Bulk Bill Incentive Increase - starting 1st November 2023

Medicare has announced that from 1^st November 2023, there will be new bulk billing items with higher incentive payments for certain consultations.

GPs receive bulk-billing incentives when they bulk bill patients with either a Pensioner Concession Card, Health Care Card, Commonwealth Seniors Health Card  or patients under 16 years of age. The bulk billing incentive is not a rebate paid to you as a patient.

The new bulk billing item payments will be triple the amount of existing standard bulk billing incentive payments. Doctors can use these when bulk billing the following types of consultations:

• All face-to-face general attendance consultations that are longer than 6 minutes (that is Levels B, C, D and E) at any time (during normal hours and after-hours)
• Level B video and telephone general attendance consultations.

When this change occurs, some of our patients that fit the above criteria (e.g. Healthcare Card holders or patients under 16 years of age) may be bulk billed which will be determined by each individual practitioner.

This is likely to change as Medicare funding changes in the future.