We hold a patients Medicare benefit if we don’t have their correct bank details. We’ll do this until they’ve given them to us.
Currently, around $200 million in Medicare payments is owed to more than 880,000 people. Most of these held payments are for claims submitted electronically on the patient’s behalf.
What you need to do
Before you submit a claim, please check the patient or claimant has given their bank details to Medicare. Let them know they won’t be paid if they haven’t.
Each person over 14 years old listed on a Medicare card needs to provide their bank details separately.
How to claim for children aged over 14
If you’re submitting a claim for a child who’s 14 years or over, check they’ve given their bank details to Medicare.
If the child’s parent is paying for the service, make sure you put the parent down as the claimant instead of the patient.
How patients can update their bank details
Patients can add their bank account details to Medicare using either:
- their Medicare online account through myGov
- the Express Plus Medicare mobile app.
They need to give us their details for Medicare, even if they’ve already done this for Centrelink.
Next steps
Read more about getting Medicare benefits and why we need bank details.
Read more news for health professionals.