Medicare Archives - Illawarra Medical Centre

What is MyMedicare and do I need to register?

walrus — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 04:04:27 +0000

MyMedicare was recently introduced by the Australian Government as a way to help strengthen Medicare and allow eligible patients to receive a more personalised and tailored approach from their regular health care provider.

In this month’s blog, we take a closer look at how MyMedicare works, the benefits it can provide, and how to register Illawarra Medical Centre (IMC) as your regular care team.

What is MyMedicare?

MyMedicare is a voluntary patient registration model that formalises the relationship between a patient and their GP, general practice and primary care teams.

It has been introduced by the Australian Government as a way to strengthen Medicare. It allows for a more personalised, tailored approach to the healthcare of patients from their regular general practice, doctor and primary care team.

Who is eligible to register?

MyMedicare is open to all Australians with a Medicare card or a Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) Veteran Card. You must have had two or more face-to-face appointments with your regular registered practice or health care provider over the last 24 months or at least one face-to-face appointment if you are in a remote location.

Those facing hardship, including people experiencing domestic and family violence and homelessness, do not need to meet the eligibility requirements to register for MyMedicare.

Children under the age of 14 years must be registered by a parent or guardian. This registration needs to completed at the patient’s chosen practice; however, those aged 14-17 years can register themselves without needing the consent of a parent or guardian.

Registering with MyMedicare is completely free and voluntary and your quality of care will not be impacted if you choose not to register.

What are the benefits?

When you register, your health care provider will be notified that you have chosen them as your regular care team. Your registration will then allow them to access services and additional funding to help provide you with the care you need.

MyMedicare essentially enables you to formalise the relationship you have with your regular GP and general practice and allows for greater continuity of care.

Research indicates that seeing the same health care provider generally leads to better health outcomes for patients, including fewer hospital admissions and lower mortality rates.

It will also allow for longer Medicare funded telehealth consults with your GP, as well as triple bulk billing incentives for longer telehealth consultations for children under 16, pensioners, and concession care holders.

Additional benefits that will be introduced over the coming year include:

more regular visits from their GP and better care planning for those living in a residential aged care home, from August 2024
connections to more appropriate care in general practice for people with chronic disease who visit hospital frequently, from mid-2024.

The benefits of MyMedicare are expected to continue to grow over time, as more patients and providers sign up.

How do I register?

You can register for MyMedicare through your online account or through your regular general practice.

When registering, you will be able to choose to register with:

an accredited general practice;
an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service;
an Aboriginal Medical Service;
a nurse practitioner-led practice with a GP; or
another non-traditional practice that meets the healthcare provider registration and eligibility criteria.

Before you register with MyMedicare, however, you will need to make sure that your chosen practice is registered.

Once you have registered with your regular practice, you will then be able to select your preferred GP.

It’s important to note that while you will still be able to access other Medicare and DVA equivalent services from other healthcare providers, you will only be able to access the benefits of MyMedicare at your registered regular general practice.

You will, however, be able to change or update both your preferred GP or practice at any time once you are registered.

To find out more information on how to register with MyMedicare, visit Services Australia.

How to register with Illawarra Medical Centre

Illawarra Medical Centre is currently registered as a MyMedicare practice and you can register IMC as your regular care team in MyMedicare via this QR Code.

Your quality of care at Illawarra Medical Centre will not be impacted if you choose not to register with MyMedicare.

For more information, visit https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/mymedicare or contact us on (08) 9208 6400.

For more information on this topic, visit:

Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care – https://www.health.gov.au/our-work/mymedicare
Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care; Ministers; the Hon Mark Butler MP – https://www.health.gov.au/ministers/the-hon-mark-butler-mp/media/building-a-stronger-medicare-with-mymedicare-now-open-to-patients?language=en
Services Australia – https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/register-for-mymedicare?context=22751

The post What is MyMedicare and do I need to register? appeared first on Illawarra Medical Centre.

Medicare Safety Net

walrus — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 09:30:29 +0000

If you and your family have a lot of medical expenses throughout the year, the Medicare Safety Net could help you to save on your annual health care costs. In this month’s blog, we take a look at how the Medicare Safety Net works and how you can register for it.

What is Medicare?

Before we get to the Medicare Safety Net, we need to understand a bit about Medicare itself.

Medicare was first introduced in 1984 as a universal health insurance scheme for Australia. It was designed to assist all Australians with the costs of the health care they need, regardless of where they live or their ability to pay.

When you access eligible health services, including visiting your GP or specialist or undertaking certain tests and scans, Medicare provides a rebate to you – the patient – to assist covering the total cost of the health service provided.

Bulk billing is when the doctor or health care provider accepts the Medicare rebate directly for the services provided to patients, resulting in no out-of-pocket expense to the patient.

However, when bulk billing is not applied, patients are required to pay an out-of-pocket or gap fee to cover the difference between the healthcare provider’s cost for service and the Medicare rebate. This is where the Medicare Safety Net can come in handy for those who have a lot of health care expenses throughout the calendar year.

This video from Services Australia provides a brief overview of the Medicare system>>

What is the Medicare Safety Net?

The Medicare Safety Net is a scheme put in place to help people pay for their out-of-pocket medical expenses.

Medicare automatically adds up your out-of-pocket costs for the calendar year, from 1^st January to 31^st December. When you reach prediksi togel a certain amount, Medicare will give you a higher amount back.

It’s important to note that your doctor visits or tests will still cost you the same up-front. The Medicare Safety Net simply means that you will receive a greater rebate back from Medicare for those visits and tests, once you’ve reached the relevant threshold.

For example:
You see your GP for a Standard Consultation and are charged the private fee of $85.00 and receive the Medicare rebate of $39.75. Your out-of-pocket cost for this appointment is $45.25

If you have reached the Medicare Safety Net threshold, however, you will still pay the private fee of $85.00 but you now receive a Medicare rebate of $39.75 + 80% of the out-of-pocket cost ($36.20). This means your total out-of-pocket cost for this appointment is only $9.05.

What Are the Safety Net Thresholds

The Medicare Safety Net has a number of thresholds in place and only verified payments (i.e. when you pay for your health professional service in full, before you make a claim with Medicare) count towards the threshold.

Some services are capped, so you cannot claim more than a certain amount. These include:

Assisted reproductive technology
Obstetric services
Pregnancy ultrasounds
Midwifery services
Certain procedures
Certain consultations

The threshold amounts are set each year from 1 January. The current safety net thresholds for 2023 are as follows.

Thresholds	Threshold Amount	Who It’s For	What Counts Towards the Threshold	What Benefit You’ll Get Back
Original Medicare Safety Net (OMSN)	$531.70	Everyone in Medicare	Your gap amount for the calendar year	100% of the schedule fee for out of hospital services
Extended Medicare Safety Net (EMSN) – General	$2,414.00	Everyone in Medicare	Your out-of-pocket amount for the calendar year	80% of out-of-pocket costs or the EMSN benefit caps for out of hospital services
Extended Medicare Safety Net (EMSN) – Concessional and Family Tax Benefit Part A	$770.30	Concession cardholders and families eligible for Family Tax Benefit Part A	Your out-of-pocket amount for the calendar year	80% of out-of-pocket costs or the EMSN benefit caps for out of hospital services

Who Is Eligible?

If you’re enrolled in Medicare, you’re eligible for Medicare Safety Nets.

You don’t need to register for the Medicare Safety Net if you’re an individual with no dependants. Medicare will automatically keep a tally of your out-of-pocket and gap amounts and will pay the higher Medicare benefits when you reach your threshold.

If you’re part of a family or couple, however, you can combine your costs by registering as a family.

A family is defined as:

a married couple, not separated, with or without dependants;
a couple in a de facto relationship, with or without dependants; or
a single person with dependants.

A dependant is someone the family supports financially and is either a child under 16 years of age or a full-time student aged between 16 and 25 years.

For more information on this topic, visit:

Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care – https://www.health.gov.au/topics/medicare/about/safety-nets
Australian Patients Association – https://www.patients.org.au/medicare-safety-nets/
Health Direct – https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/medicare-safety-net
Services Australia – https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/medicare-safety-nets

The post Medicare Safety Net appeared first on Illawarra Medical Centre.