The 3-year-old Healthy Kids Check: a guide for GP teams

For Australian general practice teams · Information checked 15 October 2026
Image: fictional general practice scene, generated with AI.

The Medicare Healthy Kids Check begins on 1 November 2026, bringing a health assessment for three-year-old children into general practice. Preparing your team means more than adding an appointment name: reception needs accurate booking information, nurses need a clear role, and the GP needs a workable assessment and follow-up process.

This guide is for practice managers, receptionists and practice nurses planning that workflow. Use it to start a team discussion, then turn the decisions into your practice’s own procedures.

What is the new 3-year-old Healthy Kids Check?

The check is introduced through the existing time-tiered health assessment items: 701, 703, 705 and 707 for GPs, and 224–227 for prescribed medical practitioners. The registered regulations set the eligibility and required content. A Medicare-eligible child must be three on the service date and must not have previously received this assessment; it is not available to hospital inpatients.

The practical age window runs from the third birthday to the day before the fourth birthday. Checking age when the family calls is useful, but eligibility must fit the appointment date.

1. Give reception a clear booking message

Prepare a short booking guide with the start date, age window, your appointment model and your actual fees. Include who can answer questions when the booking falls outside the planned pathway.

A useful first question is: “What is your child’s date of birth, and what would you most like to discuss at the appointment?” Ask about communication or access needs so the practice can arrange support. Pass health concerns to the clinical team through your agreed process.

A Medicare-funded service is not automatically a free appointment. The practice’s bulk-billing or private-billing arrangements determine the fee conversation. Give families accurate information before the visit rather than promising a rebate or no out-of-pocket cost.

2. Agree how GPs and nurses will work together

The check can be delivered by the GP alone or with eligible nursing assistance. Personal attendance by the GP or prescribed medical practitioner is required; nursing involvement is optional. The MBS health assessment rules and AskMBS assistance guidance explain the boundaries.

Nursing assistance must be appropriately skilled and supervised by the GP or prescribed medical practitioner. Agree locally who gathers information, which checks the nurse can assist with and how findings reach the GP. The doctor remains responsible for the medical assessment and clinical decisions. If your practice uses a nurse-assisted appointment, rehearse the handover. A fixed “30 minutes with the nurse, then 15 minutes with the GP” is a local booking choice, not a universal Medicare requirement.

3. Prepare the record and follow-up tools

Have your clinical lead check the template against the current requirements. It needs space for the required history and assessment areas, including development and wellbeing, daily habits, eyesight, hearing, oral health and growth against published centile charts, including BMI. It also needs the medical assessment, advice, indicated interventions or referrals, and an offer of a written report with recommendations.

Then test whether the record is usable. Can staff separate what the parent reports from what they observed? Is there a clear place for the GP’s conclusions? Can the family see the next step without reading the whole clinical record?

Give every follow-up task an owner and a date. “Referral discussed” leaves more uncertainty than “GP to send the referral today; nominated staff member to check receipt next week.” Your telephone message and handover template can support this process.

4. Rehearse one family scenario together

Try this fictional example at a team meeting: a parent calls for a child turning four next month and asks whether the check will be free. They also mention a concern they want the doctor to hear.

Ask reception to explain the booking options, check the child’s age at the proposed visit, give the practice’s fee information and route the concern appropriately. Ask the clinical team to explain the assessment plan and how unfinished work would be handled. Finish by naming who will organise and track the next steps.

The point is to find gaps before a real family encounters them: an unclear fee script, a missing interpreter booking, a task nobody accepted or a template staff cannot find. Give staff protected time to practise; our guide to effective online GP receptionist training explains how learning can connect with local induction.

5. Check completion before claiming

Choose the item whose clinical descriptor and time requirements match the complete, eligible service. Booking a return visit does not complete a deferred mandatory examination. The common MBS rules require all components of the service to be completed.

Keep that separate from later care: arranging an indicated referral does not mean every external referral result must return before the assessment can be complete. The GP should resolve clinical and claiming questions against the current item rules.

A short team readiness check

• Can reception explain who the booking is for, the start date and the practice’s fees?
• Do the GP and nurse know their agreed roles and handover process?
• Has the clinical lead checked the template and necessary equipment?
• Is there a clear process for unfinished assessment work and clinical concerns?
• Will the written report be offered, and will follow-up tasks have an owner?