MyMedicare is a new Voluntary Patient Registration (VPR) model implemented by the Commonwealth Government. MyMedicare will formalise and strengthen the relationship between patients, their general practice, general practitioner and primary care teams to improve continuity of care and patient experience.
As of 1 October 2023, patients can now register for MyMedicare in person at their chosen practice or online through their myGov account, Medicare online account or Medicare Express Plus App. MyMedicare allows patients to register with their regular general practice and nominate their preferred GP and providers within the practice.
Accessing MyMedicare for General Practice
To be eligible for MyMedicare, general practices must be registered in the following Services Australia systems:
- Provider Digital Access (PRODA)
- Health Professional Online Services (HPOS)
- Organisation Register
Practices can also register patients for MyMedicare via HPOS through the ‘My Programs’ tab by selecting the MyMedicare tile. This will provide access to manage MyMedicare functions relating to practice registration AND patient registration. More information on accessing MyMedicare via HPOS is available at on the Services Australia website.
What are the Benefits of Registering for MyMedicare?
For patients:
- When patients register for MyMedicare, the linkage of the patient with their chosen practice and GP will be visible throughout the health system. This gives patients access to greater continuity of care with their registered practice, improving health outcomes.
- Registered patients will be able to access longer MBS-rebated telephone calls with their usual general practice (levels C and D).
- Registered patients under 16 years old, pensioners and other Commonwealth concession card holders will have access to longer telehealth (video) consultations which attract the Triple Bulk Billing Incentive.
For general practice:
- MyMedicare practices will have access to more information about regular patients, making it easier to tailor services to fit the individual needs.
- Registered practices will be able to deliver MBS-rebated longer telephone consultations (levels C and D) to registered patients.
- Registered practices will have access to the Triple Bulk-Billing Incentive for longer MBS telehealth (video) consultations (levels C, D and E) for registered patients under 16, pensioners and Commonwealth concession card holders.
For information about practice eligibility, visit our MyMedicare webpage.
I’ve Registered My Practice. What’s Next?
Access the practice’s HPOS account and add MyMedicare to the list of programs in the ‘My Programs’ section.
For patients to be able to nominate with their preferred GP at your practice, ensure all providers in your practice are linked to your organisation on PRODA.
As this is a new initiative, it is important for practices to start communicating with patients about the benefits of registering with their usual GP at the practice. Actively planning for how the practice will manage MyMedicare enrolled patients and developing a patient education campaign utilising various media such as posters, letters and SMS messaging can assist in delivering key messages to your patients.
As part of the process of identifying potential patients for MyMedicare enrolment, regular data cleansing is recommended to ensure patient cohorts on your Clinical Management Software (CMS) are accurate and up to date.
Practices are encouraged to proactively start identifying patients who would benefit from the MyMedicare VPR Model such as CDM and RACF patients. Information on how to do this can be found in Preparing for Medicare: Resource for General Practice.
Practice Support
For more information about MyMedicare and what this means for your practice, please visit our MyMedicare webpage or access our Preparing for Medicare: Resource for General Practice.
If you require assistance in identifying patients via data analysis methods, or preparing your practice for MyMedicare, please contact your Practice Development Coordinator directly or our Virtual Support Team on 8811 7100 or via email at support@wentwest.com.au.
5 October 2023