Check Medicare Card for Bulk Bill eligibility

Use the Check Medicare Card for Bulk Bill Eligibility window to help manage your patients' Medicare cards.

To view a list of patients and their Medicare details recorded in Communicare, select Tools > Check Medicare Card Eligibility.

The Check Medicare Card for Bulk Bill Eligibility window displays the patient details, their Medicare card details and the validation code for the Medicare card of this patient.
Example Check Medicare Card for Bulk Bill Eligibility window
The Medicare card details can be in one of the following states:
  • Unknown - the card has never been validated with Medicare Australia
  • Invalid (code) - the Medicare card is invalid for the reason provided. The reason code is provided in the Online Code field and the details are provided in the Medicare Australia Error Text Message field.
  • Valid - Medicare Australia validated this Medicare card for bulk billing purposes
To check the status of all Medicare cards:
  1. In the Check Medicare Card for Bulk Bill Eligibility window, click Check the Medicare Card for Bulk Bill Eligibility caretCheck the Medicare Card for Bulk Bill Eligibility caret.
  2. Select one of the following options:
    • Check all Invalid Medicare Cards
    • Check all Medicare Cards (Including the valid ones)
    • Check all Unchecked Medicare Cards

Communicare contacts Medicare Australia and checks the validity of the patients' Medicare cards.

Patients with valid Medicare card details are displayed in green text; patients with invalid Medicare card details are displayed in red text.

Tip: Patients are sorted by ID by default. To sort by Medicare status, in the table, click Online Code.

Record the Medicare details for patients with a status of Unknown. Update the Medicare details for patients with a status of Invalid.

To check the Medicare card status of an individual patient, select a patient in the list and click Check the Medicare Card for Bulk Bill Eligibility buttonCheck the Medicare Card for Bulk Bill Eligibility.

Alternatively, update the Medicare details of a patient in biographics:
  1. In the Check Medicare Card for Bulk Bill Eligibility window, click Biographics buttonBiographics.
  2. On the Change Person Details > Personal tab, in the Medicare section, click Check Card Online.
    Example biographics Medicare check
Tip: Check the Medicare details for a patient any time in their biographics.