MyMedicare Archives | Page 2 of 3 | South Western Sydney PHN

21 January 2025

If you have a loved one living in an aged care home, understanding the healthcare options available to them can help you ensure they receive the best possible support. New government initiatives, such as MyMedicare registration and the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive (GPACI), are making it easier for general practices to work with aged care homes to provide proactive, continuous care tailored to aged care residents.

What is MyMedicare?

MyMedicare is a new registration process available to all Australians, designed to create a stronger link between patients, their GPs, and GP practices. For aged care residents, this connection provides added benefits by ensuring they have a dedicated GP and practice familiar with their medical history and ongoing health needs. When aged care residents register with MyMedicare, they gain more consistent and accessible healthcare as GPs coordinate services directly with the aged care home staff.

To participate, everyone involved—your loved one, their GP, and the GP practice—must be registered with MyMedicare. It’s important to note MyMedicare is separate from both Medicare and My Health Record. Even if your loved one is already enrolled in those programs, they’ll need to register specifically for MyMedicare to.

What is the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive (GPACI)?

The General Practice in Aged Care Incentive (GPACI) is an Australian Government initiative which encourages general practices to work more closely with aged care homes. The goal is to provide residents with continuous, planned healthcare, going beyond standard reactive care. GPACI promotes a collaborative, team-based approach between GPs and aged care staff, which ensures residents’ healthcare needs are met promptly and they benefit from regular medical attention tailored to their unique needs.

GPACI is also part of the government’s commitment to improve healthcare quality and safety for aged care residents, as highlighted in the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce Report.

How you can support your loved one

To help your loved one benefit from these initiatives, you can:

Ensure they register with MyMedicare. Registration with MyMedicare is essential for them to receive the full benefits of coordinated healthcare.
Communicate with aged care staff. Stay informed about your loved one’s health plan and ask about the GP services available to them.
Download helpful resources. The Aged Care Residents Information Booklet offers insights into aged care standards and how families can be involved in care planning and quality reviews.

Useful resources for families and carers

For more detailed information, we encourage you to download these resources:

Aged Care Residents Information Booklet: A comprehensive guide to aged care standards and how families and carers can participate in the care planning process.
GPACI Frequently Asked Questions for Aged Care Residents and Carers: Answers common questions about GPACI, MyMedicare registration, and what this means for your loved one’s care.

These resources provide practical information to help you understand the steps aged care homes are taking to enhance resident care, allowing you to support your loved one more effectively.

Our role in supporting aged care and practice partnerships

At South Western Sydney PHN, we are working closely with aged care homes and general practices across the region to help them implement GPACI. By strengthening partnerships between these facilities and GP practices, we aim to ensure residents receive timely, ongoing healthcare which meets government standards for quality and safety. SWSPHN is dedicated to helping aged care homes, as well as general practices, understand and implement GPACI effectively, supporting their staff in providing the best possible care for residents.

For further questions or assistance, please reach out to South Western Sydney PHN’s GPACI Project Officer at kirsty.young@swsphn.com.au.

04 September 2024

Dr McDonald joined State Health Minister Ryan Park, and representatives from other PHNs and Local Health Districts, at the Greater Western Sydney Future Health Forum in Penrith on Friday, 23 August.

Speakers had the opportunity to share insights on the health, infrastructure and service challenges of our region, with 250 attendees.

Dr McDonald was part of a panel with representatives from two other Greater Western Sydney PHNs which examined healthcare workforce challenges impacting the industry and practical strategies to make a difference.

The panel also discussed the importance of integrated care, recent MyMedicare reforms and the significance of the National Digital Health Blueprint.

Dr McDonald spoke about GP shortages and general practice closures in our region; how the ability to share clinical information between primary and acute care in real time with technologies like iRAD would be a ‘game changer’ for healthcare; the need for action to overcome the inverse care law of inequitable supply to those most in need; and called for the inclusion of a single employment model pilot for GP registrars in outer metro Sydney.

Caption: Dr Keith McDonald (second from left above) with fellow panellists (left to right) Professor Annemarie Hennessy, Kate Tye (from Nepean Blue Mountains PHN) and Andrew Newton (from WentWest) at the forum.

03 September 2024

From 1 September this year, all general practices across Australia will receive a new standardised accreditation certificate with a unique accreditation certificate number when becoming accredited or re-accredited.

Why?

The Department of Health and Aged Care has called for a consistent accreditation certificate number to be allocated to all practices currently accredited under the National General Practice Accreditation Scheme.

By implementing a standardised certificate format and an easily identifiable and consistent accreditation number, the department aims to ensure a practice’s accreditation status is easily verifiable by Services Australia and other relevant bodies.

What does it mean for accredited practices?

Consistent accreditation certificate numbers will ensure a practice’s accreditation status can be quickly and accurately verified. The design of the certificate is more user-friendly and easier to understand, reducing the risk of errors or misinterpretation.

What’s next for practices?

No immediate action is required and your practice’s accreditation status remains unchanged.

For practices already accredited:

Your accreditation agency will have already contacted practices currently accredited, via email.

This email will include details of your new certificate number and information about the next steps provided by the Department. You will not receive a new physical certificate.

If you’re currently registered with MyMedicare, please update your accreditation certificate number on the Organisation Register of MyMedicare.

For practices currently undergoing the accreditation process:

Your accreditation agency will begin issuing the new standardised certificates to newly accredited and re-accredited general practices, from 1 September.

Practices will automatically receive their new certificate, which should be displayed prominently as the official proof of accreditation.

Gain accreditation within 12 months of registering for MyMedicare, before updating the certificate number on the Organisation Register of MyMedicare.

03 September 2024

When your practice is closed or appointments are unavailable, your patients can visit Urgent Care sites across our region for one-off care for urgent conditions which are not immediately life-threatening but should not be left untreated.

Please encourage your patients to access care in these circumstances at Urgent Care sites in Campbelltown, Liverpool, Bankstown and Gregory Hills, rather than attending their local hospital emergency department. A fifth Urgent Care site will open in Fairfield in November.

Conditions they might attend an Urgent Care site for include: suspected fractures/back slabs; access to radiology and pathology; eye concerns; sutures; IV fluids/dehydration; paediatric presentations; ECGs.

A more comprehensive list of conditions, locations and how to access Urgent Care is available on our website.

Visit our website

Urgent Care sites are intended to complement the role of primary care providers by providing short-term, episodic care.

Patients are discharged back to their regular GP for follow up, with a discharge letter and My Health Record entry.

For your regular patients or MyMedicare patients registered with your practice, information about their use of an Urgent Care site and the treatment they received will be securely provided to you or your practice to ensure any required follow-up care can be provided.

All Urgent Care sites across South Western Sydney are open seven days a week, from 8am to late.

30 August 2024

From 1 July 2025, Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) items will be changing to:

replace the current GP Management Plan and Team Care Arrangements with a single GP Chronic Condition Management Plan
support continuity of care by requiring patients registered for MyMedicare to access management plans through the practice where they are registered. Patients who aren’t registered will be able to access management plans through their usual GP
encourage management plan reviews by:
- equalising the fees for developing and reviewing plans
- requiring patients to have their plan established or reviewed in the last 18 months so they can retain access to allied health and other services
formalise referral processes for allied health services so they are more consistent with other referral arrangements
ensure patients do not lose access to their current services through transition arrangements for existing patients with GP Management Plans and Team Care Arrangements.

Upcoming changes to MBS Chronic Disease Management Arrangements | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care

New item numbers are also anticipated to outline the important role of practice nurses, Aboriginal health workers and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners in assisting GPs in the preparation of chronic conditions management plans and reviews.

To encourage more regular reviews and ongoing care, the MBS fees for planning and review items will be equalised.

Patients will also need to have their GP chronic condition management plan prepared or reviewed in the previous 18 months to access related allied health services.

New Chronic Conditions Management items also leverage MyMedicare and are likely to drive a wave of MyMedicare registrations by patients.

To support continuity of care, patients registered through MyMedicare are only able to access their GP chronic condition management plan and review items through the practice where they are registered for MyMedicare (patients not registered for MyMedicare will be able to access the items through their usual GP).

Currently 1.5 million Australians are registered for MyMedicare.

Chronic conditions management activities make up a substantial proportion of general practice activity with 2022-2023 data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare identifying that:

Almost one in six (16 per cent; 4.1 million) Australians claimed a Chronic Disease Management service
60 per cent of people (10.2 million) who visited a GP in the last 12 months had a long-term health condition

To prevent any disruptions to care, patients with an existing GP management plan and/or team care arrangement in place prior to 1 November 2024 will be able to continue to access services consistent with those plans for two years.

From 1 November 2026, a new GP chronic condition management plan will be required for ongoing access to allied health services. In addition, from 1 November 2026, a GP chronic condition management plan will be required to access domiciliary medication management reviews (items 245 and 900).

Steps to prepare your practice

Consider preparing your practice team for Chronic Conditions Management and MyMedicare patient registration:

Discuss what these changes mean with your practice team and identify activities or processes to review or update (e.g. incorporate MyMedicare registration in workflows for chronic disease/conditions management)
Register your practice for MyMedicare if you have not done so already
Encourage your patients to register with MyMedicare, particularly those with a chronic condition or existing care plan:
1. Prepare your practice team to speak about MyMedicare with patients. Discuss MyMedicare at practice meetings, print copies of the MyMedicare brochures and MyMedicare patient registration frequently asked questions for your practice team to have on hand while discussing with patients
2. MyMedicare Registration form: Include the MyMedicare Registration form and brochure with your patient consent and data collection form
3. Update your practice website: Include links to MyMedicare brochures, MyMedicare patient registration information, and MyMedicare patient registration frequently asked questions
4. Display: MyMedicare posters and brochures in your practice waiting room/reception and display MyMedicare patient videos in your waiting room screens
5. Post on socials: post about MyMedicare on your practice social media pages using these official social media tiles.

The MyMedicare communication resources for General Practice includes social media tiles, videos, brochures and posters.

South Western Sydney PHN will keep you updated with more information about these changes as they are released.

Please contact us at enquiries@swsphn.com.au for information and support.

30 July 2024

What is GPACI?

The General Practice in Aged Care Incentive (GPACI) began on 1 July 2024.

GPACI supports older people living in residential aged care homes (RACHs) to receive planned, quality primary care services from a regular general practice and GP at the patient’s aged care home rather than at the GP practice.

GPACI will replace the Practice Incentives Program (PIP) General Practitioner (GP) Aged Care Access Incentive (ACAI), which will cease 31 July 2024.

Benefits of GPACI

The key benefits of the GPACI include:

older people living in aged care will benefit from regular visits, care planning and health assessment services, leading to improved continuity of care and reduced hospitalisations
eligible providers will receive payments for services provided to older people living in aged care
eligible practices will receive funding to manage quality care in aged care settings

About incentive payments

Eligible GPs and practices registered with both MyMedicare and General Practice in Aged Care Incentive will be able to receive incentive payments.

These incentive payments are for providing regular visits and care planning to older people living in aged care.

Payments are: 

$300 per patient, per year, paid to the responsible GP
$130 per patient, per year, paid to the practice

The payments will be quarterly, in addition to existing Medicare Benefits Scheme (MBS) and Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) rebates for services delivered.

For the eligibility and servicing requirements, visit the Department of Health and Aged Care website.

Support transitioning to GP-ACI

If you need support transitioning to GP-ACI, talk to your Practice Support team member or email enquiries@swsphn.com.au

Find out more

About GP-ACI:

Resources needed to register for GP-ACI:

15 May 2024

South Western Sydney residents will benefit from a boost in funding for additional Medicare Urgent Care Clinics and a network of new Medicare Mental Health Centres – two of the standout commitments from last night’s Federal Budget.

In handing down the government’s third budget, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said overall spending on health and aged care in 2024-25 would be $146.1 billion, including investments to strengthen Medicare ($2.8 billion), deliver cheaper medicines ($4.3 billion) and invest in a fit and healthy Australia ($1.3 billion).

The government committed $227 million in last night’s budget to increase the number of Medicare Urgent Care Clinics by 29 to 87, enabling more patients to receive fully-bulk billed urgent care from GPs or nurses in more locations.

A $361 million boost over four years to the range of free mental health services was also announced, including funding for 61 walk-in Medicare Mental Health Centres, building on the established Head to Health network. The centres will provide free, walk-in access to a psychologist or psychiatrist for adults with complex and high mental health needs.

This investment includes funding Primary Health Networks to work in partnership with general practice to provide mental health nurses and other allied health workers, for free wraparound care and support to patients with complex needs, in between GP and specialist appointments.

South Western Sydney PHN Chief Executive Officer, Dr Keith McDonald PhD, said the bolstering of access to bulk-billed services both through Urgent Care Clinics and new mental health measures was welcome at a time when the cost of living was impacting access to healthcare.

Dr McDonald said the Australia Bureau of Statistics found the proportion of people who reported delaying or not going to a GP due to the cost grew from 7 per cent 2022-23 compared to 3.5 per cent in 2021-22.

“South Western Sydney was lucky enough to benefit from the opening of a Medicare Urgent Care Clinic (UCC) at Campbelltown Medical and Dental last December,” he said.

“The UCC has made it easier for local residents to access free, high quality care from highly trained GPs and nurses, while freeing up emergency departments to focus on life threatening emergencies,’’ he said.

“We’re looking forward to future announcements about the expansion of the network to additional sites across our region.”

Other announcements of note in last night’s budget include:

$91.1 million to boost the supply of healthcare in areas of shortage, including Primary Health Networks supporting health services at risk of closing.
$882.2 million to ensure older people get the medical support they need. This includes funding to upskill the residential aged care workforce and provide virtual care services, and deliver complex care for older people outside of the hospital.
From 1 August 2024, people in residential aged care will be more likely to receive quality and continuous care from a GP, with GPs and practices eligible to receive quarterly incentive payments, on top of Medicare rebates, to manage the health of their MyMedicare registered residents.
$1.4 billion to upgrade technology systems and digital infrastructure across the aged care sector in preparation for the new Aged Care Act.
$38.8 million for people aged 45 to 49 to join already eligible 50 to 74-year-olds in screening for bowel cancer by requesting a free test kit.
$598.9 million for the continuation of the National COVID-19 Vaccine Program to enable vaccinations to prevent severe COVID-19 disease.
$588.5 million over eight years for a national low intensity digital mental health service, which is free of charge and free of need for referral.
$35.9 million over four years to extend terminating mental health measures, to enhance the delivery of mental health and suicide prevention services and to provide greater funding certainty for service providers. $21 million of this will fund the PHN Targeted Regional Initiatives for Suicide Prevention (TRISP) for 2024-25.
Indexation on Medicare Benefits Schedule rebates is expected to deliver almost $900 million in additional benefits in 2024-25. This is on top of around $940 million in additional Medicare benefits already delivered in 2023-24.
Students in nursing, midwifery and social work will benefit from the establishment of a Commonwealth Prac Payment. This will support them while they undertake mandatory placements required for higher education and vocational education and training qualifications. Eligible students will be able to access $319.50 per week during their clinical and professional placement periods.

13 March 2024

GPs are invited to a series of SWSPHN-organised CPD sessions focused on managing stress, and creating a more effective and fulfilling work environment.

Four non-clinical education activities, called GP Living 101, will be held this year for general practices in our region, with topics including:

tax and property (Zoom) – 9 April
personal wellbeing (Holiday Inn, Warwick Farm) – 23 May
MyMedicare (Zoom) – 24 July
Medico-Legal (Zoom) – 11 September

GP Living 101 recognises the importance of providing holistic support to our GP workforce, which is increasingly under pressure from growing workloads.

It aims to share localised, practical advice on running practices more efficiently, and the tools to improve the wellbeing of staff.

If you would like to submit questions for the presenters before the meetings, please click this link.

GP Living 101meeting details

Webinar: Tax and property – Tuesday, 9 April, 7pm to 8.30pm

Presenter Sam Kayal, Director, Kayal Partners (chartered accountants and tax agents), will discuss:

updates on tax changes
maximising tax investment opportunities
legally managing tax affairs

Presenter Roy Halabi, GPS Properties, will discuss:

updates on where the property market is at
investment opportunities
buyer’s agent opportunities

Face-to-face, Holiday Inn Warwick Farm: Reflective writing for clinician wellbeing – Thursday, 23 May, 7pm for 7.30pm start, to 9.30pm

Presenter, Dr Hilton Koppe, author of One Curious Doctor. A Memoir of Medicine, Migration and Mortality, will offer participants the opportunity to experience the benefits of reflective writing.

During the session, brief but fun reflective writing exercises will be explained, and participants will have fun playing with words on the page.

The session aims to highlight reflective writing as an easily accessible tool which can assist in improving clinician wellbeing.

Webinar: Navigating MyMedicare, a guide for general practice – Wednesday, 24 July, 7pm to 8.30pm

Presenter Wendy O’Meara, Associate Education Consultant, will provide an overview of MyMedicare, the changes expected in 2024 and what general practice staff need to know to make the most of the program.

The session will discuss the importance of planning for the changes within the practice and provide guidance on resources to assist with preparing for the changes to maximise available incentives and improve efficiencies.

Webinar: Medico-Legal, requirements and legislation – Wednesday, 11 September, 7pm to 8.30pm

Speaker to be advised.

11 January 2024

The Department of Health and Aged Care is inviting feedback from general practices about its Strengthening Medicare reforms.

The survey comprises multiple choice questions, mainly focused on bulk billing behaviours since the tripling of the bulk billing incentive on 1 November 2023.

The survey will be sent to general practices on a quarterly basis to allow the department to measure the impact of Strengthening Medicare reforms over time, building in new policy measures as they come online.

Take the survey

Download Strengthening Medicare factsheet

12 September 2023

Are you a GP, practice nurse or healthcare professional eager to integrate telehealth into your workflow and engage with residential aged care homes (RACHs) more effectively?

SWSPHN is providing an opportunity for you to learn alongside your RACH partners via a webinar.

Webinar highlights:

Empower your practice: Discover how telehealth can enhance your practice’s outreach and impact, especially in the context of RACHs
Healthdirect unveiled: Gain insights into the user-friendly healthdirect platform, your gateway to efficient telehealth consultations
Interactive Q&A: Get answers to your specific questions and concerns during our interactive Q&A session

Dates:

Thursday, 21 September at 1pm. Register here

Friday, 22 September at 12.30pm. Register here

Information about My Medicare

The MyMedicare General Practice in Aged Care Incentive is a catalyst for a more robust and accessible aged care system, where telehealth plays a pivotal role in ensuring the wellbeing of our elderly population.

My Medicare practices will have access to longer telehealth items (Levels C, D and E) linked to MyMedicare for children under 16, pensioners and concession card holders.

Find out more about My Medicare

Register for next RACGP MyMedicare session

Register for the next in a series of three webinars about MyMedicare, delivered by the RACGP in partnership with the NSW/ACT PHNs.

The webinar will be held on Monday, 18 September, from 7pm to 8.30pm.

In the next webinar, you can expect a ‘deeper dive’ into the initiative, together with responses to some of the many questions asked at the first session.

Speakers will include:

Mr Simon Cotterell, First Assistant Secretary, Department of Health and Aged Care
Dr Walid Jammal, General Practitioner, and member of the former Strengthening Medicare Taskforce