MyMedicare
The General Practice in Aged Care Incentive supports general practices to deliver regular, proactive services and care planning to older people living in residential aged care homes. If your practice is already participating in the existing Practice Incentive (PIP) General Practice (GP) Aged Care Access Incentive (ACAI), we encourage you to register for the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive.
To register and access the incentive your practice must be eligible and registered for MyMedicare. Your patients that are aged care home residents will also need to be registered for MyMedicare with your practice.
MyMedicare is a new voluntary patient registration model. It aims to formalise the relationship between patients, their general practice, general practitioner (GP) and primary care teams.
Seeing your GP regularly and formalising the relationship you have with your GP and practice through MyMedicare can lead to better health outcomes.
It’s voluntary and free to register in MyMedicare, and registration is open to Australians with a
Medicare card or Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) Veteran Card.
Evidence shows that seeing the same GP and healthcare team regularly leads to better health outcomes. Seeing your GP regularly and formalising the relationship you have with your GP and general practice through MyMedicare may lead to better health outcomes.
Registering with MyMedicare provides benefits to patients, general practices, and healthcare providers. To learn about these benefits, see:
For a limited time, the Department of Health and Aged Care is allowing practices who were registered for GPACI to backdate their MyMedicare-registered patients’ GPACI registration. This will allow re-assessment of eligible services delivered from July to December 2024. Your practice and GPs may be eligible for GPACI payments for this period if the servicing requirements in the GPACI guidelines were met. That is, if your patient/s received:
- two eligible regular services, each in a separate calendar month, and
- at least one of the regular visits was by the Responsible Provider.
GPACI registration dates are allowed to be backdated for patients who:
- were registered for MyMedicare but were not registered correctly for GPACI, or
- were registered for MyMedicare and GPACI but the date was after the eligible services were delivered by the Responsible Provider.
Practices must backdate the GPACI registration date for any MyMedicare-registered patients impacted by this error by 31 March 2025.
MyMedicare practices can access:
- 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, including:
- 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.
From 2024–2025, MyMedicare practices can access:
- 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 July 2025, 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 longer telehealth services or provide care to people in residential aged care are encouraged to register those patients in MyMedicare as priority cohorts.
More information:
The General Practice in Aged Care Incentive supports general practices to deliver regular, proactive services and care planning to older people living in residential aged care homes.
Services Australia have published information for practices about the process in PRODA and HPOS to register the practice to participate in the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive, and how to link Responsible Providers and patients. If your practice is already participating in the existing Practice Incentive (PIP) General Practice (GP) Aged Care Access Incentive (ACAI), we encourage you to get ready to register for the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive.
It is voluntary and free to register in MyMedicare.
When you register in MyMedicare, it will notify your general practice that you have chosen them as your regular care team. Additional funding will be available from the government to help them provide the care you need.
MyMedicare patients will have access to:
- greater continuity of care with your registered practice, improving health outcomes
- longer Medicare Benefit Scheme (MBS) funded telehealth consultations with your GP
- triple bulk billing incentive for longer MBS telehealth consultations for children under 16, pensioners, and concession card holders, from 1 November 2023
- more regular visits from your GP and better care planning for people living in a residential aged care home, from August 2024
- connections to more appropriate care in general practice for people who visit hospital frequently, from mid-2024.
If you choose not to register, you’ll still be able to access the same quality of care from your healthcare providers.
More information:
Enquiries: Practices seeking support with MyMedicare can contact their PCAIT representative or email pcait@snhn.org.au.