Modernising the Assignment of Benefit Part 2: An Improvement for both Patients and Practice

What’s changing? 

The Department of Health, Disability, and Ageing (DoHDA) is streamlining Medicare billing for bulk-billed services in 2026, by offering an electronic alternative to the current paper-based system for collecting a patient’s Assignment of Medicare Benefit to the doctor delivering the service.  

From 1st July 2026, Bp Premier users will be able to collect Assignment of Benefit for a bulk-billed service by SMS from patients, either as part of the booking flow (pre-assignment) or after the consult, as you do now (post-assignment).  

The move to electronic assignment is a significant change for both Medicare and our users. This article provides an overview of the anticipated changes in Bp Premier and some ideas on what you can do now to prepare your practice and patients for the changes.  

The advantages of electronic assignment of benefit 

Electronic assignment is an enormous improvement in efficiency and security for both practices and patients. The new workflow is a seamless digital process that requires no manual handling or storage of paper forms. Auditing for accreditation becomes a simple report from Bp Premier that can be filtered by time period, patient, and provider.   

Best Practice Software acknowledge that the move to electronic assignment of benefit may involve informing patients that the ‘new’ requirement to read and accept a short form on their mobile device is in fact a more convenient version of something they’ve been doing for years: signing the paper form at the end of a bulk-billed consult.  To assist our practices, Best Practice Software will be making educational resources about the changes for your patients and staff available from the Bp Premier Knowledge Base and webinars between now and July.  

As 1st July 2026 approaches, here’s a few things that will form part of Best Practice Software’s solution: 

• • The paper form will continue to be available as an alternative for patients unable to receive smart forms.  

• • The electronic form sent to patients to sign will be PIN-protected for their security. 

• • The Appointment Book and claiming flows will be significantly enhanced to seamlessly integrate electronic assignment.  

Pre-assignment of benefit 

These changes introduce the concept of ‘pre-assignment of benefit’, in which the patient is shown the intended consultation details before the consult, usually during booking, and indicates confirmation of assignment at that point.  

For example, a patient phones to book an appointment, and the receptionist sends the electronic assignment form to the patient by SMS at that time based on the booking information supplied, such as the doctor and appointment type. Or a patient attends the practice to book, and signs the pre-assignment printed form.  

Post-assignment of benefit 

Post-assignment of benefit will be exactly as you do now, except that the patient will receive an SMS, read the electronic form, and tap Accept to approve assignment of benefit. The patient will also be offered a link to download a copy of the form, just as you offer a copy of the signed form now. 

What to do next 

You can start preparing your patients for electronic assignment of benefit right now when they sign the current paper form, by letting them know that from July they have the option to sign the form via SMS instead. In the meantime, keep an eye out for communications from Best Practice Software about electronic assignment of benefit changes, and register for our upcoming webinars before July.