Working for Medicare Australia
What we do
Our purpose: “Working together to improve the health and well-being of Australians by delivering information and payment services”.
You may be aware of some of the services Medicare Australia delivers when you walk into a Medicare office, or call our enquiry line. But what the public often sees is a small part of the expansive range services we deliver to the Australian public in addition to Medicare, some of these include:
- Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS)
- HECS reimbursement Scheme
- Australian Organ Donor Register (AODR)
- Family Assistance
- Australian Defence Force Family Healthcare Program
- Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR).
- Bowel Cancer Screening Register
- LPG Scheme
Our organisation processes more than 500 million transactions and pays benefits of approximately $30 billion to pharmacists, doctors and members of the public every year.
We employ over 5 000 people in our Medicare office network, access points, rural transaction centres and administration offices throughout Australia.
As well as delivering high quality services, we are always looking at ways to deliver more efficient health payments and information systems for the public and our providers. Medicare Australia has a proud history of stakeholder satisfaction with over 90 per cent public satisfaction (measured independently each year). We are also the proud recipients of a range of national and international awards.
Medicare Australia forms part of the Department of Human Services
portfolio. We work closely with health care providers and peak health bodies, external stakeholders and other agencies within the portfolio.
Did you know?
- Over 21 million people are enrolled in Medicare
- Over 950,000 people are registered on the Australian Organ Donor Register (AODR)
- During 2006-07 approximately $6 billion in benefits was paid through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS)
- 1.9 million children under the age of seven are recorded on the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR).
Medicare Australia’s strategic direction
Medicare Australia’s strategic focus is on creating greater access and efficiency by delivering more services online and expanding the range of services currently offered to the Australian public.
Within the strategic direction are our strategic themes which help us to develop our capabilities, ensuring we can deliver on the Government’s current and future expectations.
More information on our strategic direction is available on our website
Medicare Australia’s Service charter
Medicare Australia’s revised Service charter is available on our website. The charter supports our strategic theme of ‘delivering great service’ placing Medicare Australia’s commitment to great service at the heart of all our business practices.
The service charter centres on four key statements from the Australian public which tells us what members of the Australian public really want from Medicare Australia:
- Make it easy for me
- Get it right
- Be genuinely interested in me
- Respect my rights
Our future
The Minister for Human Services the Hon. Chris Bowen MP officially announced a major reform to Australian Government service delivery on 16 December 2009.
This is the Government’s strategy to improve service delivery to provide you, the Australian community, with access to easy, high quality service that works for you.
More information is available on the works for you website.
APS Values
The APS Values provide the standard of behaviour and conduct expected of employees in the APS and Medicare Australia. We assess candidates for organisational fit with particular regard to the APS Values.
Medicare Australia—employer of choice
Medicare Australia offers a flexible and rewarding work environment with a range of benefits for our employees, some of which include:
- competitive remuneration
- leave and superannuation provisions
- access to study assistance
- maternity and paternity leave
- healthy lifestyle subsidy
More information about what we offer can be found in our Collective Agreement 2008-2011.
Last updated: 5 March, 2010