Assignment of Benefit Changes FAQs

From 1 July 2026, the Medicare Assignment of Benefit (AoB) process will undergo a major digital transformation, supported by legislative changes and the need for more secure and efficient healthcare billing.

For more information see the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (DoHDA) website.

IMPORTANT These changes will not be enabled in Bp Premier until the changeover date of 1 July 2026.

What is Assignment of Benefit?

Assignment of Benefit (AoB) refers to the process by which a patient authorises Medicare to pay their benefit directly to the healthcare provider, rather than reimbursing the patient. This arrangement streamlines payments to providers and reduces administrative effort for both patients and practices.

What's changing, and when?

Some of the key changes being introduced include:

Electronic Forms: Providers will be able to generate and send electronic forms via SMS to patients to assign their benefits through web forms on their own devices.
Pre and Post-Assignment Flexibility: New digital options will allow benefits to be assigned when booking a service (pre-assignment) or after a service has occurred (post-assignment), rather than strictly during the attendance.
Basic Service Description: For episodic pre-assignment agreements, a 'basic service description' will be the minimum required information. Approximately 4,600 MBS items have been mapped into 16 categories (e.g., GP – Standard, Specialist – Procedure) to provide patients with meaningful information while maintaining flexibility for providers.
Record Retention: Providers will be required to retain a copy of the completed/signed agreement for 2 years.

Why are these changes happening?

Paper-based workflows can be slow, prone to errors, and difficult to manage, especially as telehealth and digital health services become more common. Legal compliance is also complicated by evolving requirements for consent, particularly with the rise of electronic and verbal agreements. Audits revealed shortcomings in consent procedures and record-keeping, especially when verbal consent was obtained during telehealth sessions.

These limitations highlight the need more integrated digital solutions, clearer legal standards, and processes that better support both providers and patients in a rapidly changing healthcare environment.

How do I send an Assignment of Benefit request to patients from Bp Premier?

Digital forms will be able to be sent via SMS and paper forms will be able to be printed before and after the consult.

How can I keep track of requests?

Requests will be managed through a new Follow up Assignment of Benefits screen available to users with Add/Edit/Delete permissions for Direct Billing.

What happens with Medicare declines?

There will be instances where a new assignment of benefit must be collected before a rejected service can be re-included within a batch, and resent to Medicare for processing, such as when an item number is changed

The Medicare Online Claiming screen will include a workflow to identify when a new assignment of benefit must be collected from the patient to reprocess a claim, and to enable you to send this to the patient via a Bp Comms SMS, or to print a paper form ready for the patient’s signature.

Do I have to collect an Assignment of Benefit via SMS?

No, you do not have to collect an Assignment of Benefit via SMS.

An updated paper-based workflow will be available in Bp Premier alongside the new digital workflows for instances where you would prefer a patient to physically sign a paper form, or for patients who do not have access to an electronic device.

When can I collect an Assignment of Benefit from a patient?

Before a service can be included in a Bulk Bill Batch, there must be a corresponding Assignment of Benefit recorded in Bp Premier. This includes both new services and claim vouchers, and claims rejected by Medicare that require resending.

The new legislation introduces more flexibility for when an Assignment of Benefit can be collected.

Pre-Service Assignments, also known as a Pre-Assignment, allows you to collect a patient’s consent form before their consultation. This can be done through methods such as bulk SMS messages to be sent out of Bp Premier for tomorrow’s appointments. It can also be manually triggered from the Appointment book.
An Assignment of Benefit form can still be collected after the consult has occurred during your usual workflow for billing. This is now referred to as a Post-service assignment or Post-assignment.

How does pre-assignment work when the MBS items to be billed aren’t yet known?

To facilitate a pre-service assignment, a Basic Service Description has been introduced to provide patients with meaningful information about what they are consenting to, while still maintaining flexibility for billing providers.

This system groups 4,600+ MBS items into 16 Basic Service Description groups, such as ‘GP - Care Plans’, ‘GP – Standard’, or ‘Allied Health'.

In Bp Premier, you will be able to link a Basic Service Description to each of your appointment types, which can then be used when generating forms to represent the group of MBS items that they consent to assign their benefit for.

If the service actually rendered falls within that Basic Service Description group, the assignment is valid. However, if the rendered service falls outside of that Basic Service Description group, a new post-service assignment of benefit must be captured for those MBS items billed.

How long do I need to keep a record of consent for?

Providers will be required to retain the completed/signed agreement for 2 years for each Assignment of Benefit consent request. This retention period is essential for meeting audit and compliance requirements.

Will it cost to send Assignment of Benefit forms via SMS?

Yes, sending an SMS Assignment of Benefit request via Bp Comms will use 1 Bp Comms credit. Reach out to our Bp Sales team to discuss options for a Bp Comms pack that suits your needs.

If you use an external SMS messages service, set your Default Assignment of Benefit generation channel as Managed Externally.

What happens if a patient declines to assign the benefit or fails to complete the form?

If a patient chooses not to assign their Medicare benefit or does not complete the assignment, the practice will need to follow up with them to explain what this means and to arrange an alternative method of payment.

Immediate Impact and Software Notification in Bp Premier Oxford:

Status Update: In Bp Premier, the Assignment of Benefit (AoB) request status will automatically be updated to Declined.
Visual Alerts: An icon will appear on the patient's appointment in the Appointment book to visually alert staff that the request was declined.

Follow-Up Procedures

Practices will be able to manage declined requests through a dedicated 'Follow up assignment of benefit' screen. The typical actions include:

Discussing Alternatives: Practice staff will contact the patient to discuss alternative payment arrangements, as the service cannot be bulk-billed without assignment.
Identifying Errors: Patients are encouraged to contact the practice if they decline because the details on the form (such as the doctor's name or the service description) are incorrect.
Amending and Regenerating: If the decline was due to an error, the practice can amend the patient's demographic information, select the correct MBS item, and then regenerate and resend a new digital link or print a corrected paper form.

Billing and Financial Consequences

Claiming Restrictions: A voucher with Declined status is disabled and greyed out on the online claiming screen, preventing it from being included in a batch sent to Medicare for bulk billing.
Out-of-Pocket Costs: Staff may inform the patient that failure to complete the assignment may result in them being out of pocket for the service provided. This is because the assignment of benefit is the legal agreement that allows the provider to accept the Medicare rebate as full payment.

What can I do before 1 July 2026 to prepare?

To prepare for Assignment of Benefit changes in your practice:

Educate your staff - Training resources will be available on the Bp Knowledge Base in the form of eLearning, videos, articles, webinars and printable resources.
Educate your patients - Start the conversation now with patients that they'll have the option to digitally sign a form by SMS in the future when they sign the paper form. Put up posters in the waiting area.
Sign up for Bp Comms – Pre- and Post-Assignment of Benefit forms via SMS can be sent through Bp Premier. Reach out to our Bp Sales team to discuss options for a Bp Comms pack that suits your needs.
Program and Data Updates - Update Bp Premier when the program update and July Data Updates are available.

What if a patient can't assign their benefit themselves?

Not all patients will be able to complete an assignment themselves. The new forms ask the question, ‘Is the assignor the patient?’, to capture when the assignment has been completed by somebody acting on the patient’s behalf.

This can be done for children/minors or patients who lack the capacity to complete this independently.

Do I need to record a patient's consent to receive Assignment of Benefit forms via SMS?

For post-service assignments – No, Comms Consent does not need to be sent. You can visually confirm the mobile phone number that the form will be sent to within the Bp Premier billing screen to confirm this with the patient at the time of sending.
For pre-service assignments collected via Bp Comms – Yes, Comms Consent for ‘Appointments’ messages must be recorded for the patient.

Do I need a Sender ID (alpha tag) to send Assignment of Benefit forms via SMS?

Yes, practices will need to complete their SMS Sender ID registration before they are able to send SMS forms to patients via Bp Comms. See the Knowledge Base article Bp Comms Alpha Tag Changes 1 July 2026 for more information.

Information correct at time of publishing (15 April 2026).