Assignment of Benefits Changes from 1 July 2026

About this resource

From 1 July 2026, updated requirements apply for assigning Medicare benefits when a service is bulk billed. Assignment of benefit is the process where a patient agrees for their Medicare benefit to be paid directly to the provider as full payment for the service, meaning the patient has no out-of-pocket cost for that service.  

There is a 12-month transition period where patients can provide a verbal assignment, providing practices time to update workflows, train staff and confirm software arrangements without needing to make every change immediately on 1 July 2026.  

General practices should review their billing and administrative workflows to ensure patients are provided with clear information about the bulk billed service and are able to agree to assign their Medicare benefit before a claim is submitted.