Is a Home Medicines Review free? Cost and eligibility explained
Yes — a Home Medicines Review is free in Australia for the patient and their family, with no gap payment, no invoice and nothing to sign at the door. The funding comes from the Australian Government under the Community Pharmacy Programs, and your GP claims a separate item, MBS item 900, for their part of the referral. The only thing you need is a referral from your GP.
Yes — a Home Medicines Review is free in Australia for the patient and their family, with no gap payment, no invoice and nothing to sign at the door. The funding comes from the Australian Government under the Community Pharmacy Programs, and your GP claims a separate item, MBS item 900, for their part of the referral. The only thing you need is a referral from your GP.
Is a Home Medicines Review really free?
Yes. A Home Medicines Review costs the patient and their family nothing — no gap payment, no invoice, and no card details at any point. The visit is funded by the Australian Government under the Community Pharmacy Programs, and separately, your GP claims MBS item 900 for their part of the referral. You will never be asked to pay for the review itself, either at the door or afterwards.
If your family member holds a DVA card, there is a separate arrangement for veterans and war widows — it’s worth asking your GP how that applies before the referral is written, since it isn’t handled through the same pathway.
Who is eligible for a Home Medicines Review?
Eligibility generally comes down to living at home in the community and taking a number of regular medicines that make a review worthwhile. As a rough guide, this often means around five or more regular medicines, but it can also apply to someone recently discharged from hospital, someone finding it hard to manage a complicated regimen of tablets, patches, inhalers and dose packs, or someone seeing several different prescribers who may not see each other’s prescriptions. None of these are hard cut-offs on their own — they’re the kinds of things a GP weighs up together. You can read more about what’s actually involved on the Home Medicines Review page and in how the visit works.
The decision itself sits with the GP, not with me. I can flag that a review might help and explain what it involves, but only a GP can write the referral, because they’re the one weighing the patient’s full clinical picture.
One important distinction: this program is for people living at home in the community. If your family member is in residential aged care, they may instead be eligible for a Residential Medication Management Review (RMMR) — a related but separate program that I don’t currently offer.
How often can a Home Medicines Review happen?
As a general rule, a repeat review is usually possible around once every 12 months, though this isn’t a fixed rule for every situation. If there’s been a significant change since the last one — a hospital admission, a new diagnosis, or several new medicines started — a GP may refer sooner. If you’re not sure whether enough time has passed since a previous review, that’s a question your GP or I can check before a new referral is written.
What if there’s no referral yet?
No referral means no Home Medicines Review — it’s the one non-negotiable part of the process, because the GP is the one deciding it’s clinically appropriate. If your family member doesn’t have one yet, the simplest path is to raise it directly at their next GP appointment. If that’s not practical, I can approach the GP practice on the family’s behalf, with their consent, to ask whether a referral makes sense. Have a look at how to request a review for what that involves.
If you’re still not sure whether your situation fits, get in touch and we’ll work out the next step together — whether that’s a quick conversation about eligibility or actually requesting a review.
Common questions
Is a Home Medicines Review really free in Australia?
Yes. There is no cost to the patient or their family for a Home Medicines Review. The Australian Government funds the visit under the Community Pharmacy Programs, and the GP claims MBS item 900 separately for their part of the referral. You will not be asked for payment, an invoice or card details at any stage.
Who pays for a Home Medicines Review?
The Australian Government pays for it, through the Community Pharmacy Programs. Your GP also claims a Medicare item, MBS item 900, for writing the referral and reviewing the report, but that claim doesn't create any cost for you. Between the funding and the GP's claim, the patient and their family are never billed.
Does Medicare cover a Home Medicine Review?
Not in the way Medicare covers a normal GP visit. The review itself is funded by the Australian Government under the Community Pharmacy Programs, while your GP separately claims MBS item 900 through Medicare for their role in the referral and report. Either way, there is no gap and nothing charged to you.
Who is eligible for a Home Medicines Review?
Generally, people living at home in the community who take a number of regular medicines, often around five or more, or who've recently left hospital, are managing a complicated regimen, or see several prescribers. The final call on eligibility is always the GP's, based on the person's full clinical picture, not something I decide.
How often can you have a Home Medicines Review?
As a general guide, a repeat review is usually possible around once every 12 months, though a GP can refer sooner if there's been a significant change, such as a hospital stay or new medicines. If you're unsure whether enough time has passed, ask your GP or me before requesting another one.
Not sure what to do next?
Tell me what’s going on with your family member’s medicines — I’ll call you back, usually the same day, and we’ll work out the next step together. No cost, no obligation.
For GPs & practice managers
Referring is the easy part — I’ve made sure of it.
Template setup guides for Bp Premier and MedicalDirector, a referral form PDF, two-week interview targets and three-day reports. Everything your practice needs is one page away.