The legislation requiring written, evidenced consent for bulk billed Medicare services still applies from 1 July 2026 — the 18 June announcement did not change or remove the underlying requirements. What changed is that there is now a 12-month transition period before enforcement begins, during which verbal consent remains valid. The expectation is that practices will use this time to move to a digital consent process. Getting started with digital consent now means your staff are familiar with the workflow and your patients are eased into it before enforcement begins.

AoB itself is not new – patients have always been required to agree before a bulk billed Medicare claim is lodged on their behalf. From 1 July 2026, new requirements come into effect for how that consent is captured, what information patients must be given, and how records are kept.

Following advocacy from the AMA and RACGP, the government has announced a 12-month transition period. Verbal consent remains valid in all settings during this time, and compliance will focus on education rather than enforcement. Practices that have already adopted digital consent solutions should continue — and those that haven't can use the transition period to get ready.

No. The DB4, DB4E, and DB020 forms are no longer valid from 1 July 2026. Any written consent collected from 1 July must include the prescribed data set required under the new rules. HotDoc's Bulk Billing Consent feature meets this requirement. During the 12-month transition period, verbal consent remains valid while your practice moves to a digital or paper-based process that meets the new requirements.

HotDoc provides the tools clinics need to collect, track, and store patient consent in line with the new AoB requirements. However, clinics remain responsible for ensuring consent is obtained before a Medicare claim is lodged — HotDoc can send the request, but if a patient doesn't complete it, the clinic needs to follow up and obtain consent through an alternative method. The Bulk Billing Consent dashboard shows outstanding requests so you can identify and act on them.

Note that the government has announced a 12-month transition period during which verbal consent remains valid and enforcement will begin with education. See the update notice at the top of this article for more detail.

Enduring consent is a new Medicare initiative that was originally planned for 2027 but has recently been brought forward as part of the changes taking effect on 1 July. It provides an alternative way for eligible patients to consent to future bulk billed services through a one-off consent process, rather than providing consent for each individual service.

This is not a requirement for compliance. HotDoc’s existing workflow remains compliant, as it captures patient consent for each individual bulk billed service.

We will share updates if support for recording enduring consent through HotDoc becomes available in the future.

Yes. AoB consent is included in your HotDoc subscription at no additional cost, including SMS consent requests for telehealth appointments.

Your existing post-consent settings will carry over automatically — no action required. The consent form will also be updated automatically to meet the new legislative requirements from 1 July.

Pre-consent is new and will need to be enabled manually from your Medicare Hub settings if you'd like to use it.

HotDoc's AoB consent feature is currently available for Best Practice, Medical Director (Pracsoft), and Zedmed. Other PMS integrations are not yet supported.

HotDoc sends the post-consent request when the invoice is stored (saved) in your practice management system – not when it is printed or previewed.

For appointments where the item number isn't confirmed until later (for example, when waiting on histology results), simply hold off storing the invoice until the correct item code is ready. HotDoc will send the post-consent request at that point with the confirmed item code.

HotDoc uses a channel cascade for all consent requests — push notification, then email, then SMS — stopping at the first channel available for that patient.

For face-to-face appointments, SMS is not currently available — patients receive a push notification or email. For telehealth appointments, SMS is also available if the patient has a mobile number on file.

Patients do not need a HotDoc account to receive consent requests.

No. The post-consent workflow for telehealth appointments is unchanged from the existing HotDoc flow — consent requests are triggered when the invoice is stored in your PMS and sent via the same channel cascade. The main difference is that SMS is available for telehealth (but not face-to-face) if the patient has a mobile number on file.

Clinics can also send pre-consent requests to telehealth patients manually from the Bulk Billing Consent dashboard, the same way they would for face-to-face appointments.

HotDoc cannot detect whether consent has already been captured via Tyro EasyClaim or any other external method. If you have post-consent enabled and an invoice is stored, HotDoc will send a request regardless.

To avoid patients receiving a duplicate request, consider disabling HotDoc post-consent for face-to-face appointments if Tyro is your primary consent method for those consults.

No. Patients consent by tapping a button in the HotDoc consent request — that's all that's needed. No physical signature is required.

Services Australia has said a printable AoB consent form will be available from 1 July 2026. For patients who cannot consent digitally, you will be able to use this form to capture consent outside of HotDoc.

After the initial request and one follow-up, the consent status in the dashboard will show as outstanding. You can use the resend button to send a further request, or contact the patient directly to obtain consent through an alternative method.

If a patient declines a pre-consent request, HotDoc will automatically send a post-consent request after their appointment – as long as post-consent is enabled in your settings. If a patient declines a post-consent request, no further requests are sent automatically, but you can use the resend button to follow up.

Pre-consent allows clinics to request and capture patient consent before an appointment takes place. It is optional — clinics that prefer to collect consent after the appointment can use post-consent only.

Collecting consent before the appointment can reduce the need to follow up with patients after they have left the clinic. Pre-consent requests can be sent manually from the Bulk Billing Consent dashboard up to seven days before the appointment.

A Basic Service Description is a category of related MBS item numbers used when requesting pre-consent. Instead of selecting a specific MBS item number, you choose the Basic Service Description that best matches the service you expect to provide.

For example, GP – Standard covers several standard GP attendance items, including 23, 36, and 44.

Using a Basic Service Description means pre-consent remains valid even if the final MBS item billed is different from the one originally expected, provided it falls within the same Basic Service Description category.

If the item billed falls under a different Basic Service Description category, the pre-consent is no longer valid. HotDoc will automatically send a post-consent request with the exact item code — as long as post-consent is enabled in your settings.

HotDoc will also automatically send a post-consent request if the patient did not complete the pre-consent request before their appointment.

HotDoc sends an initial request, then a follow-up the next morning if the patient hasn't responded. After two attempts, no further automated requests are sent.

Yes. A resend button is available in the Bulk Billing Consent dashboard from 1 July 2026, allowing staff to manually resend a request once to a patient who hasn't responded.

AoB consent requests are exempt from HotDoc communication opt-outs. Patients will still receive consent requests even if they have previously opted out of other HotDoc messages such as reminders or recalls.

HotDoc requires at least one contact channel — email or mobile number — to send a consent request. If a patient has neither, HotDoc cannot send them a request. This includes landline-only patients having a telehealth phone consult.

During the 12-month transition period, verbal consent remains valid for these patients. Alternatively, you can obtain written consent using the printable AoB form that Services Australia has said will be available from 1 July 2026.

When a patient completes their consent via HotDoc, a PDF copy of the signed AoB form is saved to the patient's Correspondence In section in Best Practice.

HotDoc does not currently update the AoB declaration checkbox in Best Practice automatically — this step remains manual. We recommend checking the HotDoc Bulk Billing Consent dashboard to confirm consent status before processing your batch. A BP appointment book sync that would display consent status directly in BP is in development.

For Best Practice and Medical Director (Pracsoft) clinics, a PDF copy of each completed consent form is saved directly to the patient's record in your PMS.

Consent records are also available to download from the HotDoc Dashboard upon completion. For Zedmed clinics, downloading the record from the Dashboard is required, as HotDoc cannot write consent forms back to the patient file. After 30 days, consent records are permanently removed from HotDoc systems and can no longer be downloaded.

HotDoc sends the post-consent request when the invoice is stored in your PMS. For held accounts where the item code isn't known until histology returns, simply don't store the invoice until the correct item is confirmed. HotDoc will trigger the consent request at the point of storage with the correct item code included.

One AoB agreement covers multiple services provided by the same practitioner on the same day. If a patient receives both a bulk billed service and a privately billed service in the same visit, the AoB agreement applies to the bulk billed service only — the patient is consenting to assign their Medicare benefit for that specific service.

HotDoc will send a consent request when it detects a Medicare-billed invoice. If you have any questions about how co-billing is handled in your specific PMS setup, please contact HotDoc support.

HotDoc cannot send consent requests to patients without a valid email address or mobile number. During the 12-month transition period, verbal consent remains valid for these patients. Alternatively, you can obtain written consent using the printable AoB form that Services Australia has said will be available from 1 July 2026.

Yes. HotDoc sends the consent request to the contact details on file for the patient, but the person who completes the form does not have to be the patient themselves. A family member, carer, or other authorised representative can complete it on the patient's behalf. The consent form includes a field to indicate that the assignor is someone other than the patient.

Where a patient has no digital contact details on file, verbal consent remains valid during the 12-month transition period. Alternatively, you can obtain written consent using the printable AoB form that Services Australia has said will be available from 1 July 2026.