Amend address in the Consumer Directory Maintenance System (CDMS) for Medicare 011-40060050

Services Australia is committed to helping customers experiencing family and domestic violence by providing information, referrals, and support. A Service Officer's role is to:

• identify family and domestic violence concerns
• respond appropriately by offering referrals to available resources, social workers, or other service providers
• guide customers through actions they can take to protect their privacy and safety when interacting with the agency
• offer agency support by discussing payments and services customers may be able to access, and
• appropriately document family and domestic violence concerns on customer's records

See Family and domestic violence for more details.

Service Officers should advise customers that information used for their Centrelink, Child Support and Medicare payments and services is not routinely shared within Services Australia. The customer may need to contact Centrelink, Child Support or Medicare to update their details.

Any adult person enrolled on a Medicare card can request an address change. It is not necessary for the Group Contact to request the address change. However, Service Officers must confirm that the address change applies to all members on the card where the request indicates the change:

• relates only to an individual on the card, or
• has come from a young adult aged 15 years or older who is on the same card as their parents

Where the Service Officer has confirmed the address change applies to all persons on the card, they can proceed with the address change.

Where the address change does not apply to all persons on the card, Service Officers must tell the person requesting the address change to transfer off the existing card and onto a card of their own. See, Copy or transfer a person or child to another Medicare card.

The Resources page contains a link to the 'Application to copy or transfer from one Medicare card to another (MS011)' form.

Note:

• it is not a requirement to enter both a mailing and a residential address in CDMS. Where the customer only provides a mailing (postal) address such as a post office box, this can be entered in CDMS as the mailing address without having to provide the residential address
• when changing the address for a Medicare card in the Group Address field in CDMS, the address will automatically amend in the Personal Mailing Address field for each person enrolled on the Medicare card
• when processing a change of address, it is not normal procedure to issue a replacement card as the address is not on the Medicare card

A person (aged 15 years and older) may be enrolled on a Medicare card with children who are also copied onto another Medicare card.

Service Officers must not enter a residential address for children in the Residential Address field in the Personal tab in CDMS, where:

• a request to change the address associated with the Medicare card is received, and
• the card number includes children copied onto another Medicare card

Note: residential addresses are not entered in CDMS for any person. Customers only need to provide a mailing (postal) address.

Online requests

Customers can change their postal and residential address details online by using their:

• Medicare online account (MOA) through myGov, or
• Express Plus Medicare mobile app

Customers who do not have a Medicare online account will need to create a myGov online account and link Medicare service to it. See How customers create a myGov account and link services.

Customers will see information about family and domestic violence when they enter the online service.

Where there are multiple persons on a card, the online service:

• tells customers:
• a Medicare card can only have one postal address and if the new postal address is not for everyone on the card, a new Medicare card and number is required
• they can update their new postal address when they apply for their own Medicare card
• stops customers from updating their postal address if the update is not for everyone on the Medicare card

The Resources page contains a link to a user guide to help customers update their personal details online.

Requests made in person

There are several ways a customer can request a change of address in person at a service centre.

The customer can:

• provide a signed written request
• submit a patient claim using a Medicare claim form (MS014) (claimant included on Medicare card)
• be authenticated by a Service Officer, see Authenticating a Medicare customer

Note: if the address does not match Australia Post's Delivery Point Identifier (DPID) the message 6-NO DPID displays. Service Officers must check the address details are correct and update the record with the DPID address where possible.

Mail requests

A request by mail for change of address must be in one of the following formats:

• Signed written request - this must include the Medicare card number or sufficient information to identify the person requesting the change of address on the Medicare card.
  Where it is not possible to identify the Medicare card number, Service Officers must make further contact with the customer by phone or mail. This applies where the customer has provided a contact number or address. If unable to contact the customer by phone or mail, the request will not be actioned
• Medicare claim form - claimant must be included on the Medicare card

Note: where the customer's address does not match the Australia Post's Delivery Point Identifier (DPID) address allocated by the system the message 6-NO DPID displays. Service Officers must check the address details are correct and update the record with the DPID address where possible.

Telephone requests

When a request for change of address is made by telephone, Service Officers must:

• authenticate the customer before changing the address, see Authenticating a Medicare customer
• complete the address update in the Medicare Eligibility and Enrolments (MEE) Portal if the customer's digital Medicare enrolment (DME) application is not processed and they are not registered in CDMS. See the Process page for details

Note: if the address does not match Australia Post's Delivery Point Identifier (DPID) the message 6-NO DPID displays. Service Officers must check the address details are correct and update the record with the DPID address where possible.

Service Officers must:

• not record overseas addresses in the Group Address field or the Personal Mailing Address field in CDMS
• establish a person's eligibility for Medicare where a request is received to change a person's address to an overseas address. It may be that the person is either:
• not eligible for Medicare
• is an Australian citizen who is now residing overseas
• an Australian migrant or New Zealand citizen who is enrolled in Medicare but is now residing overseas, or
• a visitor from a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement (RHCA) country who has incurred medical expenses whilst being in Australia, but has since returned home

For help on how to determine a person's eligibility, see Medicare eligibility for enrolments.

For some address changes, Service Officers cannot select the Validate option in CDMS. This is because the standardised address is too long to store.

If this occurs, select the Continue option.

The address fields in CDMS are:

• embellishment line, used for:
• care of ('c/o')
• rural property names
• complex names, for example, apartment
• building and shopping centre names
• address line 1 (mandatory)
• locality, state, and postcode

Note: when overriding:

• Use the slash '/' to signify an address that includes a Flat or Unit Number only
• Use the dash '-' to show a 'Ranged Address' (an address that includes a number range). It should have no spaces between the dash and the numbers. For example, 142-146 Smith St
• Do not use full stops or commas. For example, use RMB 2010 and PO Box
• Address lines are limited to 24 characters. It might be necessary to enter the appropriate abbreviations

In CDMS, a customer may have a:

• residential address
• mailing address

If the customer has an entitlement to Medicare, there will also be a group address.

The Resources page contains a table outlining the effect of updating each address type.

A Production Control address should only be used in limited situations, for example:

• to prevent a Medicare card from being produced and sent to an incorrect address after an unauthorised address change has been made. Note: Service Officers can update the address following Authenticating a Medicare customer. See also, Unauthorised Medicare activity
• For some RHCA customers. See Reciprocal Health Care Agreements (RHCA) eligibility for Medicare and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS)

Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme

When a group address is changed in CDMS, the change automatically updates in Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) records during overnight processing.

Australian Immunisation Register

The Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) has records for people of all ages living in Australia where the Medicare card number is:

• known - Personal Identification Number (PIN) records
• not known or the individual does not have a Medicare card number – Supplementary Identification Number (SIN) records

PIN records

When a customer's residential or mailing address is changed in CDMS, there is no effect on AIR records for PIN records.

When a group address changes in CDMS, the change automatically updates in AIR records for PIN children during overnight processing.

Note: if advice is received over the phone that an AIR address is incorrect, the AIR Service Officer will update the group address via CDMS. This updates in AIR records during overnight processing.

SIN records

For SIN records, the merge or match process occurs where the Consumer Directory (the back end of the CDMS) is updated with AIR records. See Merge or match individual records and SIN records in Australian Immunisation Register (AIR).

For a SIN record, where a registration:

• does not exist in the Consumer Directory (CD), an automatic weekly process causes the CD to update with AIR details
• exists in the CD, AIR passes address updates to the CD within 5 minutes of the AIR update

Australian Organ Donor Register

Australian Organ Donor Register (AODR) processing takes place in CDMS, any address changes are immediately available.

Compensation Recovery

When an address is changed in CDMS, it does not change the address in the Compensation Case Management System.

Note: Compensation Recovery Service Officers follow manual procedures to ensure the compensable person's address is up to date.

Address re-standardisation in CDMS started on 28 August 2010. This:

• is an automated process of address matching and re-standardisation to all CDMS addresses
• results in changes to some addresses to ensure alignment with Australia Post standards

See, DPID matching for Medicare enrolments.

The implementation of Address validation software helps to ensure accurate recording of customer addresses. This is achieved by displaying a drop down list of suggested addresses from the Australia Postal address files (PAF) based on the characters entered by the Service Officer. Address validation software only applies to Australian addresses.

When the address is validated, CDMS will assign a Delivery point identifier (DPID). A DPID is a numeric address identifier which is recognised with Australia Post.

Note: Service Officers must attempt to match address data when recording or amending an address in CDMS.

Concerned customers may contact about a change to their address. Service Officers should advise that the address was changed to meet Australia Post standards.

If the updated address is found to be incorrect, re-key the correct address in CDMS.

For more details, contact the Provider Directory System (PDS) and CDMS Helpdesk.

The following scenarios may occur where CDMS allows the Service Officer to override and enter the address details provided by the customer:

• The address may not validate due to an address located in a remote area or a newly listed suburb
• A customer advising an address that differs slightly in CDMS resulting in a conflict in an adjoining suburb or locality may be given. Note: CDMS will not accept a location that is not in the same state
• The customer strongly objects to their address details being varied to match the validated address in CDMS
• A customer might have concerns about a change to their address. Service Officers should advise that addresses are automatically validated quarterly to meet Australia Post standards. The address can be changed if the customer strongly objects to the change

If a new postcode needs to be added to CDMS, contact the Medicare Consumers Program Support team.