Fee schedule
Medicare dietetics items 2026-27
Medicare item 10954 pays a dietitian $74.55 (rebate $63.40) for an individual service of at least 20 minutes under a chronic condition management plan, capped at 5 services a year shared with other allied health items. A separate diabetes group program pays $95.65 for the one-off assessment (81120) and $23.80 per client per session (81125), capped at 8 a year.
Last checked 25 Sep 2026 against the sources listed at the end of this page.
- Payer
- Medicare
- Effective from
- 1 Jul 2026
- Official schedule
- Source document
What changed this year
- MBS Online lists the schedule fee for 10954, 81120 and 81125 as updated 1 July 2026, at $74.55, $95.65 and $23.80 respectively, the same fee level as the equivalent exercise physiology and diabetes educator items in the same subgroups.
- The group program (81120, 81125) is entirely separate from the individual CDM item (10954). A patient can use their 5-service individual cap and still access up to 8 diabetes group sessions in the same calendar year, since the group items sit in a different MBS group (M9) with their own cap.
- 10954 uses the same 1 July 2025 rename from GP Management Plan and Team Care Arrangements to GP chronic condition management plan as the other individual allied health items, with transition access to old-style plans until 30 June 2027.
All 3 dietetics items
| Item | Description | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| 10954 | Dietetics service, individual, by an eligible dietitian, at least 20 minutes, under a GP chronic condition management plan (rebate 85% = $63.40) | $74.55 |
| 81120 | Type 2 diabetes group service assessment, by an eligible dietitian, at least 45 minutes, individual and in person, payable once a year (rebate 85% = $81.35) | $95.65 |
| 81125 | Type 2 diabetes group service, by an eligible dietitian, per client in a group of 2 to 12, at least 60 minutes, in person, up to 8 a year (rebate 85% = $20.25) | $23.80 |
Two Medicare pathways for dietetics, not one
Item 10954 is what most dietitians think of as their Medicare item: an individual consult under a GP chronic condition management plan, $74.55, sharing the same 5-service annual cap as every other discipline in that item group. It works the same way for a dietitian as it does for a podiatrist or physiotherapist billing the equivalent item.
The type 2 diabetes group service items, 81120 and 81125, are a different MBS group entirely, M9 rather than M3, with their own assessment step, their own session cap and their own group delivery model. A clinic that only sets up 10954 in its billing system is missing a genuinely separate revenue and referral pathway for diabetes-specific group work.
How the diabetes group pathway is structured
The pathway starts with a one-off assessment, 81120, at least 45 minutes, done individually, to check the patient's suitability for a group program and prepare them for it. This can only be billed once a year, and it is shared across the three professions that can run this assessment: a dietitian (81120), an exercise physiologist (81110) or a diabetes educator (81100). Whichever one does the assessment, the patient is then eligible to join a group run by any of the three.
From there, group sessions (81125 for dietetics) run at $23.80 per client, in groups of 2 to 12, at least 60 minutes each, capped at 8 a year across all three group item series combined (81105, 81115, 81125). After the program's last session, the treating dietitian must send a written report to the referring GP and keep an attendance record for the group.
The 5-service cap does not touch the diabetes group cap
Because 10954 and 81125 sit in different MBS groups with different eligibility tests (chronic condition management plan for 10954, confirmed type 2 diabetes plus a group-services referral for 81125), a patient's use of one does not reduce what they can claim under the other. A patient who has already used all 5 individual CDM services this year, across any combination of disciplines, can still start the diabetes group pathway and claim up to 8 more group sessions, provided they meet the type 2 diabetes eligibility and get the specific referral.
Claiming notes
- 10954 needs the same conditions as every other individual chronic condition management item: a GP or prescribed medical practitioner's chronic condition management plan (or a valid GP Management Plan and Team Care Arrangement made before 1 July 2025), a referral, at least 20 minutes, and the service consistent with the plan.
- The 5 service cap on 10954 is shared with every other individual CDM item the patient uses that year (podiatry, physiotherapy, psychology and the rest), not a dietetics-only allowance.
- The diabetes group program is a three-step pathway: assessment (81120, once a year, done individually), then group sessions (81125, up to 8 a year, delivered to 2 to 12 patients per group, at least 60 minutes each). The patient must first be assessed as suitable under 81120, 81110 (exercise physiology) or 81100 (diabetes education); a dietitian, exercise physiologist or diabetes educator can each do the initial assessment for the same group program.
- After the last group session, the dietitian must prepare or contribute to a written report back to the referring medical practitioner, and an attendance record for the group must be kept.
- Only patients with type 2 diabetes, managed under a chronic condition management plan (or transitional GP Management Plan and Team Care Arrangement, or multidisciplinary care plan), are eligible for the group program, and they need a specific referral to it separate from a general dietetics referral.
- Patients cannot claim an MBS benefit and a private health fund extras benefit for the same dietetics service.
Load these fees into your practice software
- Set up 10954 as your standard individual dietetics billable item in Cliniko, and 81120/81125 as a separate pair for the diabetes group program, since they run on different caps and different session structures.
- Cliniko's Billable items import (Settings, then Data & docs, then Data imports) takes a CSV with the columns Item code, Name, Price (ex. tax), Taxable and Item type, so all three dietetics items can be loaded in one pass rather than typed in individually.
- For 81125, set Cliniko's group appointment or class booking feature to charge per attendee at $23.80, since the fee is per client in the group, not a flat session price.
- Name 81120 clearly as the one-off diabetes group assessment (for example "Medicare 81120 T2DM Group Assessment") so it is not booked repeatedly by mistake. It can only be billed once a year per patient across all three assessment items (81100, 81110, 81120).
- All three items bulk bill through Cliniko's Tyro Health connection. Cliniko's own help centre treats Medicare bulk billing through Tyro Health as the baseline workflow, and describes DVA claiming as almost the same process once that connection is in place.
- Track each patient's diabetes group session count against the 8-a-year cap with a Cliniko custom field or tag, since the cap spans 81105 (diabetes educator), 81115 (exercise physiology) and 81125 (dietetics) combined if the patient sees more than one profession's group program.
Sources
- Effective 1 July 2026, MBS item 10954 (dietetics, individual chronic condition management service) has a schedule fee of $74.55 with an 85 per cent benefit of $63.40, for a service of at least 20 minutes under a GP chronic condition management plan, capped at 5 services a year shared across the item group. Department of Health and Aged Care, MBS Online, checked 25 Sep 2026.
- MBS item 81120 (dietetics assessment for a type 2 diabetes group service) has a schedule fee of $95.65, is at least 45 minutes, individual and in person, and is payable once a calendar year across items 81100, 81110 and 81120 combined. Department of Health and Aged Care, MBS Online, checked 25 Sep 2026.
- MBS item 81125 (dietetics type 2 diabetes group service) has a schedule fee of $23.80 per client, requires a group of 2 to 12 patients and at least 60 minutes in person, and is capped at 8 services a calendar year across items 81105, 81115 and 81125 combined. Department of Health and Aged Care, MBS Online, checked 25 Sep 2026.
- Patients can access up to 5 MBS-supported individual chronic condition management services per calendar year across items 10950 to 10970 combined. Department of Health and Aged Care, MBS Online, checked 25 Sep 2026.
- Cliniko's data import tool can create billable items from a CSV with the fields Item code, Name, Price (ex. tax), Taxable and Item type. Cliniko, checked 25 Sep 2026.
- Cliniko's help centre confirms Medicare bulk bills are processed through the Tyro Health (formerly Medipass) integration, and uses that as the comparison point for how DVA claiming works in Cliniko. Cliniko, checked 25 Sep 2026.