What changed in the MBS on 1 November 2026
From the 1 November 2026 MBS release · Last updated 12 November 2026
The short version for general practice: two new phone items for GP chronic condition management plans, the new Medicare Healthy Kids Check for 3-year-olds using the health assessment items, no fee or benefit changes for the GP items MBS Scribe checks, and a wording change across many descriptors from “residential aged care facility” to “residential care home”.
New items
| Item | What it is | Schedule fee |
|---|---|---|
| 92033 | A GP prepares a GP chronic condition management plan, by phone | A$160.60 |
| 92034 | A GP reviews a GP chronic condition management plan, by phone | A$160.60 |
| 92063 | A prescribed medical practitioner prepares a GP chronic condition management plan, by phone | A$128.55 |
| 92064 | A prescribed medical practitioner reviews a GP chronic condition management plan, by phone | A$128.55 |
They complete the set. A GP can now prepare or review a plan face to face (965, 967), by video (92029, 92030) or by phone (92033, 92034), all with a schedule fee of A$160.60 and a 100% benefit. More on the plans in GP chronic condition management plans. The requirements are in explanatory note AN.0.47, republished on 1 November 2026, with the overview of chronic condition items in AN.15.3.
New: the Medicare Healthy Kids Check
From 1 November 2026, a GP can use the time-tiered health assessment items (701, 703, 705, 707) for a Medicare Healthy Kids Check. It is for a Medicare-eligible child aged 3, from the third birthday to the day before the fourth, and can be claimed once only. It doesn’t affect the child’s eligibility for other health assessments.
The check takes a history (medical history with medicines, immunisations and allergies; behaviour, wellbeing and developmental milestones; family, care and early education; nutrition, activity, screens, sleep and toileting), includes a basic examination (eyesight, hearing, teeth and gums, and growth against centile charts), and ends with advice to the parent or carer and an offered written report. The requirements are in the new explanatory note AN.14.4, which AN.0.36 now points to.
Fees and benefits
No schedule fee changed in this release, and none of the GP items MBS Scribe checks changed its Medicare benefit. The benefit changes on 1 November (330 items) were all outside the GP item families the claim check covers, mostly in procedures, diagnostic imaging and pathology. GP fees were last indexed on 1 July 2026.
Wording changes
125 descriptors changed wording, and 108 of them change “residential aged care facility” to “residential care home”. For most of those it’s the only change apart from spacing. For general practice the rename includes:
- attendances at a home or another place: 4, 24, 37, 47, 124;
- residential care home attendances: 90020, 90035, 90043, 90051, 90054;
- after-hours attendances away from the rooms, the 715 health assessment, the 903 medication management review and the 16408 postnatal home visit.
The GP case conference items (735, 739, 743, 747, 750, 758) now include the new phone plan items in their lists of plan items.
How MBS Scribe handles it
Each consult is checked against the schedule in force on its date of service: a 31 October consult uses the old rules, a 1 November consult the new ones. A person reviews every change before it reaches a check. The claim check covers the new GP phone plan items, 92033 and 92034, alongside the face-to-face and video ones. For a child aged 3 it also checks a Healthy Kids Check: it lists the health assessment item that fits the time and looks for each part of the check in the note, with “Check history: once only”. See how the claim check works.
Earlier changes
- 1 August 2026: no change to GP items (one new pathology item).
- 1 July 2026: fees indexed.
- 1 March 2026: new items 2484 to 2495, for a GP with the patient while a specialist consults by video.
- 1 November 2025: the bulk-billing incentives were extended to all Medicare patients.
- 1 July 2025: the GP chronic condition management plan items (965, 967, 92029, 92030) replaced items 721, 723 and 732.
Questions
- Did GP fees change on 1 November 2026?
- No. No schedule fee changed in the 1 November 2026 release, and none of the GP items MBS Scribe checks changed its Medicare benefit. The last GP fee indexation was on 1 July 2026.
- What are items 92033 and 92034?
- Phone attendances by a GP to prepare (92033) or review (92034) a GP chronic condition management plan, each with a schedule fee of A$160.60, the same as the face-to-face and video plan items.
- What is the Medicare Healthy Kids Check?
- From 1 November 2026, a GP can use the time-tiered health assessment items 701, 703, 705 and 707 for a Medicare Healthy Kids Check for a Medicare-eligible child aged 3, from the third birthday to the day before the fourth, once only. The requirements are in explanatory note AN.14.4.
- Which release does a consult use?
- The one in force on its date of service. A consult on 31 October 2026 is checked against the earlier release, and one on or after 1 November 2026 against the new one.
Item descriptions on this page are paraphrased, and it isn’t billing advice. The full descriptors and notes are on MBS Online. The item counts come from MBS Scribe’s comparison of the 1 August and 1 November 2026 MBS item files. Explanatory notes aren’t part of that comparison: the notes named on this page were read on MBS Online.