Changes to the assignment of benefit process

• An AoB agreement may be presented in any format (paper or electronic). There is no prescribed template or mandatory form.
• An agreement must include the required ‘data set’. This is outlined in subsection 65C(4) of the Health Insurance Amendment (Assignment of Medicare Benefits and Other Measures) Regulations 2025.
• Consent can be obtained before or after a service is rendered (pre- and post-assignment) but must be prior to a claim being submitted. 
• If the service provided is different from what has been assigned under an episodic pre-service agreement, a new AoB agreement will need to be obtained which reflects the service rendered.
• The ‘data set’ required for a post-service AoB agreement is different to a pre-service AoB agreement. For all post-service agreements, the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) item number/s must be recorded in the agreement.
• One agreement can be used where a patient receives multiple services from the same practitioner on the same day.
• Practitioners don’t need to sign the agreement, but consent will need to be sought from the patient or responsible person and recorded. During the initial 12-month transition period, verbal consent to the agreement will be adequate.
• Practitioners are required to keep a copy of completed AoB agreements for two years and must provide a copy to the patient upon request.
• If a patient is unable to sign an AoB agreement (eg those in residential aged care), an assignor (i.e. parent, partner, carer, relative, person with power of attorney or friend) could be asked to sign the agreement.

Improving the assignment of benefit process

Assignment of Medicare Benefits for Bulk Billing – Frequently Asked Questions

Services Australia – Assignment of benefit

Assignment of Medicare Benefits for Simplified Billing – Frequently Asked Questions

Health Insurance Amendment (Assignment of Medicare Benefits and Other Measures) Regulations 2025

Health Insurance Amendment (Enduring Agreements) Regulations 2026

Best Practice – Modernising the Assignment of Benefit Process

Best Practice – The Immense Impact of Assignment of Benefit on your Practice

The following templates are available as editable PDFs, however their use is not mandatory. While they can be used to make an assignment agreement, they are also guides to the requirements of custom forms which are enabled under the updated assignment of benefit legislation.

Episodic pre-assignment of benefit templates:

Assignment of Medicare Benefits for Bulk Billing – Episodic Pre-agreement (All MBS Services)

Assignment of Medicare Benefits for Bulk Billing – Episodic Pre-agreement (Diagnostic Imaging)

Enduring agreement templates:

Assignment of Medicare Benefits for Bulk Billing – MyMedicare Patients

Assignment of Medicare Benefits for Bulk Billing – Residential Aged Care Home Patients

Assignment of Medicare Benefits for Bulk Billing – ACCHO and AMS Patients

Services Australia has also published updated versions of the following forms, which may be used to document a post-assignment agreement:

Bulk bill voucher – electronically transmitted claims form (DB4E)

Assignment of benefit Medicare bulk bill Webclaim form (DB020)

The RACGP has held the following webinars to update members on changes to the assignment of benefit process and transitional arrangements from 1 July 2026.

24 June 2026 webinar – with software vendors

14 July 2026 webinar – with the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing