From 1 November 2025, changes will be introduced to the Better Access to Psychiatrists, Psychologists and General Practitioners through the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) initiative.
These changes, consistent with recommendations from the Better Access Evaluation in 2022, aim to:
- Improve equity of access to mental health supports and services.
- Strengthen the holistic relationship between patients and their healthcare providers.
- Reduce administrative burden and complexity for GPs and Prescribed Medical Practitioners by allowing greater flexibility through time-tiered general attendance MBS items for mental health treatment plan reviews, referrals, and consultations.
The updates will:
- Enhance continuity of care by linking mental health treatment plans, reviews, and referrals to a patient’s MyMedicare practice or usual medical practitioner.
- Better integrate physical and mental health care by removing specific MBS items for mental health plan reviews and consultations, enabling use of general attendance items instead.
- Provide guidance material to support best-practice referral and review processes aligned with the Australian Government’s stepped care model.
For the specific details on what the changes are that impact you, including the PDFs and fact sheets, visit MBS Online – Better Access changes from 1 November 2025.
See below for an example patient journey scenario
A patient with no previous mental health disorder visits their GP for support. The GP conducts a mental health assessment and diagnoses a mental disorder. In this case, the GP determines the patient has at least moderate mental health support intervention needs and therefore deems it appropriate to prepare a Mental Health Treatment Plan and a referral to access Better Access services. The GP will continue to use existing MBS items to prepare the mental health treatment plan.
To claim a Medicare benefit a patient can EITHER see:
- a General Practitioner or Prescribed Medical Practitioner at their MyMedicare registered practice, or
- their usual medical practitioner (regardless of their MyMedicare registered status). This includes other GPs and PMPs who are employed at the patient’s usual medical practice location.
For a patient to be eligible for telehealth (video and phone) services for the preparation of a MHTP under Better Access, patients must have had at least 1 face-to-face appointment in the previous 12 months with a GP or PMP at their usual medical practice or meet any of the other exemptions to the established clinical relationship rule or are receiving their telehealth service from a GP or PMP at their MyMedicare regstered practice. Further information on telehealth requirements and exemptions is available at MBS Online - MBS Telehealth Services.
The GP provides the patient with an initial referral for up to 6 individual services with a clinical psychologist. As already mentioned, there are no changes to existing Better Access treating practitioner or allied health professional MBS items. The clinical psychologist will continue to use existing MBS items to deliver these mental health treatment services.
At the completion of the initial course of treatment, the clinical psychologist will provide a written report back to the referring GP, and includes the following information:
- assessments carried out on the patient,
- treatment provided, and
- recommendations on future management of the patient’s condition.
After the initial course of treatment, the patient returns to their referring GP. The GP reviews the Mental Health Treatment Plan and assesses the need for further services if required, in conjunction with the clinical psychologist’s report. A review of a patient’s mental health treatment plan should not occur more than once every 3 months, or within 4 weeks of the MHTP or PAMP being prepared, unless there are exceptional circumstances. An exceptional circumstance is when a patient has had a significant change in their mental health condition. In this case, to support their care, a GP should review the MHTP or PAMP at least once per course of treatment. Typically, a patient will not need more than 2 reviews in a calendar year.
From 1 November 2025, mental health treatment plan reviews and referrals will be undertaken using time-tiered (general) attendance items. This means a patient can receive a Medicare benefit based on the length of time they spend with the GP, and enables them to receive treatment for both their physical and mental health needs in the one appointment.
