The "About You" questions will enable patients to voluntarily provide information about themselves including whether they identify as First Nations, have a disability and/or have a cultural and linguistically diverse (CALD) background. There is also a question about their gender and sexual orientation. 

The "About You" voluntary patient questions will be automatically added to the MyMedicare registration of existing patients, with the default response set to 'blank'. Patients can choose to answer these questions in their MyMedicare registration, select "prefer not to answer," or opt out of providing a response.

Why?

The information provided will enable the Government to further understand how people from population groups access health services and identify service gaps for specific high-risk populations and regions. This information could then be used to inform policy and program design, enabling the department to better target resources, communications strategies and support.

What do you need to do?

Where patients have provided answers to the “About You” questions on the MyMedicare registration form, practices need to record these answers in the ‘Demographics’ section in the MyMedicare patient registration screen in their MyMedicare system.

From 6 April 2024 , updated practice registration forms can be accessed from the MyMedicare website MyMedicare Registration Form | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. Hardcopies of the updated registration forms can also be ordered from the MyMedicare website.

Read the department's letter here.