Members will be aware that significant changes are planned to take place to assignment of benefits (AoB) arrangements from 1 July this year.
Following representations by the federal AMA, the government has intervened and agreed to changes that seek to address concerns raised by the AMA on behalf of members. This includes putting in place a 12-month transition period.
The requirement for patients to assign their benefit has been in place for many years, but the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing has made efforts to modernise arrangements and move away from the existing paper-based model.
Despite those efforts, planned changes for July 1 were unworkable for many practices, and particularly for doctors working in aged care and ACCHO practices. Of particular concern was the lack of an enduring assignment of benefit option.
Communication about the changes had been limited and it was only in recent weeks that more detail started to emerge. Practices and software providers have been working swiftly to update their systems to comply with planned changes but need more time.
AMA President Dr Danielle McMullen made extensive representations to Health Minister Mark Butler's office and the department about the proposed changes and the potential impact on practices.
The department stressed it would take an educational approach and emphasised that bulk billed claims could continue to be lodged through the normal claiming channels. However, federal AMA pushed the government for further changes to better support practices and patients to transition.
The minister’s office has now advised that changes will be made to support practices to transition over the next twelve months as follows:
the option of verbal assignment of benefit for all bulk billed patients will continue to be available during the transition, in all settings
enduring assignment of benefit will be brought forward to 1 July 2026 so that patients registered with MyMedicare, residents of aged care homes, and patients of ACCHOs and AMSs will be able to make these for GP bulk billed services.
The minister’s office advises that the department will also use the 12-month transition period to explore other regulatory and legislative options to further reduce the administrative burden on both GP practices and patients while ensuring the integrity of Medicare is maintained.
These concessions, a commitment to an educational approach from the department and the recognition that practices will need time to adjust means that practices should not fear any compliance action and should take their time in working through how they will implement assignment of benefits changes in their practices.
The move away from paper-based requirements for assignment of benefits is clearly positive and a long time in the making. However, the government’s objectives were being undermined by a rushed implementation and lack of information. We appreciate the department and Minister’s office making rapid changes once the impact on practices became clear.
We will continue to work to ensure practices get the information they need and encourage the department to present it in a clearer fashion. We expect the department’s website page on AoB will be updated frequently .
