MyMedicare patient registration – General Practice in Aged Care Incentive

MyMedicare registration

From 1 October 2023, Residential Aged Care Home (RACH) residents can register in MyMedicare to formalise their relationship with their regular general practice and general practitioner (GP). RACH residents are eligible to register if they have a valid Medicare card or Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) Veteran Card.

RACH residents can register in MyMedicare by completing a registration form from their GP or online through their Medicare Online Account or Express Plus Medicare mobile application. They won’t need to physically attend a practice for the purpose of completing their registration.

Where a patient is incapable of providing consent, as for other Medicare arrangements, a responsible person can consent on their behalf. ‘Responsible person’ means an adult person accompanying the patient or in whose care the patient has been placed, including the parent or guardian, a person who holds power of attorney or a guardianship order, or the legally recognised next of kin.

Primary Health Networks (PHNs) will work with residential aged care providers to support patient registration, noting the importance of both the practice and patient providing informed consent for registration.

General Practice in Aged Care Incentive (GPACI)

The Australian Government is investing $112 million over 4 years in the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive (GPACI) to support every aged care resident to receive quality primary care services from a regular GP and practice.

From 1 August 2024, GPs and practices registered in MyMedicare will receive incentives for providing their registered patients who permanently live in a RACH with regular visits and better care planning, improving continuity of care and reducing avoidable hospitalisations.

RACH residents will be required to be registered in MyMedicare and the GP linked to the patient’s registered practice for GPs to access the GPACI. Further details on the GPACI incentive will be available in the coming months.

Practices and GPs are encouraged to register their RACH patients in MyMedicare as a priority from 1 October 2023 to fully benefit from the GPACI. RACH patients who are registered in GPACI will be exempt from the 2 face-to-face visits eligibility criteria for MyMedicare.

From late 2023, PHNs will be funded to work with RACHs to match residents with a regular primary care provider in MyMedicare where they do not have one. From 2024, PHNs will have will also have access to a needs-based funding pool to commission GPs to provide care in RACHs in areas of critical workforce shortage or market failure.

More information for MyMedicare

For more information and resources visit health.gov.au/MyMedicare.