Can I now review a chronic condition management plan by phone or video?

Yes, from 1 November. Items 92033, 92034, 92063 and 92064 cover phone attendances for preparation or review of a chronic condition management plan by a GP or prescribed medical practitioner. As with all telehealth items, the service must be clinically appropriate for phone or video delivery.

What is the Healthy Kids Check at age three?

A new health assessment for three-year-old children starting 1 November. GPs use existing time-tiered health assessment items 701–707. Other prescribed medical practitioners use items 224–227. The check focuses on early identification of developmental delay or neurodevelopmental differences, recommended by the Thriving Kids Advisory Group.

New MBS phone items for chronic condition management — November 2026

A batch of MBS changes takes effect from 1 November 2026. For GPs managing patients with chronic conditions, the most directly useful are four new phone items that formalise something many practices have been doing informally: following up on a chronic condition management plan by phone when an in-person review is not the right fit for that patient at that time.

The RACGP confirmed the new items in an October update, with RACGP President Dr Michael Wright noting they are “designed for providing ongoing care for patients.” The changes follow the broader 2025 CDM framework reforms, which consolidated the previous GP management plan, team care arrangement and review items into a single GP chronic condition management plan structure.

The new phone items: what they cover

From 1 November, four new MBS items (92033, 92034, 92063, 92064) allow GPs and prescribed medical practitioners to deliver chronic condition management plan preparation or reviews by phone. The items apply where a phone or video attendance is clinically appropriate — which aligns with the general telehealth eligibility criteria already in place.

This matters practically for patients who have established care and are managing a stable chronic condition but who live at a distance, have difficulty attending in person, or who do not need a face-to-face review at every interval. The item formalises the telehealth pathway for CDM within the existing framework, rather than requiring an in-person review as the only eligible trigger.

The items sit within the 2025 CDM structure, so they are not a replacement for the plan itself — they are the review and preparation mechanisms that go alongside it.

What else changes on 1 November

Healthy Kids Check for three-year-olds. A new health assessment for three-year-olds starts under existing items 701–707 for GPs and 224–227 for other prescribed medical practitioners. The check focuses on early identification of developmental delay and neurodevelopmental differences, following recommendations from the Thriving Kids Advisory Group. The RACGP has long advocated for this age group to be included in the structured health assessment schedule.

Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring extended. Item 11607 for ambulatory blood pressure monitoring now includes children and adolescents, with updated age-appropriate thresholds. This fills a practical gap for GPs seeing younger patients with suspected hypertension or white-coat effect — a group who previously required referral for this investigation.

Nurse practitioner referral rights. Participating nurse practitioners can now refer patients for bone mineral densitometry under items 12306–12322. This expands access for patients whose regular care sits with a nurse practitioner, particularly in general practice and aged care settings.

Immunomodulating treatment. Item 14245 can now be provided by a qualified health practitioner on behalf of the prescriber, which has implications for infusion services and delegated care models.

Both-and: meaningful access changes with a backdrop of ongoing complexity

The CDM item changes are a net positive. Phone items for chronic condition management reviews give GPs a properly funded mechanism for work that was previously either underfunded or required an unnecessary in-person attendance. For patients in rural areas, for carers managing a family member’s care, and for patients with mobility limitations, this is a real improvement in access.

The 2025 CDM framework change — consolidating the old GPMP/TCA structure — was itself a significant administrative shift that required practices to adapt their workflows. These new phone items are additive to that framework. The full item descriptions and any co-claiming restrictions are on MBS Online — it is worth checking the exact eligibility and claiming rules before November, rather than relying on a summary.

The Healthy Kids Check at age three is a meaningful addition to the child health assessment schedule. General practice is the most accessible setting for developmental screening, and early identification of delay gives families more time to access early intervention services — which is where the evidence for improved outcomes sits.

2 cents: what to do before 1 November

Update your practice software and billing templates for the new items. The key questions for the CDM phone items are: which of your patients with chronic condition management plans are due for review, and which of those would benefit from a phone review rather than an in-person appointment in November or December?

For the Healthy Kids Check: review your three-year-old patient recall list. The check is designed to be integrated into existing health assessment workflows — it is not a new item number, just a new age group under existing items.

Full details on all 1 November changes are at MBS Online. For the CDM phone items specifically, the RACGP has published a recap of the 2025 CDM framework changes that provides the context for where these new items fit.

Verdict: yes — the November MBS changes are directly relevant to GP practice, particularly the new CDM phone items and the extended Healthy Kids Check.