Medicare Assignment of Benefit Changes - 1st July 2026

Medicare is updating bulk billing and web services on 1 July 2026. The changes affect three areas of HealthTrack:

• Bulk Billing DB4 Forms: new Bulk Bill Assignment of Benefit Agreement forms replace the existing DB4.
• Online Eligibility Checks: additional health fund cover details are returned in eligibility check reports.
• In-Patient Medical Claims: a new Benefit Assignment Authorised field is available for in-patient medical claim submissions.

HealthTrack will switch to the new behaviour automatically on 1 July 2026. No user action is required for the switchover.

Bulk Billing DB4 Forms

What Has Changed

The existing DB4 "Bulk Bill Assignment of Benefit Form" has been replaced by the new "Bulk Bill Assignment of Benefit Agreement", in line with the Health Insurance Regulations 2018.

The single form has been replaced by six variants, based on two factors:

• Timing: Pre-assignment (before the service is provided) or Post-assignment (after the service is provided).
• Service Category: Diagnostic Imaging, Pathology, or Other MBS.

The new forms also include updated fields and content:

• Agreement Date: the date the patient signed the agreement.
• Agreement Type: Pre-assignment or Post-assignment.
• Is the assignor the patient?: Yes or No.
• Signature line: now reads "Patient or Assignor Signature".
• Privacy notice: updated wording as required by Medicare.
• Assignment statement: tailored wording specific to each service category and timing.

Pre-assignment and Post-assignment

Post-assignment is used when the service has already been provided. This is the most common scenario and is the default in HealthTrack.

Pre-assignment is used when the service has not yet been provided. For example, in diagnostic imaging the reporting provider may not yet be known. Pre-assignment allows the Assignment of Benefit Agreement to be completed before the service is rendered, without requiring a provider to be specified.

Printing a DB4

When you print a DB4, HealthTrack now presents additional options:

• Service Type: Pre-assignment or Post-assignment.
• Service Category: Diagnostic Imaging, Pathology, or Other MBS.

• Is the assignor the patient?: Yes or No.

  

These values are auto-calculated where possible. Service Type defaults based on the service date, and Service Category defaults based on the billing item type. You can override the defaults if needed.

Record Retention

Practices should retain completed and signed DB4 Assignment of Benefit Agreements in line with Medicare requirements.

Online Eligibility Checks

New Health Fund Cover Details

The Online Eligibility Check (OEC) report now includes two new fields in the Health Fund Cover Details section:

• Product Tier
• Additional Clinical Categories

These fields will appear automatically on eligibility checks performed after 1 July 2026. No action is required.

In-Patient Medical Claims

Benefit Assignment Authorised

A new Benefit Assignment Authorised field has been added to the invoice details for in-patient medical claims. The field defaults to Implied Assignment, which is the correct value for standard use.

The field will appear after 1 July 2026. No action is required. All claims submitted before 1 July 2026 are treated as Implied Assignment.

Further Reading

For more information about the Medicare Assignment of Benefit changes, refer to the following resources:

• Improving the Assignment of Benefit Process (Department of Health)
• Assignment of Benefit: Simplified Billing Legislation Changes (Department of Health)
• Assignment of Benefit for Bulk Bill Claims (Services Australia)
• About Bulk Billing MBS Claims (Services Australia)
• Verify Patient Eligibility with ECLIPSE (Services Australia)