Chronic disease management plans: how to get one

What a chronic disease management plan does

"Chronic disease management plan" is the everyday name for what Medicare now calls a GP chronic condition management plan (GPCCMP). It replaced the GP Management Plan and Team Care Arrangement pair on 1 July 2025. A GP prepares it for a condition that has lasted, or is expected to last, at least 6 months: diabetes, heart disease, asthma, arthritis, persistent pain and many others. The plan sets out your condition, your goals and who is involved in your care, and you get your own copy.

Where the GP also finds complex care needs, the plan comes with allied health referrals. Medicare then rebates up to 5 individual sessions per calendar year, shared across the professions on your plan: physiotherapy, podiatry, dietetics, exercise physiology, occupational therapy and others. Providers who bulk bill accept the rebate as full payment; many charge a gap. Our bulk billed allied health guide covers what each session really costs.

Why NewDoc does not prepare them

Medicare pins the plan to one practice. If you are registered with a practice under MyMedicare, the plan, its reviews and the referrals have to come from there. If you are not registered, they have to come from your usual GP: the GP or practice that has provided most of your care over the past 12 months, or is likely to over the next 12. The video item for preparing a plan is exempt from Medicare's usual 12-month telehealth relationship rule, but it carries the same MyMedicare or usual-GP requirement as the in-person item.

NewDoc is a telehealth-only service without consulting rooms, so it cannot be your MyMedicare practice. Most people use NewDoc for same-day care alongside a regular practice, not as the practice that provides most of their care. NewDoc therefore does not prepare, review or refer under chronic condition management plans. We would rather say that plainly than book you into a consultation that cannot deliver what you came for.

How to get a plan from your usual GP

Book a longer appointment with the practice you normally attend, and say when booking that it is about a chronic condition management plan, since most practices set aside extra time for it. The GP checks that your condition meets Medicare's test, prepares the plan with you if it is clinically appropriate, and writes the allied health referrals. Plans are reviewed periodically, and a plan stays current for 18 months after it was prepared or last reviewed.

If you are not yet registered with MyMedicare, you can register with your regular practice through Medicare online or at the front desk. If you do not have a regular practice, a general practice you have attended in person (two visits in the last 24 months in most areas, one in remote areas) can register you, and the plan and its reviews then stay with it. Some practices offer their own video appointments for existing patients, so the plan consult itself may happen by video through them. Medicare has no phone item for preparing a plan, so it is video or in person.

What a NewDoc GP can still help with

Managing the condition is bigger than the plan document. A NewDoc GP can see you the same day for a bulk billed telehealth consult if you're Medicare eligible: medication reviews and repeat scripts, blood test and imaging referrals, specialist referrals, and advice on what to ask your usual practice for. See our type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and asthma pages for how those consults work.

You do not need a plan, or any referral, to see a physiotherapist, dietitian or other allied health provider privately. You pay their fee directly, and private health extras cover often rebates part of it.