Your Mental Health Care Plan

This guide explains how your Mental Health Care Plan (MHCP) works — including how to access your sessions, what the plan does and does not cover, and your responsibilities in keeping it active. Please read it carefully and keep it somewhere you can refer to it.

What is a Mental Health Care Plan?

A Mental Health Care Plan (MHCP) is a care plan prepared by your GP under Medicare's Better Access initiative. It allows you to access a set number of psychological therapy sessions each calendar year with a Medicare rebate applied to each appointment. The MHCP is the most common way people access funded psychology in Australia.

The plan is created by your GP after a clinical assessment. It identifies your mental health concerns, sets out your treatment goals, and includes a referral to a psychologist (and other allied health professionals if relevant).

How to Access Your MHCP

To access MHCP-funded appointments at Linked Psychology, you need to:

• See your GP and request a Mental Health Care Plan assessment
• Receive a formal MHCP document and a referral letter addressed to your psychologist
• Bring or send your referral to us before or at your first appointment — rebates cannot be applied without a valid referral on file
• Ensure your referral is current — it must be dated within the current calendar year and have remaining sessions available

Your GP coordinates the plan and is responsible for reviewing it.

How Many Sessions Are You Entitled To?

The MHCP provides access to up to 10 subsidised psychology sessions per calendar year (1 January to 31 December).

Sessions	How to access
Sessions 1–6	Available directly from your initial GP referral
Sessions 7–10	Require a mid-year GP review and a new referral (see below)

The Mid-Year GP Review — Accessing Sessions 7–10

Sessions 1–6 are available directly from your initial referral. To access sessions 7–10, you must return to your GP for a review:

• After your 6th session, you need to book a review appointment with your GP
• Your psychologist will provide a progress update letter to your GP to support this review
• Your GP will assess your progress and, if ongoing treatment is appropriate, issue a new referral for up to 4 more sessions
• You cannot access sessions 7–10 without this GP review and a new referral — Medicare will not pay the rebate without it

End of Year Reset — What Happens on 1 January

The MHCP session count runs per calendar year (1 January to 31 December). On 1 January, your entitlement resets and a fresh 10 sessions become available — but you will need a new referral from your GP to access them. Sessions from the previous year do not carry over.

We recommend booking a GP appointment in November or December each year so your new referral is ready from 1 January with no gap in your care.

What Conditions Does the MHCP Cover?

The MHCP is available for a broad range of mental health conditions. Your GP will identify the relevant diagnosis or concern when preparing your plan. Common presentations include:

• Anxiety disorders (generalised anxiety, panic disorder, social anxiety, OCD, health anxiety)
• Depression and mood disorders
• PTSD and trauma-related presentations
• Grief and loss
• Adjustment difficulties
• Eating and body image concerns (note: if you have a formal eating disorder diagnosis, you may be better served by an Eating Disorder Treatment Plan — ask your GP)
• Neurodevelopmental presentations including ADHD and autism (psychological support, not diagnostic assessment)
• Chronic illness, pain, and the psychological impacts of health conditions

If you are unsure whether your presentation is covered, speak with your GP. The MHCP is broad in its scope — most people accessing psychology in private practice do so through this pathway.

What the MHCP Does Not Cover

It is important to understand the limits of what the MHCP funds:

• Reports and letters — preparation of clinical letters, NDIS reports, legal reports, or Centrelink documentation is not covered by Medicare and is charged separately. At Linked Psychology, this is at Danielle's discretion and charged as an additional professional service.
• Cancellation fees — Medicare rebates cannot be applied to missed or late-cancelled appointments. Our cancellation policy applies regardless of Medicare status.
• Assessment fees — formal psychological assessments (e.g. ADHD or autism diagnostic assessments) are not covered by MHCP sessions.
• Sessions beyond your annual cap — once you have used your 10 sessions for the calendar year, no further rebate is available under the MHCP until 1 January.

Telehealth and Your MHCP

Medicare rebates apply to telehealth (video or phone) sessions under the MHCP, provided certain conditions are met:

• Telehealth must be clinically appropriate for your presentation — this is assessed by your psychologist
• Video sessions are preferred; phone sessions may be available where video is not clinically or practically possible
• You must be located in Australia at the time of the session for Medicare to apply
• The same session cap (10 per calendar year) applies to telehealth sessions

Linked Psychology offers telehealth appointments for clients anywhere in Australia on Mondays. Please indicate your preference when booking.

A Note on Fees

Rebate amounts are set by Medicare and subject to change — please confirm current rates with your GP or Medicare directly.

Payment is due at the time of each session. If your payment details are registered with Medicare, your rebate is typically processed automatically after your appointment. You can also claim via the Medicare app or by visiting a service centre.

Private health insurance: some funds offer a partial rebate for psychology sessions. You cannot claim both a Medicare rebate and a private health rebate for the same session. Contact your fund to confirm your entitlements.

Your Responsibilities Under the MHCP

To make the most of your funded sessions, please make sure you:

• Provide your referral before or at your first appointment — we cannot apply the Medicare rebate without it
• Track your session count — know how many sessions you have used and how many remain
• Book your mid-year GP review before your 6th session to avoid a gap accessing sessions 7–10
• Book a GP appointment in November/December each year to get your new referral ready for 1 January
• Notify us of any changes to your referral or plan status — especially if you have been seeing another psychologist and have used some of your sessions elsewhere
• Let us know if you are unsure about any of the above — we are happy to help you navigate the system

If You Are Seeing More Than One Psychologist

Your 10 MHCP sessions per calendar year are shared across all psychologists you see. If you have previously seen (or are currently seeing) another psychologist under the same MHCP referral, those sessions count toward your annual total. Please let us know when you first book so we can confirm how many sessions remain on your plan before scheduling your appointments.

Continuing Therapy Beyond Your MHCP Sessions

Your MHCP provides up to 10 funded sessions per year, but therapy doesn't have to stop when those sessions run out. Once your annual allocation is used, you may continue to see your psychologist as a private (self-funded) client. We can discuss what this looks like and what costs to expect at any point during your treatment.

Questions or Concerns

If you have any questions about your MHCP, your session entitlements, or your referral status, please speak with us. We are familiar with the Better Access system and happy to help you navigate it.

You are also encouraged to speak directly with your GP, or contact Medicare on 132 011 or via the Medicare app.