Changing 1 July 2027
From 1 July 2027, your patient needs a current care plan to have a Home Medicines Review
The rule itself is one sentence. The problem is the group it quietly excludes: patients still sitting on a GP Management Plan that was never converted. For them the door closes on 30 June 2027, and converting takes a consultation you have to book in advance.
What actually changes
One sentence, in the MBS explanatory note.
“From 1 July 2027 patients will only be eligible for DMMRs if they have a GP chronic condition management plan and that plan was put in place or reviewed in the last 18 months.”
MBS explanatory note AN.0.52, which governs items 245 and 900.
A Domiciliary Medication Management Review is the same service most people call a Home Medicines Review. So from that date, no current GP chronic condition management plan means no review, and no item 900.
For comparison
What the rule is today.
Right now the test is clinical rather than administrative. To refer, you assess that the patient:
- has a chronic medical condition or a complex medication regimen, and
- has therapeutic goals that are not being met, and
- is living in the community, so not in hospital and not in residential aged care.
There is no minimum number of medicines and no care plan requirement at all. That last part is what changes.
The timeline
| 1 July 2025 | The GP chronic condition management plan replaced GP Management Plans and Team Care Arrangements. |
|---|---|
| Now to 30 June 2027 | Patients who had a GPMP or TCA before 1 July 2025 keep access to services under those plans. HMR eligibility is unaffected. |
| 30 June 2027 | Transitional access under legacy GPMPs and TCAs ends. |
| 1 July 2027 | HMR eligibility requires a GPCCMP prepared or reviewed within the previous 18 months. |
Sources: MBS explanatory notes AN.0.52 and AN.15.3, current as at August 2026.
Why this catches practices out
Two patients look identical today and will not behave the same in 2027.
| Patient | Today | 1 July 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Has a GPCCMP prepared or reviewed in the last 18 months | Eligible | Eligible. Nothing to do. |
| Has a GPCCMP, not reviewed for over 18 months | Eligible | Not eligible until it is reviewed. |
| Still on a pre-July 2025 GPMP or TCA, never converted | Eligible | Not eligible. Needs a GPCCMP prepared first. |
| Chronic condition, no care plan at all | Eligible | Not eligible. Needs a GPCCMP prepared first. |
The third row is the one that bites. Those patients have had a plan for years, it still appears in their record, and nothing in the software will flag that it stopped counting. If a batch of them needs converting in June 2027, that is a lot of appointments competing for the same fortnight.
The good news
If your care planning is current, this asks nothing extra of you.
The 18 month rule is not new. A GPCCMP already has to have been prepared or reviewed in the previous 18 months for a patient to access allied health services under it. If your practice already keeps care plans current for that reason, the 2027 change simply extends a test you are already meeting to medication reviews as well.
So this is less a new burden than a deadline for a tidy-up you may already be most of the way through.
What to do between now and June 2027
- Run one search. Patients with a chronic condition and either no GPCCMP, or a GPCCMP not reviewed in 18 months. Every major clinical system can do this from its own database search. That number is your 2027 exposure, and it is better to know it in 2026.
- Fold the conversion into visits you are already having. Spread across 4 quarters it is routine. Compressed into June 2027 it is a bottleneck.
- Refer the medication reviews you were going to refer anyway, now. A review done in 2026 is done under the current rules, with no plan requirement at all.
We will write the database search for your system and send it over. It costs nothing and it does not need your GPs to do anything extra.
Questions about the 2027 change
What is a GPCCMP?
A GP Chronic Condition Management Plan. It replaced the GP Management Plan and Team Care Arrangements on 1 July 2025 as the MBS chronic disease management framework.
Does my patient need a GPCCMP for a Home Medicines Review today?
No. Until 30 June 2027 there is no care plan requirement at all. The test is a chronic condition or a complex medication regimen with therapeutic goals not being met, and living in the community.
What happens to patients still on an old GPMP?
Transitional access under GP Management Plans and Team Care Arrangements made before 1 July 2025 ends on 30 June 2027. From 1 July 2027 those patients need a GPCCMP prepared before they can have a medication review.
How current does the plan have to be?
Prepared or reviewed within the previous 18 months. A plan that exists but has not been reviewed inside that window will not make the patient eligible.
Does this change what the pharmacist does?
No. Nothing about the review itself changes. The pharmacist still visits the patient at home, reviews everything they take, and writes to the referring GP. Only the eligibility gate in front of it changes.
Should we bring reviews forward before July 2027?
For patients you were going to refer anyway, yes. A review done under the current rules has no plan requirement. It also resets the 12 month clock on item 900 at a point where the rules are simpler.
Want the database search?
Tell us which clinical system you run and we will send the search that finds your 2027 exposure. Free, and nothing to install.