How BetterBilling users typically increase billings — without seeing more patients

Most GPs assume that earning more means working more: longer days, fuller books, more patients through the door. But the GPs who get the most out of BetterBilling rarely add a single appointment. Instead, they get paid properly for the work that's already happening in their practice every day. Here are the three shifts that make the biggest difference.

1. Understanding why and when to do GP chronic condition management plans

Chronic condition management is one of the most undervalued parts of general practice — not because GPs don't do it, but because the planning, review and coordination so often goes unbilled or under-billed. The first shift is getting genuinely comfortable with why and when a chronic condition management plan is appropriate: which patients qualify, what good clinical justification looks like, and how the plan and its reviews fit together over the year.

Once you can recognise the right patient in front of you — the one with diabetes and hypertension you're already managing carefully — the billing follows the care, not the other way around. You're not doing anything new clinically. You're documenting and claiming the work you were always going to do.

2. Learning to use item 10997

Item 10997 is the quiet achiever of practice billing. It covers monitoring and support provided by a practice nurse or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioner for a patient with a chronic condition management plan in place. The work is almost certainly already happening in your practice — blood pressure checks, dressing reviews, medication prompts, foot checks — but if the patient has an eligible plan and the nurse's action is documented, that service can be claimed.

The practices that win here build 10997 into the everyday flow: the nurse knows which patients are eligible, the task is recorded clearly, and nothing slips through. It's a small item that adds up fast across a busy nursing day.

3. Teaching staff to find patients for health assessments — especially the 40–49 group

Health assessments are one of the clearest examples of valuable, fundable work that simply doesn't get booked. The 40–49 year age group is the standout: patients at risk of type 2 diabetes in this band are eligible for a dedicated health assessment, and they're some of the easiest to identify from your existing records — yet they're routinely missed.

The change isn't more GP time; it's empowering reception and nursing staff to spot eligible patients, understand why the assessment matters clinically, and book them in. When your whole team knows what to look for, the assessments fill themselves and your at-risk patients get genuinely better care.

The common thread

None of these require seeing more patients. They require seeing your current patients more completely — recognising the care you already provide and making sure it's documented and claimed properly. That's the whole idea behind BetterBilling: get paid for the work you're already doing, ethically and defensibly.

Want the templates and walkthroughs for each of these? That's exactly what's inside BetterBilling.