Nurse and midwife eligibility requirements
Eligibility for nurses and midwives who claim a Medicare benefit for a service.
To claim a Medicare benefit for a service, nurses and midwives must:
- meet the qualification requirements set out in the Health Insurance (Midwife and Nurse Practitioner) Determination 2011
- be registered and authorised by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA)
- be in private practice - Nurses and midwives who are employed by a public hospital or health services aren’t eligible to claim Medicare benefits
- have a collaborative care arrangement in place.
Section 84AAF/84AAJ of the National Health Act 1953 has more information about claiming Medicare benefits, and applying for prescriber number as a nurse or midwife.
Collaborative arrangements must include at least one medical practitioner. Collaborative arrangements can’t include entities such as health services.
You can demonstrate collaborative arrangements by:
- being employed or engaged by a medical practitioner or an entity that provides medical services. These practitioners or entities must be seeing patients who have a written referral from a medical practitioner or a signed written agreement with a medical practitioner.
Page last updated: 18 September 2020
This information was printed 25 February 2021 from https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/organisations/health-professionals/services/medicare/medicare-benefits-health-professionals/eligibility-access-medicare-benefits/nurse-and-midwife-eligibility-requirements. It may not include all of the relevant information on this topic. Please consider any relevant site notices at https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/site-notices when using this material.