Proposed changes to the Better Access scheme

Better Access is the Medicare program that helps pay for sessions with a psychologist. To use it, you need a GP Mental Health Treatment Plan.

In 2024 the government announced changes to start on 1 November 2025. Only people a GP assesses as having at least “moderate intensity care needs” would qualify. Plans would have to come from the person’s usual GP or MyMedicare-registered practice. The Medicare item GPs use to review plans, item 2712, would be removed. People would also be directed to free online appointments and centres.

See also our pre-Budget submission on funding needs for mental health and our submission to the NSW inquiry into mental health care.

We wrote to the Minister asking him to reconsider the changes and to consult properly with mental health professionals.

• Severity isn’t always clear at first. Stigma leads some people, including many men and older adults, to play down how they feel. Mental health concerns can take weeks to understand, more than a standard GP visit allows.
• Consistent care matters. Online appointments and centres have a place, but they don’t replace regular one-on-one therapy.
• Choice matters. Research shows the relationship between a client and their practitioner is one of the strongest predictors of good outcomes in therapy, so people should be able to choose who they see.
• Let any GP write the plan. What should matter is a sound clinical assessment, not which GP writes the plan.
• Keep GPs and psychologists working together. Removing the plan review item would add paperwork for GPs and weaken shared care.

Most of the changes went ahead on 1 November 2025, through the Health Insurance Legislation Amendment (2025 Measures No. 3) Regulations 2025.

• Who can write a plan. A Mental Health Treatment Plan, and referrals and reviews under it, must now come from a GP at the practice where the person is enrolled in MyMedicare, or from their usual doctor. Direct referrals from psychiatrists and paediatricians are still accepted.
• The plan review item. Item 2712 was removed. Reviews and referrals now use standard, time-based GP consultation items.
• Who it’s for. The Department’s guidance says Better Access is for people with a diagnosed mental disorder and at least moderate care needs. That wording is in the guidance, not in the regulations.
• Sessions. Up to 10 individual and 10 group sessions a year.

Current details are on the Department’s Better Access page (updated 6 February 2026).