Medicare referrals

17th August 2012

Have you checked your Medicare referrals for completeness? During previous audits many allied health providers have failed to meet referral requirements for providing services under Medicare Chronic Disease Management and Type 2 Diabetes initiatives.

For Medicare benefits to be payable the patient must be referred to an eligible allied health professional from their GP through the use of a referral form that has been issued by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing or a form that contains all the components of this form.

There are three types of referral forms for MBS services:

Individual allied health

Type 2 Diabetes group services

Follow-up services for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islanders

Referral forms must include the patient details, the referring medical practitioner details and be dated and signed by them, your provider details and the number of services allocated to you for treatment.

Referral forms must be kept for at least 24months from the date the last service was rendered.