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You must:
- be recognised as a medical specialist or consulting physician under Medicare
- have a Medicare provider number at the location of each Accredited Pathology Laboratory (APL) where you’ll provide pathology services
- meet the requirements in the approved pathology practitioner undertaking
- submit an approved pathology practitioner undertaking which is accepted by Services Australia.
When applying make sure your Medicare provider number address is the same as the related APL’s approved address.
How to apply
To apply:
- fill in the Application for approval, amendment or renewal of an approved pathology practitioner form
- get an authorised witness to witness your signature
- for new approvals, make sure the time between the date you sign the application and send it is less than 3 months
- for renewal applications, make sure the dates you sign the application and send it are no more than 3 months before your current approval expires
- upload your application through Health Professional Online Services (HPOS) or mail or fax it to us.
New APP approvals begin from the day they’re approved by a delegate and can’t be backdated.
Read more about using HPOS.
Backdated approvals
We can consider backdating an approval on a case by case basis, except when:
- the approval is for a new APP
- your undertaking is accepted more than one month after the previous undertaking expired
- we don’t have enough information to make a decision.
To request a backdated approval, you need to provide all of the following:
- a correctly completed application
- a letter of request telling us why your application is late and the reason the approval should be backdated. This letter must be signed if it’s not submitted by an authorised person using form upload.
After we accept your undertaking, we’ll consider the circumstances and let you know the outcome.
What happens next
If accepted, we’ll send you a letter with your APP number and confirmation along with the approval dates. This is valid for 12 months.
We’ll ask you to renew your APP approval around 11 weeks before it expires.
You’ll need to renew your APP approval before it expires, allowing enough time for processing. To do this, complete the Application for approval, amendment or renewal of an approved pathology practitioner form.
Laboratory details
We need the details of the laboratory before you can access Medicare benefits. You can do this by completing question 9 of the approval, amendment or renewal of an approved pathology practitioner form:
- when you apply for approval/renewal as an APP - if the laboratory is already approved as an APL
- at any other time - if you start working at a new APL or your laboratory is approved after you become an APP.