MyMedicare brings registration, patient choice and Medicare service rules into everyday general practice. Reception staff may field questions about a form, while general practitioners need to understand what registration changes for telehealth and care planning. A clear explanation helps practice teams organise ongoing care without making patients feel locked in or promising benefits that depend on other conditions.

What is MyMedicare in Australia?

MyMedicare is a free, optional registration program that records your chosen general practice and preferred general practitioner (GP). It formally identifies the team you consider responsible for your regular primary care. You can name one practice and one preferred GP, while still seeing other GPs at that practice. The government's MyMedicare patient guidance explains this relationship.

The aim is continuity: care from people who build an understanding of your health over time. A 2025 systematic review of continuity included 18 studies and found that greater personal continuity with a GP was associated with lower mortality, hospital admissions and emergency department use. That evidence supports ongoing relationships; it does not establish that completing a MyMedicare registration alone produces those outcomes.

Three similarly named services have different jobs:

MyMedicare does not replace Medicare or store your clinical notes. The government's patient registration FAQ distinguishes it from My Health Record. Medicare's broader role is explained in government Medicare guidance.

Practice registration and patient registration are separate

A participating practice needs its own registration before patients can choose it. Each patient then makes a separate, voluntary decision to join. Neither registration alone establishes that a particular service meets Medicare claiming requirements.

For practice registration, the starting eligibility requirements are Medicare-funded services, registration in Provider Digital Access (PRODA), Health Professional Online Services (HPOS) and the Organisation Register, and at least one linked, eligible GP. Participating providers need a valid provider number and eligibility to deliver relevant Medicare or Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) services.

The program accreditation rules give a non-accredited practice 12 months from registration to gain accreditation. A temporary exemption, ending 31 December 2026, covers specified services delivered entirely through mobile and outreach models. A separate exemption for eligible practices joining for the first time to participate in the Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program applies only to that program. It does not qualify a practice for every MyMedicare-linked incentive.

The official setup sequence is:

1. Establish the organisation connection. Register the organisation in PRODA and link it to HPOS using the applicable Organisation Register setup instructions.
2. Use the appropriate practice-site record. Link eligible providers and add MyMedicare under Program Registration on the Organisation Site Record, following the practice registration process. An existing registered practice with its participating providers already linked does not need a duplicate registration.

Patient registration can begin once the practice has completed the required setup and its eligible GPs are available for selection. A practice joining the program does not automatically register its patient list.

What changes when a patient registers?

Registration links particular services and incentives to your regular practice. It does not make every appointment free or require every visit to be with your nominated GP.

Longer telephone appointments

MyMedicare gives registered patients access to additional Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) telephone consultation items through their registered practice, when clinically appropriate. For example, MBS item 91900 covers an eligible GP telephone attendance lasting at least 20 minutes.

Registration is also one route to eligibility for many ordinary GP video and telephone services at that practice. Without registration, the usual route requires an eligible face-to-face service in the previous 12 months, although exemptions and service-specific rules apply. These telehealth eligibility rules are separate from the visits needed to join MyMedicare. Our telehealth item guide explains the service categories for practice teams.

Chronic condition and mental health care plans

MyMedicare affects where some planning services attract Medicare benefits. The rules differ between chronic condition management and mental health treatment.

The chronic condition requirements tie a registered patient's plan services to their practice. The Better Access requirements retain a separate usual-practitioner route.

For these purposes, a usual medical practitioner includes a qualifying doctor who, or whose practice, provided most of the patient's care in the previous 12 months or is likely to do so in the next 12 months. A doctor seen once for convenience does not automatically meet that definition.

The video items for GP chronic condition plan preparation and review follow the same registered-practice or usual-practitioner rule, rather than the ordinary telehealth prior-visit rule. The MBS plan provisions distinguish these pathways.

This distinction matters if you receive different types of care from different practices. MyMedicare registration is not compulsory to receive a care plan. Our mental health care plan guide explains the plan, referral and review as separate parts of care.

Regular care in residential aged care homes

The General Practice in Aged Care Incentive funds eligible GPs and practices to provide regular visits and care planning for permanent aged care residents. Patients must be registered in MyMedicare and linked to an eligible practice and responsible GP, with participation recorded by the practice. Registration alone does not enrol someone in every linked incentive. The aged care incentive requirements set out these conditions.

Costs and bulk billing

Joining MyMedicare costs nothing. Appointment fees remain a separate matter: registration does not guarantee bulk billing.

The Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program supports participating practices to bulk bill Medicare-eligible patients. Patients do not need their own MyMedicare registration for a practice to participate, as the practice program guidance makes clear. A practice's registration requirements and a patient's registration are different things.

Who can register for MyMedicare?

You generally need a valid Medicare card or DVA Veteran Card and an existing face-to-face relationship with the practice.

Eligible visits can be funded by Medicare, DVA or both. The reduced threshold depends on the practice's remote-location classification, rather than a patient simply living outside a capital city. DVA explains the eligible visit arrangements.

The MyMedicare program guidelines provide exemptions to the prior-visit requirement. These include people following their usual GP to a new practice, residential aged care residents, people experiencing homelessness or family and domestic violence, and specified parent-child arrangements. Practices can also apply exemptions for defined circumstances that have limited access to face-to-face care, including certain medical, relocation and travel circumstances.

A parent or guardian registers and consents for a child under 14. Young people aged 14 to 17 can register and consent themselves. For online registration of a child under 14, the registering parent or guardian and child must be on the same Medicare card.

How do you register?

Your chosen practice must participate in MyMedicare and accept your registration. You select the practice and your preferred GP as part of joining.

Register through myGov

With a Medicare card and a Medicare online account linked to myGov, the online registration process is:

1. Sign in to myGov and select Medicare.
2. Select View MyMedicare, then Start.
3. Find and select your practice.
4. Select your preferred GP.
5. Complete or skip the optional About you questions.
6. Select Submit registration and follow the remaining prompts.

The practice must accept a patient-initiated request before the registration becomes active. Acceptance may be automatic or handled manually by the practice.

Register with help from your practice

A practice can start an electronic registration request, which the patient completes and consents to through their Medicare online account. Alternatively, patients can complete the official registration form and return it to their nominated practice. Staff enter the registration, and the practice retains the signed form with the clinical record. The paper-form entry rules require registrations to be entered within seven days of signing.

Under the Veteran Card registration process, you use the practice's paper-form route. If you also hold a Medicare card, you can use that card to register online instead. You have one registration covering relevant Medicare and DVA-funded services, rather than separate registrations for each card.

Can you still see another GP or practice?

Yes. You can see another GP within your registered practice, and you can receive care elsewhere for services that are not specifically tied to MyMedicare. Being registered does not remove your freedom to seek other care.

The distinction is important when booking a GP chronic condition management plan or review. Those services must use the registered practice location, even if your preferred GP also works at another location. For example, a patient registered at a GP's Tuesday clinic cannot automatically receive their Medicare-funded plan review at the same GP's Friday clinic.

Eligible Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services and Aboriginal Medical Services operating a registered hub-and-spoke arrangement have different location provisions: the plan service can use the registered hub or its linked spokes. The government's practice location rules cover these arrangements.

Can you change practices or withdraw?

You can change your preferred GP within your registered practice. You can also move your registration to another participating practice when eligible, or withdraw from MyMedicare altogether.

Registering with a new practice normally withdraws the previous registration automatically. You can manage registration through Medicare → View MyMedicare in myGov, or through your practice. Services Australia also allows withdrawal by calling Medicare. Its registration management instructions explain the routes.

People registered using a Veteran Card can arrange amendments or withdrawal through their current practice. They can also withdraw by calling Medicare or DVA, but cannot use Medicare online self-service for that Veteran Card registration. These are the DVA registration arrangements. Not registering, or choosing to withdraw, does not cancel Medicare enrolment or existing DVA entitlements.

What information does MyMedicare hold?

MyMedicare holds registration information rather than a clinical record. Mandatory details include your identity, Medicare or DVA identifier, and practice and provider details. The optional About you questions collect additional personal information, and leaving them unanswered does not prevent registration.

Optional responses can be shared with the practice and used for program administration, service planning and policy work. Withdrawing does not mean information already collected or shared is deleted. The MyMedicare privacy notice explains these uses and the ability to change or remove current optional responses.

Clinical notes remain with your healthcare providers and, where applicable, in My Health Record. MyMedicare registration is separate from the way a practice captures and stores the clinical details of a consult.

Supporting continuity in everyday practice

For practice teams, registration is only one part of ongoing care. A practical division of work keeps the registration and consent record separate from the clinical documentation and the eligibility assessment for each claimed service. Patients also need an agreed plan, clear follow-up and clinical records that help the next clinician understand what happened.

We support that documentation through our clinical AI platform. Lyrebird turns ambient capture, dictation or typed input into draft clinical notes, and uses consult information to draft documents such as referrals and care plans. Our documents and letters workflows support the documentation that follows clinical decisions.

Clinicians remain responsible for assessment, the accuracy of the draft, editing and sign-off. Producing a document does not establish MyMedicare registration or entitlement to an MBS benefit. Keeping those responsibilities distinct helps practices support continuity without confusing registration, clinical care and claiming.

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