Important: Assignment of Benefits Changes - 1 July 2026

The Australian Government has updated the way patients provide consent for bulk billing. These changes are designed to make it clearer how your appointment is billed and to ensure your Medicare benefit is only assigned with your permission.

From 1 July 2026, you may receive an SMS, email, or push notification from HotDoc requesting your consent for Medicare bulk billing.

Providing consent allows your Medicare benefit to be assigned to the practice and processed as a bulk-billed service.

Please note:

• Consent requests are now mostly digital.

• Verbal consent is no longer accepted.

• You may be sent a consent request before or after your appointment.

• You may receive a second request if billing details change or if you do not respond to the original request.

• We are unable to bulk bill your consultation unless consent is provided.

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If consent is not completed, or if the Assignment of Benefit is not signed, the consultation cannot be processed as a bulk-billed service and a private bill will need to be issued for payment.

If you are ever unsure whether a message is genuine, please contact our practice before clicking any links. Assignment of Benefit messages will be sent from HotDoc’s registered number: +61 4 0959 3783.