News
MediCo News
- How we process your Medicare bulk billing is changing. We need your signed agreement to bulk bill your appointment. Here’s what to expect. In order for us to bulk bill your appointment you will need to provide consent for Medicare to pay your doctor directly. This is called Assignment of Benefit and from 1st July 2026, consent must be obtained at every visit. Consent can be collected digitally or on paper and a new consent is required for each bulk-billed visit. Verbal consent is no longer accepted. At our practices, we will continue to use paper forms at the front desk and SMS consent will be sent for telehealth appointments. If you receive a text message from us requesting consent after you have had your consultation, we would appreciate it if you could please reply as quickly as possible. This will ensure your doctor is paid in a timely manner. If you don’t complete the Assignment of Benefit form, we can’t bulk bill your appointment and private fees will apply. As we attempt to reduce the amount of paper we need to use to print these consent forms we will expand our use of the text message system and in time may implement an kiosk system in the waiting room.
- Practice fees at Stroud MediCo will increase from 1st July 2026. Please check the Stroud practice page after this date for the most current fees.
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Flu vaccinations are well underway. If you would like to book in for your flu vaccination please give the practice a call. The free RSV vaccination for over 75s, pregnant women and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders over 60 will be available from Friday 15th May 2026.
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Gloucester MediCo would like to remind you that if you are an existing patient at our practice you may be eligible to request repeat prescriptions or referrals online. Head to the Make a Booking tab on the home page on our website to access this service or download the AMS Connect app on your device. Eligibility criteria must be met and you must have a debit/credit card for prepayment.
- Using technology we are hoping that the community is appreciating quicker and greater communication with the use of text messaging to relay messages to our patients. Please know too that if you do not have a mobile phone or don’t have mobile service, we will be in contact with you via another method, if necessary. You are always welcome to call the practice to check on your results. We do ask that you take the time to read your text messages carefully, as they will tell you exactly what you need to do.
- You will have noticed too when you come to the Gloucester medical centre that there is an intern assisting doctors with their consultations. We are lucky to be part of an important Junior Medical Officer programme which we are hoping will encourage young doctors to become rural general practitioners. The JMO will spend their 10 weeks between the medical centre and the hospital. Each JMO we’ve had to date has thoroughly enjoyed their time at Gloucester and have appreciated how welcoming the patients and the staff are at both the hospital and the practice.
- Thank you for treating the staff at MediCo with respect. We have zero tolerance for abuse. Should you wish to make a complaint please speak with the practice managerp
