Clinic template
A Cliniko template for the Medicare CDM report to the GP
Under Medicare's chronic condition management items (10950 to 10970), the treating allied health professional must send a written report to the referring GP for the only service on a short referral, or the first and last service on a longer one, or whenever the patient's condition changes materially. This Cliniko letter template is built as a one page report against exactly that rule.
Last checked 25 Sep 2026 against the sources listed at the end of this page.
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Letter template: Medicare CDM report to referring GP: allied health (general)
The template: 8 fields
| Section | Field | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Header | Date | Text | Placeholder General.CurrentDate. |
| Header | Referring GP name and practice | Text | Bracketed prompt: [GP name and practice address], copied from the chronic condition management plan referral. |
| Header | Re: patient name, date of birth, and which service this report covers | Text | Bracketed prompt: [patient details] and [first service / last service / mid course change]. This line tells the GP straight away which of the three reporting triggers applies. |
| Body | Referral details | Text | Bracketed prompt: [item number, for example 10960 Physiotherapy] and [number of services recommended in the plan]. Confirms which of the 13 CDM items this report relates to. |
| Body | Assessment findings or reason referred | Paragraph | Bracketed prompt: [presenting problem and relevant findings]. Only needed in full on the first report; later reports can reference it briefly. |
| Body | Treatment provided and progress | Paragraph | Bracketed prompt: [services provided, outcome measure and change, or plain functional description]. |
| Body | Recommendation to the GP | Paragraph | Bracketed prompt: [continue current plan, further services needed, refer elsewhere, or plan complete]. State plainly whether the CDM services are finished or ongoing. |
| Sign off | Practitioner name, qualification and provider details | Text | Bracketed prompt: [name, qualification, phone or email]. |
Build it in Cliniko
- Go to Settings > Letter templates, add a new template, and name it internally as Medicare CDM report to GP so it is easy to find alongside the general letter to GP template.
- Set a default email subject that names the reporting trigger, for example CDM report: first service or CDM report: plan complete, so reception and the GP's practice can file it correctly without opening it first.
- Write the header with General.CurrentDate for the date and bracketed prompts for the referrer, patient and which service this report covers, since Cliniko's own placeholder documentation names only the date as reliably automatic.
- Build the body around the three reporting triggers under the Medicare rule: use the fuller Assessment findings section for the first report under a plan, a shorter progress update for a later report, and a closing recommendation whenever the patient finishes the recommended services or their condition changes materially.
- Set a recall or task in Cliniko against the patient's file at the first CDM service so the report obligation for the last service is not missed once treatment finishes, since the rule applies to the first and last service on a plan covering more than one visit.
- Test the template end to end: generate it from a sample patient file, confirm the date fills in, and check every bracketed prompt is filled before it goes near a real GP.
This is not an optional courtesy letter
A letter to the GP after a chronic condition management referral is often treated as good practice rather than a rule. It is a rule. Medicare's guidance on the individual allied health items (10950 to 10970, one item per profession, physiotherapy 10960, podiatry 10962, psychology 10968 and so on) states that the treating allied health professional must send a written report to the referring practitioner for the only service under a referral, or for the first and last service under a referral covering more than one, or whenever the patient's condition changes materially in between. This template exists because that report-back obligation is specific and repeatable, not because every referrer expects a letter.
Three triggers, one template
Rather than writing a different letter for a first report, a last report, and a mid course update, this template uses one layout with a header line that states plainly which trigger applies, then adjusts how much of the body gets filled in. A first report needs the full assessment findings; a last report can reference them briefly and focus on outcome and whether the plan is complete; a mid course report exists specifically because something changed, so that becomes the lead paragraph. Keeping one template means the practitioner is not hunting for the right file when the referral naming, item number and 5 service cap shared across all 13 CDM items already take enough attention to track correctly.
Referral validity changed in 2025, and the report still has to match it
From 1 July 2025, referrals under a GP chronic condition management plan are valid for the period stated on them, or 18 months from the first service if no period is stated, replacing the older rule that referrals had to state a fixed number of services. Referrals written before that date still work the old way and remain valid until the stated services are used. Either way, the report-back obligation sits on top of whichever referral rule applies, which is why the header line naming which service this report covers matters more than the exact wording of the referral itself.
Sources
- The treating allied health professional under a Medicare chronic condition management plan must send a written report to the referring practitioner for the only service under a referral, or the first and last service under a longer referral, or whenever the patient's condition changes materially. Department of Health and Aged Care, MBS Online, checked 25 Sep 2026.
- Effective 1 July 2026, MBS items 10950 to 10970 (the individual chronic condition management allied health items, one per profession) each carry a schedule fee of $74.55 with an 85 per cent benefit of $63.40, and each requires a service recommended in a GP chronic condition management plan. Department of Health and Aged Care, MBS Online, checked 25 Sep 2026.
- From 1 July 2025, referrals under a GP chronic condition management plan are valid for the period stated on them, or 18 months from the first service if no period is stated, with transition arrangements for pre-1 July 2025 GP Management Plans and Team Care Arrangements until 30 June 2027. Department of Health and Aged Care, MBS Online, checked 25 Sep 2026.
- Setting up a Cliniko letter template happens under Settings > Letter templates, where a name, a body and a default email subject are all required before the template can be used, and the wording can still be changed at the point a specific letter is generated. Cliniko Help, checked 25 Sep 2026.