How to refer a patient for a Home Medicines Review

If you already know how a Home Medicines Review works and just need the mechanics, here they are. A referral takes about five minutes to put together: send me the patient’s details, current medicine list, relevant history and the reason for referral, note that you have their consent, and I take it from there. I aim to interview the patient within about two weeks and have the written report back on your desk within about three business days of the visit. That’s the whole process. The rest of this page fills in the detail your practice nurse or practice manager will actually need.

The referral pathway, step by step

A Home Medicines Review is a GP-initiated service, so the pathway always starts with you.

1. You identify a patient who’d benefit. Typical triggers are a recent hospital admission, five or more regular medicines, a recent diagnosis that changed the regimen, or a general sense that the medicine list has grown complicated and no one’s stepped back to look at the whole picture.
2. You confirm the patient is willing. The patient (or their authorised representative) needs to consent to a pharmacist visiting their home and to their GP and that pharmacist sharing relevant health information for the purpose of the review.
3. You send the referral. Secure messaging, fax, or the referral form (PDF) all work — whichever is easiest from your practice software.
4. I contact the patient or their family to arrange a time. This is usually within a few days of the referral landing.
5. I visit at home, typically 45–60 minutes, and go through every medicine the patient is actually taking — prescription, over-the-counter, vitamins, and anything a specialist has added that might not be on your system.
6. I write up the findings and send you a report, aiming for within three business days of the visit. Any changes are entirely your call.

What the referral needs to include

There’s no strict form to follow if you’re sending it through secure messaging or fax rather than the PDF, but a usable referral covers:

• Patient name, date of birth, address and contact number
• Current medicine list, including doses and any recent changes
• Relevant medical history — diagnoses, recent admissions, allergies
• The reason for referral, in your own words (this shapes what I focus on during the visit)
• Confirmation that the patient has consented to the review

If your practice uses secure messaging or a Medical-Objects or HealthLink connection, get in touch and I’ll send through the details your software needs — I’d rather confirm that directly than have your reception staff guess at an ID number.

What the report looks like when it comes back

The report is written to be read in a few minutes between patients, not filed and forgotten. It’s prioritised — the issues that matter most sit at the top, not buried in a wall of text — written in plain language rather than a checklist of every drug interaction a database can generate, and structured around clear, actionable recommendations. Every decision about whether to act on a recommendation stays with you as the treating GP. The review itself is funded under the Community Pharmacy Programs and claimed by you under MBS item 900 — it costs the patient and their family nothing.

Choosing a pharmacist, and reluctant patients

A patient doesn’t have to be referred to whichever pharmacist their usual community pharmacy happens to use. A patient is entitled to nominate the pharmacist they would like to carry out the review, rather than being assigned whoever their usual community pharmacy happens to work with. If a patient or family has asked for me by name, or your practice would prefer a consistent pharmacist for its HMR referrals, that preference can simply be noted on the referral.

It’s common for a patient to be hesitant about a stranger coming into their home. The most useful thing a practice can do is frame it honestly before the referral goes out: this is a medicine check, not an inspection, it happens once, it’s free, and the point is to make sure nothing’s been missed — not to catch anyone out. If a patient is still reluctant after that conversation, it’s worth revisiting in a few months rather than pushing it through; a review someone doesn’t want isn’t a useful one. For families asking the same question from the other side, the GP page covers the why in more detail, and also has PMS referral template setup guides if your practice wants the referral pathway built directly into your software.

If you’ve got a patient in mind, the quickest way to sort out the practical details — secure messaging ID, fax number, or anything else your software needs — is to get in touch directly and we’ll work it out together.