Complaints and appeals
Our service delivery strategy statement
“Delivering great service to all Australians”
“We listen when you tell us what you really want from Medicare Australia. Every staff member takes pride in providing friendly, timely and accurate service, protecting your privacy and making your experience as easy as possible. Our promise is that we will deliver great service to all Australians.”
Catherine Argall
CEO
June 2006
Who we are
Medicare Australia is an Australian Government agency that administers a range of health and payment programs, including Medicare, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, Family Assistance Office, the Australian Organ Donor Register, the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register and aged care payments to approved aged care providers.
Medicare Australia processes more than 400 million transactions each year and is responsible for paying $17 billion worth of benefits to the Australian public and health care providers.
Sitting within the Human Services portfolio, Medicare Australia is committed to providing great service to all Australians and to improving access to health programs. It does this through a network of 238 Medicare Offices, more than 1000 Medicare Australia Access Points in pharmacies and rural areas, call centres and a range of online services available from the 'For individuals' section.
Medicare Australia also maintains the highest privacy and security standards and as well as a world class program that detects and prevents fraud and inappropriate standards.
As one of the largest and most efficient health benefit and information processing agencies in the world, Medicare Australia has a connection with every Australian resident, every doctor and every pharmacy and with members of the health and IT sectors.
Our vision and purpose
“Working together to improve the health and well-being of Australians by delivering information and payment services.”
Our promises to you
Medicare Australia’s service charter is our promise and commitment to delivering great service to all Australians. We measure our performance against each of the promises.
Confidentiality and privacy
All information about you is confidential and our staff can only access and use this information in the performance of their duties. When we need to collect or disclose information about you, we:
- have specific obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 , the Health Insurance Act 1973, the National Health Act 1953 and the Freedom of Information Act 1982
- only collect information about you that we need for the programs we administer
- keep your personal information accurate and secure
- give you access to your information unless prohibited by law
- only disclose information about you when you give us permission to do so or are permitted by law.
You can help
You can help us to help you by:
- providing us with accurate information and documents
- having all relevant information ready
- being open and honest in your dealings with us
- responding quickly to our requests
- treating our staff with courtesy and respect
- advising us when your personal details change
- providing us with feedback on our services
- contacting us if we have made a mistake.
How you can give us feedback
We value feedback because this helps us to improve our service and to stay in touch with your needs. If you have been pleased with our service, please let us know as it gives us the opportunity to recognise great service by our staff.
If you are not satisfied with our service, please let us know.
Ways to give us feedback include:
- The Online Feedback form
- In person at any Medicare office
- Telephone 1800 465 717
- Mail (no stamp required)
Customer Service Support Manager
Medicare Australia
Reply Paid 9822
We take your complaints seriously. To make sure that we listen and respond to you quickly, Medicare Australia has a formal complaints process.
We recommend that you:
- first, try to resolve the issue with the person you have been dealing with
- if you are not satisfied then ask to speak to their manager
- if you are still not satisfied, call us on 1800 465 717. This is our dedicated complaints service.
Still not happy?
Our objective is to resolve your complaint up front. If this is not possible, there are three avenues for external review outlined in the table below:
this is a table
| Type of enquiry | Agency | Phone |
|---|---|---|
|
General complaint |
1300 362 072 |
|
|
Where you believe your privacy rights have been infringed |
1300 363 992 |
|
|
In certain specific circumstances where legislation allows |
1300 366 700 |
Freedom of Information (FOI)
Medicare Australia is required to publish information in its Annual Report about the way it is organised, its functions and powers, the categories of documents held by Medicare Australia and how the public can access them.
You can make a request for access to information under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 by:
Mail
Freedom of Information Officer
Medicare Australia
PO Box 1001
Tuggeranong DC ACT 2901
Phone
Call (02) 6124 7914 or (02) 6124 7789.
We will acknowledge your request within the legislated timeframes as described in the Freedom of Information Act 1982.
Please note: an FOI request is not required to obtain your own Medicare and/or Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme information.
Last updated: 1 December, 2008