My Medicare

MyMedicare is a voluntary patient registration model that aims to formalise the relationship between patients, their general practice, general practitioner (GP) and primary care teams. The Australian Government has introduced MyMedicare as part of an ongoing commitment to strengthening Medicare for all Australians.

MyMedicare is open to Australians with a Medicare card or a Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) Veteran Card and is voluntary.

By registering as a patient of your chosen general practice and selecting a preferred GP, additional funding will be made available by the government to assist your primary care team deliver the care you need.

This funding will enable your general practice or GP to provide you with longer funded telehealth consultations and bulk billed longer telehealth consultations at the new higher rate for children under 16 and Commonwealth concession card holders.

Other benefits for patients include:

• for people living in a residential aged care home, more regular visits from their GP and better care planning, from August 2024
• for people with chronic disease who visit hospital frequently, connections to more appropriate care in general practice, from mid-2024.

Further registration benefits for patients will continue to be added over time as part of the Australian Government’s commitment to strengthening Medicare. If you choose not to register in MyMedicare, you will continue to be able to access the same care from your healthcare providers as you currently do.

Telehealth appointments improve access to healthcare. They are a convenient way for all patients to schedule appointments with their GP while reducing travel time, travel expenses and waiting times. Longer funded telehealth consultations may be particularly beneficial for:

• people seeking treatment for mental health concerns
• people with disability or reduced mobility
• older Australians
• people in rural or remote Australia who are not located close to their GP.

You can register with your regular Medical Centre and select your preferred GP in MyMedicare.

There are a number of ways you can register with your chosen practice in MyMedicare:

• Start the registration process in your Medicare Online Account or Express Plus Medicare mobile app. Practice staff will then accept the registration in the MyMedicare system.
• Your practice may start the registration in MyMedicare or you can ask them to do this. This will trigger a registration in your Medicare Online Account or Express Plus Medicare mobile app, which you can then complete.
• Fill out a registration form at your practice. By signing the form, you are giving your consent to participate in MyMedicare with that practice. Practice staff will then complete the registration in the MyMedicare system.

A registration in MyMedicare is only successful when both the patient and practice have provided consent to formalise their relationship through one of the processes noted above.

Please see the following step-by-step guide for How to Register for MyMedicare.

No. MyMedicare is a registration system that records your details and the details of your regular general practice and primary care team. MyMedicare can not hold any of your clinical health information. Your clinical information will continue to be available in your My Health Record, if you have one.

My Health Record provides patients and their healthcare providers with access to vital health information at the point of care, including in an emergency. This can include shared health summaries, current medicines and prescriptions, immunisation history, hospital discharge information and Medicare, DVA and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme history.

As part of your MyMedicare registration, your chosen practice and GP will appear on your My Health Record to ensure all health professionals you see – for example, at a public hospital – will know who to talk to about your regular care. If you do not wish for your MyMedicare registration to appear on your My Health Record, you can choose this option in your My Health Record.

No, it is free to register in MyMedicare.

No, part of the purpose of MyMedicare is to nominate and identify one preferred provider of general healthcare. If you are already registered with another Medical Centre, but wish to register with us, completing a new registration form will update your registration status.

No, part of the purpose of MyMedicare is to nominate and identify one preferred provider of general healthcare. If you would like to swap your preferred Doctor at our Centre, just let our friendly receptionist know and we can adjust this in the MyMedicare system.

If your regular practice is not registered in MyMedicare, we recommend you talk with your GP or practice about whether the benefits provided through registration will support your health care needs.

Your Medical Centre will have patient brochures available, ask when you are next in, or visit the Department of Heath website, https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/mymedicare/patients