits of registering.
MyMedicare fact sheets are now available in English, Arabic, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Greek, Italian, Korean and Vietnamese. We encourage practices working with patients from multicultural backgrounds to start informing their patients about MyMedicare and encouraging them to register.
Registering in MyMedicare – Fact sheet
This fact sheet includes registration instructions for MyMedicare patients and information about eligibility.
FAQ
This document answers patients' questions about what MyMedicare is, why and how to register, eligibility, benefits and more.
Key Messages for staff and patients
This document provides simple patient-focused messages to assist general practices in answering patient enquiries and support patient registration.
Community stakeholder information toolkit
This kit includes information and communications resources you can share with your community to learn more about MyMedicare and help support registration. It will also support you in answering any questions you may receive about MyMedicare.
POLAR - Patient flagging
Flagging for MyMedicare and other patient cohort identification is now available. Patient flagging is handy for easily identifying and monitoring your chronic disease patients, aged care patients, and refugee patients.
How SEMPHN can help
SEMPHN can support practices with the following elements of MyMedicare:
- registration with PRODA, HPOS, and the Organisation Register
- practice preparation, including identifying eligible MyMedicare patients
- quality improvement activities linked to continuing professional development requirements
SEMPHN will continue to keep general practices informed, via our newsletters, Provider Support team, website and education programs. The Department of Health and Aged Care is continuing to update its website as well.
For further information or support, please email providersupport@semphn.org.au.
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