1 November 2025 MBS updates

Changes to Bulk Billing Incentive items

• From 1 November, all Medicare-eligible patients will be eligible for Medicare bulk billing incentives.
• This will be achieved by updating the item descriptors for all Group M1 bulk billing incentive items (10990, 10991, 10992, 75855, 75856, 75857, 75858, 75870, 75871, 75872, 75873, 75874, 75875, 75876, 75880, 75881, 75882, 75883, 75884 and 75885) to remove references to children under 16 and concession card holders.
• These changes do not affect the Bulk Billing Incentives for diagnostic imaging or pathology services.
• For more information on the change in eligibility for bulk billing incentives, see the MBS Online fact sheet Changes to Bulk Billing Incentive Items from 1 November 2025.
• From 1 November practices will also be able to participate in the Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program (BBPIP), providing additional funding where practices bulk bill all patients. Practices do not need to be participating in the BBPIP to bill the expanded bulk billing incentive items.
• Resources for RACGP members, including recordings from seven educational webinars and informative posters for practices, are available on the RACGP webpage on November changes to Medicare.

Changes to telehealth

• From 1 November, patients will be able to satisfy the established clinical relationship requirement for telehealth consultations by being registered for MyMedicare with the consulting practice. Patients who are not registered for MyMedicare will continue to require a face-to-face visit in the previous 12 months with their GP and/or practice to be eligible for telehealth consultations.
• Mental health consultations conducted via telehealth are no longer exempt from the established clinical relationship requirement. Patients seeking mental health consultations via telehealth will need to be registered with the practice under MyMedicare or have seen the GP (or another health professional at that practice) face-to-face in the last 12 months. This change does not apply to Focused Psychological Strategies consultations which remain exempt from the established clinical relationship requirement.
• Nurse practitioner MBS telehealth items will be subject to the established clinical relationship requirement.
• For more information please see the MBS face sheet Medical Practitioners – Non-Referred MBS Telehealth Services

Changes to the Better Access Scheme

From 1 November there will be several changes to the Better Access scheme which are outlined below:

• Mental Health Treatment Plans (MHTPs) must now be completed by the patient’s MyMedicare registered practice or the patient’s usual medical practitioner (the GP who has provided the majority of services to the person in the past 12 months or, who is likely to provide the majority of services to the person in the following 12 months).
• MBS items 2713 (attendance related to a mental disorder) and 2712 (review of a GP MHTP) and their telehealth equivalents will be removed from the MBS. GPs will instead be required to conduct mental health consultations and GP MHTP reviews using standard consultation items. Where these services are bulk billed, the tripled bulk billing incentive can be claimed.
• Referrals for mental health treatment services dated prior to 1 November 2025 remain valid until all treatment services under that referral (within the maximum session limit for the course of treatment) have been provided to the patient.
• For more information, see the MBS Online fact sheet Changes to the Better Access initiative – General Practitioners and Prescribed Medical Practitioners.

New and amended items for long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC)

From 1 November there will be several changes to existing LARC items and a new LARC item will be created.

• Schedule fees for the following MBS items are increasing:
  • 35503 - 85% rebate increasing from $79.55 to $183.60
  • 35506 - 75% rebate increasing from $46.95 to $100.85
  • 14206 - 85% rebate increasing from $35.30 to $85.3530062 
  • 85% rebate increasing from $60.25 to $89.40
• A new MBS item (MBS item 35501) will be introduced to provide a loading of 40% of the fee for the relevant LARC insertion/removal item/s, when a patient’s LARC insertion or removal service and any consultation or other MBS items associated with providing the service are bulk billed.
• The item descriptor for items 35503 and 35506 will be amended to add a reference to new MBS item 35501.
• The descriptor for item 30062 will be amended to remove reference to ‘as an independent procedure’.

For further information, please see the MBS online fact sheet New and amended items for long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC).

Changes to skin excision MBS items

From 1 November 2025, there will be amendments to the following MBS items to include healing by secondary intention. Healing by secondary intention means that the wound is left open to heal naturally, instead of repairing the wound by suture, skin flap or skin graft. When a wound is left open to heal naturally (i.e. by secondary intention), only the relevant skin excision item should be claimed by a provider.

For more information, please see the MBS Online fact sheet Skin excision items – inclusion of healing by secondary intention