MyMedicare – Patient Registration Campaign 2024
MyMedicare is a voluntary patient registration system, that aims to strengthen the relationship between patients, their general practice, general practitioner (GP) and primary care teams.
The Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care has recently initiated a campaign to promote patient registration, aiming to inform and motivate individuals to register with their local general practice.
We encourage practices to continue registering their regular patients – espeically those who would benefit from the new longer telehealth services now accessible through MyMedicare registration. This includes individuals with chronic diseases, or residents of aged care facilities.
A comprehensive communication toolkit is available, equipped with various resources to assist health professionals in engaging with patients conversations with patients. This includes FAQs, factsheets, a brochure, and posters. Download the communication kit.
Further information and links to the MyMedicare program can be found on the Country to Coast, QLD webpage https://c2coast.org.au/mymedicare/
Manually accepting patient-initiated registrations through the Medicare Online App
When your practice registers for MyMedicare you can set a preference on how patient-initiated registrations are accepted. If a patient completes a registration in MOA with a practice who has elected to manually accept registrations, it will show in the MyMedicare system as pending, until the practice has accepted or declined the registration. Services Australia advises there are a significant number of pending registrations which have not been accepted by practices. If a pending registration is awaiting acceptance from the practice for more than 30 days, it will expire, and the patient will need to re-register in MyMedicare. More information on preference settings in MyMedicare can be found on page 27 of the Services Australia MYMEDM02 Managing Patient Registrations module.
Supporting patients with MyMedicare Registration
To complete registration for your patients in the MyMedicare system, practices are required to enter the patient information collected on hard copy MyMedicare registration form into the Health Professional Online Services (HPOS) website. The practice must keep a copy of the signed form with the patient’s clinical records. For further information on how to work the patient registration forms see the Services Australia eLearning Module. Services Australia is unable to process hardcopy registration forms and are unable to register patients in the system if they receive hardcopy forms. If your practice has questions regarding the registration process, you can access education materials via the Services Australia Health Professional Education website or contact a Medicare Engagement Officer at Services Australia on 132 150.
Clarified eligibility criteria for Residential Aged Care Home residents
A minor change has been made to the patient registration form to clarify eligibility for residential Aged Care Home residents. RACH residents are eligible for MyMedicare if they have a Medicare or DVA card and received two in person appointments with their regular practice in the preceding 24 months, or one appointment in rural and remote areas. These in person appointments can be provided at the practice, in the patient’s home or at a residential aged care home. Under eligibility criteria the updated form now reads “You’ve had two or more face-to-face appointments with your regular general practice or health service in the past two years.” See the updated patient registration form.
MyMedicare patient resources translated into multiple languages
To assist patients from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds with MyMedicare, general practices can download and share a range of translated resources. There are fact sheets, brochures and posters available in Arabic, Chinese, Greek, Italian, Korean and Vietnamese. Visit the Department of Health and Aged Care website to download the translated MyMedicare resources.
MyMedicare Terms and Conditions now on Medicare App MyMedicare Terms and Conditions are now available via the Australian Government Department of Health website and have been integrated into the Medicare Online App (MOA).