Revealed: Details of the 12.5% Medicare loading payment for universal bulk-billing

The health department is waiving MyMedicare's accreditation requirements for practices seeking the bulk-billing loading payment.

GP practices will not need to be accredited to receive the Federal Government’s new incentive payments for universal bulk-billing, health officials say.

Alongside extending tripled bulk-billing incentives to all patients, a 12.5% loading payment for the main Medicare items is a fundamental part of the Federal Government’s pledge to boost the number of fully bulk-billing practices to around 4800 by 2029.

Revenue from this loading, which could be around $200,000 a year for a typical five doctor practice, will be split between the GPs and the practice itself.

The government says all GPs at the practice will have to bulk-bill all of their claims for a defined set of MBS services to generate the 12.5% loading.