Bulk Bill Consent / Medicare AoB

💡 From 1 July 2026, Medicare is expanding electronic Assignment of Benefit (AoB) beyond Telehealth. This change is primarily about patient consent and auditability - making sure consent is clearly captured, attributable, retained, and can be evidenced if required.

📆 Healthengine is hosting a webinar to help you prepare with all the changes pertaining to the Assignment of Benefits. We invite you to attend to prepare your practice by 1 July!

Jun 25, 2026 12:00nn AEST via Zoom
Register here

What is “Assignment of Benefit” (AoB)?
What’s changing from 1 July 2026?
Does this change apply only to telehealth?
Is patient consent for bulk billing new?
Do practices need consent for every bulk billed appointment, even if they’ve collected it before?
What happens if the patient does not agree to assign their Medicare benefit?
Healthengine product & workflow FAQs
Best Practice / Pracsoft FAQs

What is “Assignment of Benefit” (AoB)?

Assignment of Benefit (AoB) is when a patient agrees to assign their Medicare benefit directly to the health professional, so the appointment can be bulk billed (the patient generally pays $0 out of pocket for the consult and Medicare pays the provider).

What’s changing from 1 July 2026?

From 1 July 2026, Medicare is expanding electronic AoB beyond telehealth. The change is primarily about patient consent and auditability - making sure consent is clearly captured, attributable, retained, and can be evidenced if required.

Does this change apply only to telehealth?

No. The intent is that the modernised consent requirements apply to all bulk billed appointments, not just telehealth.

Is patient consent for bulk billing new?

No. Patient consent has always been required for bulk billing. The reform modernises how consent can be captured and evidenced, with a stronger focus on auditability.

Do practices need consent for every bulk billed appointment, even if they’ve collected it before?

Yes. Medicare requires the collection of patient consent for each appointment where bulk billing occurs.

What happens if the patient does not agree to assign their Medicare benefit?

If the patient does not agree to assign their Medicare benefit, they should be privately billed and provided an invoice so they can claim from Services Australia (where applicable).

How long do practices need to keep records of patient consent?

Medicare recommends retaining emails/claims/forms for at least 2 years for audit purposes.

Healthengine product & workflow FAQs

How is Healthengine supporting practices for the 1 July 2026 change?

Healthengine is updating Bulk Billing Consent / AoB so practices can capture consent digitally for any appointment type (not just telehealth), aligned to the new requirements.

Is Healthengine’s consent capture post-service or pre-service?

Post-service only (for this release): Healthengine sends the consent request after the invoice is generated and stored in the PMS. Pre-service (pre-assignment) support is a future consideration.

How does Healthengine send the consent request?

We send the consent request via SMS and email to maximise reach.

Can practices manually send a consent message (SMS/email) at any time?

No - in the Healthengine workflow, a consent form is generated once an invoice is created and stored in the PMS.

When do patients receive the SMS/email after the visit is finalised?

Today, we receive the consent request from the PMS via a snapshot generated every minute.

How long does the consent link last? Can it be resent?

Practices can resend the consent request from Practice Admin → Bulk billing consent.
We’re also adding an automated reminder after 24 hours if no response is received.
The link expires after 30 days.

What if a patient doesn’t respond before the link expires?

The practice can resend the request from Practice Admin → Bulk billing consent.

What if a patient can’t access the form ?

Ensure the patient enters their verification details exactly as stored in the PMS (first name, last name, date of birth, and gender).

If the patient still can’t complete the form, what should the practice do?

The practice should use its fallback process (e.g., paper consent) and/or provide patient-facing support instructions.

How does Healthengine verify the person clicking the link is the patient/assignor?

Patient verification is required. We follow RACGP-aligned expectations and require three points of identification before the form is displayed.

What updates are being made to the consent form/dataset?

To meet updated AoB dataset requirements, the form includes:

“Is the assignor the patient?” (Yes/No)

If “No”, we capture the required assignor details.

What will the patient click to consent?

We’re updating the form so the submit action is “I agree”, making consent clearer.

Where do practices manage consent in Healthengine?

In Practice Admin, practices can view/manage consent and (as part of these updates) see:

Summary stats (e.g., Sent/Accepted/Expired)
Last sent date/time
Number of contact attempts

Can practices configure which appointment types get a consent request?

Yes - practices can choose:

All appointment types, or
Specific appointment types (selected)

This sits under Post-service assignment preferences in Practice Admin.

What PMS integrations are supported?

Bulk Billing Consent is currently supported for:

Best Practice
Pracsoft

Best Practice / Pracsoft FAQs

For Best Practice, what does “Managed externally” mean?

Best Practice is introducing a setting to indicate whether AoB forms are managed:

Within Best Practice, or
Externally (e.g., Healthengine-managed)

If a practice wants Healthengine to manage AoB consent collection, they will generally select “Managed externally” in Best Practice.

In Best Practice, does “Generate & store” submit the claim immediately?

No. In Best Practice, Generate & store stores the invoice so it can be included in the next Online Claiming batch. Practices still submit batches via their normal Online Claiming workflow.

Will the AoB status sync back into Best Practice?

Yes - for Best Practice, once consent is completed, the AoB status is expected to update from Pending → Accepted (once BP vendor changes are available).

For Pracsoft, what happens after consent is completed?

For Pracsoft-integrated workflows, Healthengine will send a PDF copy of the completed consent back to the PMS.

When do the Best Practice-side stored procedure changes go live?

Best Practice will make the production version of the new stored procedures available on 1 July. Wording changes may deploy before then, but the BP status update capability will be available from 1 July.

Bulk Bill Consent / Medicare AoB - FAQs

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