You need a Medicare provider number to refer or request services that are eligible for a Medicare benefit.
Medical interns who trained in Australia or New Zealand may be able to apply online for a Medicare provider number.
When you apply for your provider number, you can also apply for a Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme (PBS) prescriber number. You’ll need this to prescribe PBS medicines.
You’ll need to create a Provider Digital Access (PRODA) account. You can do this any time, even before you get your provisional registration.
When you have your provisional registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) you need to link your PRODA account to Health Professional Online Services (HPOS). HPOS is an online portal for health professionals to do business securely with government services.
Read more about intern eligibility for Medicare benefits if you’re a new starter.
When you get provisional registration with the Medical Board of Australia, Ahpra will send us your details.
Within one day of your provisional registration effective date, we’ll send an email telling you can apply for a provider number if you:
- trained in Australia or New Zealand
- have medical registration without conditions or notations.
Before you apply make sure you have:
- an email from us inviting you to complete your provider registration online through HPOS
- the location details of where you’ll be practising
- your visa, passport or other citizenship documentation if you were not a permanent resident or citizen of Australia or New Zealand when first enrolled in an accredited medical school
- a compatible browser such as Google Chrome, Internet Explorer or Edge.
To apply follow these steps:
- Log in to PRODA to use HPOS.
- Select My details.
- Select My digital provider number registration.
- Select Apply.
- Complete the questions in the application and select Submit.
You need to enter the address you’ll be practising at, not your home address. Your practice location address will be publicly available.
You can save your application and come back to it later. To resume your application:
- select My details.
- select My digital provider number registration.
- select Continue.
To apply for provider numbers at additional locations:
- Log in to PRODA to use HPOS.
- Select My details.
- Select My provider numbers.
- Select Create a new provider location.
- Complete the questions in the application and select Submit.
You’ll need to enter organisation and banking details when applying for additional provider numbers as an intern. This includes updating your payment destination.
Your employer can provide you with this information.
You can apply for a PBS prescriber number as part of your Digital Provider Number registration.
In the Applicant details section, select Yes to the question ‘Do you want a prescriber number for prescribing Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme medicines under the National Health Act 1953?’
If you need to prove your residency, make sure you give us the same information that’s on your current visa. We don’t need details of open visa applications.
If your residency status changes in the future, you must notify us immediately.
You need to enter the address you’ll be practising at, not your home address. Your practice location address will be publicly available.
We’ll let you know through your HPOS mailbox if there are any issues with your application. We’ll let you know if you need to update and resubmit it.
If you need to resubmit follow these steps:
- Log in to PRODA to use HPOS.
- Select My details.
- Select My digital provider registration.
- Select Continue to open your previous application.
- Correct the relevant details and upload new versions of any requested documentation.
- Select Submit.
If you can’t see a message in your HPOS mailbox, try logging out and then logging in again.
Find out more about using HPOS Messages.
We’ll send you a message in your HPOS mailbox to let you know your Medicare provider number and PBS prescriber number are approved.
To get notifications when there’s a new HPOS message you can do one of the following:
- select to get email notifications when you first use HPOS
- change your notification settings.
Read about managing your notifications in HPOS.
If we’ve asked you for supporting documents, we’ll need to review your application. This means you may not get your provider number straight away.
You’ll need to use a form to apply for a Medicare provider number if you have:
- been trained outside of Australia or New Zealand
- conditions or notations on your provisional medical registration.
Send us your completed application using the lodgement address or fax number on the form.