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Recording Medicare card numbers for the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and Medicare Safety Net 101-06100030

This document outlines information for Centrelink staff about the recording of Medicare numbers for the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme (PBS) and Medicare Safety Net.

Recording Medicare card numbers

Step	Action
1	Initial customer contact + Read more ... Customer contacts Centrelink after receiving a letter to: supply their Medicare card number for Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) purposes, or provide or withhold consent for their previously recorded Medicare card number to be sent to Medicare Australia for PBS purposes Note: Use the Medicare Details Update guided procedure to record Medicare card numbers Customers may also contact to provide their Medicare card number without having received a request to do so For information on recording Medicare card numbers for Child Care Subsidy (CCS) and Family Tax Benefit (FTB), see establishing a link for an individual with the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR)
2	Medicare Number Details screen + Read more ... Go to the Medicare Number Details (MND) screen. If the customer has a partner and/or one or more dependent children, the system will go to the Medicare Number Summary (MNS) screen instead. 'S'elect the entry from the MNS screen for the record to be updated. Only one selection can be made at a time.
3	Customer contact for PBS purposes + Read more ... Is the customer contacting Centrelink to provide their Medicare card number for PBS purposes? Yes, go to Step 4 No, go to Step 5
4	Customer is contacting Centrelink to provide their Medicare card number + Read more ... On the MND screen, enter the following fields: Medicare No: the 10 digit Medicare card number for the customer Ref: the Individual Reference Number for the Medicare card number. This number is located on the left side of the card directly next to the customer's name. If the Reference Number is not available, enter '0' Event Date: today's date Status: 'COL' for collected If this field is left blank, the system will automatically set the Status Code to 'COL' Complete the Source and DOR Press [Enter] to go to the MNS screen Finalise the activity on the Assessment Results (AR) screen Procedure ends here.
5	Customer contact regarding consent + Read more ... Customer is contacting Centrelink to provide or withhold consent to releasing their Medicare card number to Medicare. If the customer does not hold a Medicare card because they do not meet Australian residence requirements, manually record a DCL (declined). On the MND screen, enter the following fields: Event Date: today's date Status: 'DCL' for 'Declined' or 'CON' for 'Consent' Complete the Source and DOR Press [Enter] to go to the MNS screen Finalise the activity on the Assessment Results (AR) screen