From 1 July 2026, changes to the Assignment of Benefit (AoB) process will take effect for all Medicare bulk billed services.
The updates introduce a new approach to how patient consent is collected and recorded, with a stronger focus on clear, auditable agreements between patients and providers.
What is Assignment of Benefit?
When a service is bulk billed, the patient agrees to assign their Medicare benefit to the provider as full payment for the service. This means the patient has no out of pocket cost for that visit.
The AoB process formalises this agreement and must be completed before a Medicare claim is lodged.
What is changing?
The new process modernises how consent can be captured and removes reliance on older paper-based methods.
Key updates include:
- No verbal consent – Verbal assignment of benefit will no longer be permitted, including for telehealth services.
- Flexible timing for consent – Patient consent can be collected before or after a service, but must be obtained before a Medicare claim is submitted.
- No mandatory form – Practices are no longer required to use an approved paper form, provided the agreement includes the required information set out in legislation.
- Patient signature required – A physical or electronic signature from the patient, or a responsible person, is required. Signatures must be identifiable and auditable.
- Practitioner signature removed – Clinicians no longer need to co-sign AoB agreements.
- Record keeping requirements – Practices must retain a copy of each completed AoB agreement for two years and provide it to the patient if requested.
Why these changes are being introduced
The updates follow a review of Medicare processes, which identified risks with verbal consent and inconsistencies in how assignment of benefit was documented.
The Australian Government is introducing these changes to strengthen compliance, improve transparency for patients, and modernise Medicare billing systems.
What this means for practices
These changes will affect how practices manage their billing and consent workflows.
Practices may need to review:
- patient consent processes
- billing and claiming workflows
- software capability for digital consent
- record keeping procedures
Early guidance indicates there will be a focus on education and support during implementation, with an emphasis on helping providers understand and meet the updated requirements.
Learn more
More detailed information is available below:
