Bulk bill incentive items in Medicare 011-43030030

Bulk bill incentive items are available for General Practitioners (GP) can be claimed where:

• the service provided is bulk billed, and
• the person is under 16 years of age or is a Commonwealth concession card holder

Bulk bill incentive items can be claimed in accordance with the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) item descriptions.

A patient is considered to be concessional if they are under 16 years of age or are the holder of, or listed on, a Commonwealth concession card at the date of service.

The following concession cards entitle General Practitioners (GP) to claim a bulk bill incentive payment.

• Centrelink
• Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC)
• Health Care Card (HCC)
• Pensioner Concession Card (PCC)
• Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA)
• Pensioner Concession Card (PCC)
• Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC)

Note: Gold or White Cards issued by DVA do not attract the additional bulk bill incentive payment. However, if a Gold or White Card holder also holds a recognised Commonwealth concession card and chooses to be treated under the Medicare arrangements, then that patient is an eligible concession card holder.

A provider can check a patients concession through Health Professional Online Services (HPOS) using a Medicare Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Individual Certificate, Concessional Verification checking through Medicare Online/Easyclaim or by contacting Services Australia on 132 150.

Services Australia can release a patient's concessional entitlement status to a provider if they have the patient's consent and have explained to the patient why they need this information.

A patient’s concessional eligibility can be displayed in the patient history enquiry screen (via Mainframe) or for further details, Service Officers can query the PBS concessional information.