Held payments for Medicare customers 011-25042940

• A held payment is a Medicare benefit that cannot be paid to the claimant via EFT. This is because the claimant has:
• no registered bank account with Medicare, or
• has not provided a temporary bank account with their claim
• Services Australia cannot cancel held payments

Registration of bank account in the CDMS started in 2007.

The payment of Medicare benefits by:

• cash stopped in September 2012
• cheque stopped in July 2016

The payment of Medicare benefits:

• for Medicare patient claims paid in full by the claimant are deposited using EFT into the claimant’s registered bank account
  Note: the claimant is the person (or organisation) who incurred the cost for the health service. The patient and claimant do not need to be:
• the same person, or
• on the same Medicare card
• to health professionals by Pay Doctor via Claimant cheques continues, as these are legislated in the Health Insurance Act 1973

Medicare benefits are held if the claimant has not:

• registered a bank account with Medicare, or
• provided a temporary bank account with their claim

• It is not a legislative requirement for a person to register a bank account with Medicare to enrol with Medicare
• A person can be enrolled and eligible to access Medicare services, but not have a bank account registered with Medicare
• Medicare benefits cannot be paid via EFT if a person does not have a bank account registered with Medicare

See Store, confirm and end date bank details for Medicare EFT payments for more details about requirements when registering a bank account with Medicare.

Claimant is a person

A temporary bank account can be used to get Medicare benefits. That is, for Medicare patient claims that have been fully paid by the claimant. The claimant provides bank account details with the claim, these details are not registered in CDMS for ongoing use.

Through Medicare claim channels:

• Medicare online and the Webclaim Patient claim channels, Medicare benefits can be paid via EFT using a temporary bank account. That is, if the claimant has provided the health organisation with a bank account that is submitted to Medicare within a digital Medicare claim
• paper channel, claimant can record a bank account on the Medicare Claim form (MS014) to get Medicare benefits paid via EFT for that Medicare claim

Bank accounts notified for temporary use can only be used to pay Medicare benefits for the claim they were submitted with.

Claimant is an organisation

If the:

• claimant is an organisation, the claimant cannot register a bank account with Medicare. The claimant must provide a temporary bank account using the MS014
• patient is under financial management or other guardianship orders, the claimant (the organisation) can register a bank account in CDMS for that person

The Resources page contains a link to the MS014.

See Store, confirm and end date bank details for Medicare EFT payments.

Through the Medicare Easyclaim channel, the agency pays Medicare benefits using an EFTPOS card number to identify the payment destination.

The EFTPOS card:

• is swiped by the claimant at the time the health organisation is preparing to submit a Medicare claim through the Easyclaim EFTPOS terminal
• number is not registered in CDMS for ongoing use

• The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) rejects payments if a claimant registers an invalid bank account with Medicare
• Service Officers repay rejected payments once the bank account is updated

See Medicare benefit not received (EFT dispute) to:

• identify and resolve these payments
• repay rejected payments

• Bank account are not usually registered with Medicare for children under 14 years
• From 14 July 2025, Medicare card group contacts linked to their myGov details will get a:
• myGov notification - You need to complete a task in your Medicare online account (Z3109), and
• Register a bank account for a child in your care before they turn 14 (Z3108) letter
• The notifications advise customers they can use their Medicare online account to register a bank account for children on their Medicare card, when they turn 13 years and 9 months
• The Medicare card group contact can make edits until the child turns 14 years
• The agency does not send the myGov notification (Z3109) and letter (Z3108) to some customers. The Process page contains a list of reasons why a Z3109 or Z3108 would not be sent

See Patient claims processing in Medicare for claims with claimants under 14 years.

First held payment letter

A Medicare patient claims 'We owe you money - register your bank account today!' (Z2255) letter is sent to the claimant automatically when the first payment for a claim is held. The letter is issued via the claimant’s nominated communication method, such as their:

• myGov account, or
• Medicare postal address

Subsequent held payment letter

A subsequent patient claims Z2255 issues if the customer's address is updated within a claim to an address a Z2255 has not previously been sent to.

This may occur when a Service Officer:

• actions a Latter-day adjustment (LDA)
• verifies a service for Medicare Safety Net
• processes a manual patient claim and the Medicare payment is held

The address used within the claim can mean:

• the claimant's card address is stored in CDMS
• the claimant's address transmitted within the electronic patient claim
• a temporary address entered during the processing of a manual patient claim
• a new permanent address entered during processing of a manual patient claim

Medicare held payment Medicare online account task

A myGov notification is sent to the customer with a link to a Medicare online account task to prompt them to register a bank account with Medicare if:

• a claimant has held Medicare benefits, and
• the claimant has linked Medicare services to their myGov account

The task will show the total value of Medicare benefits that are owing for that claimant.

Bank account registered for child under 14 years

From 14 July 2025 children under 14 years will get a Your Medicare details have been updated (Z3114) letter notifying them if a bank account has been registered for them by the Medicare card group contact person.

The letter explains once the child turns 14 years they can manage their own Medicare information using myGov, by:

• calling Medicare, or
• visiting a service centre

• If a bank account is registered and there are Medicare held payments recorded, all Medicare claims with a held status less than 7 years old are paid.. They are paid to the claimant within 3 days
• CDMS automatically searches and identifies new bank account daily, for claimants that have held payment/s. If new details are found, the system:
• puts the bank account into the Bank Reconciliation Electronic Funds Transfer Enquiry (BREFTE) redirect table
• processes the payment to the claimant

An organisation that has incurred the cost of a health service and wishes to submit a Medicare claim must:

• nominate themselves as the claimant, and
• provide a temporary bank account on the Medicare Claim form (MS014)

The Resources page contains a link to the MS014.

If a bank account is not provided, the payment is held. No automatic notification is sent to the organisation to advise of a Medicare held payment.

Note: claims by organisations cannot be about:

• a current compensation claim, or
• the patient’s employment

• Once an executor or administrator for an estate is identified, Medicare held payments can be released
• An:
• executor of a deceased person’s estate is a person or organisation that has been named to carry out the instructions of a will. Executors are responsible for finalising the affairs of the deceased
• administrator of a deceased person’s estate is a person or organisation appointed by the courts or by the executor to administer the deceased estate
• If there is no executor or will, generally the courts appoint an administrator of an estate
• If a customer is deceased, the Nominee and Power of Attorney (POA):
• arrangements cease
• cannot get details from Medicare about the deceased person
• do not automatically become the executor or administrator
• A statutory declaration cannot be used as authorisation for access to a deceased person's details
• There is no automatic notification sent to the estate for a deceased claimant to advise of a Medicare held payment

See Medicare claims for deceased persons.