For the things that come up suddenly, and the things that never quite go away.
When you have one thing going on, most GPs can help. When you have four, and they interact, and each one is being managed by a different person who has not spoken to the others, it starts to feel like a job you did not apply for.
Managing several conditions at once is the work Dr Morris does most, and the work he finds most interesting. Blood pressure, asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, COPD, long-standing pain, anxiety, depression, PTSD, ADHD, autism, iron and vitamin deficiencies. Often more than one at a time, which is usually the point.
GP care plans, bulk billed
If you have a condition that has lasted more than six months, you may be eligible for a GP care plan. It is a longer appointment where Dr Morris maps out what is being managed, who is involved, and what happens next. It can also unlock subsidised access to allied health services, which for many patients meaningfully reduces what they spend on healthcare over a year.
For Dr Morris’s regular patients, care plan reviews are bulk billed where a rebate is available and the review is clinically indicated.
Conditions this commonly applies to
Long-standing back, knee, neck, elbow, wrist or other musculoskeletal pain, meaning pain lasting more than six months
High blood pressure, asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, COPD
Iron deficiency and other nutritional deficiencies
Anxiety, depression, PTSD
ADHD, autism, learning disabilities
ADHD continuation prescribing
This list is not exhaustive. All chronic conditions are considered.
One care plan, one GP
Medicare will only fund one care plan review at a time. If another GP does yours, you will not be eligible here, and normal private fees will apply until you become eligible again.
This catches people out more often than you would think, usually without them realising it happened. It is a common reason a patient arrives expecting a bulk billed review and finds they had one three weeks ago at a clinic they visited once.
How to check
Log in to myGov or your Medicare account and look at the item numbers billed to you. Items 965 and 967 mean a care plan review has already been claimed. You may become eligible again three calendar months later, if a review is clinically indicated at that point.
How to avoid it
- See Dr Morris for your GP care, rather than spreading it across clinics.
- Do not sign MyMedicare registration forms at other practices.
- If another GP offers to do a care plan review and they are not your regular GP, you can decline.
Care plans need their own appointment
A care plan is a long appointment and it cannot be combined with a new mental health care plan or an ADHD consultation. There is genuinely not enough time to do both properly, so if you book them together the care plan will be deferred to another day. Book it separately and it will get the attention it needs.