The 40–49 health assessment: how to find, run and bill your easiest missed appointment

If we had to name the single most reliably missed piece of billable, genuinely useful care in general practice, it would be the 40–49 health assessment for patients at risk of type 2 diabetes. It's valuable clinically, it's straightforward to

deliver, and the eligible patients are already sitting in your database.

Who's eligible — Patients aged 40 to 49 at increased risk of type 2 diabetes, typically identified using a validated risk tool such as AUSDRISK. A once-off assessment for eligible patients, targeting the age band where early intervention changes the trajectory of a chronic disease.

How to find them — Your clinical software can generate a list of active 40–49 patients, which your team screens for risk factors. You're working through a defined, finite list of your own patients: admin pulls it, nursing prioritises it, reception books it.

How to run it — Much of the assessment is information-gathering and risk screening a practice nurse can lead, with the GP completing the clinical components. A good template prompts each element in order and leaves you with a defensible record.

Why it gets missed — and the fix — It's missed because it depends on someone remembering, mid-consult, that the patient qualifies. Build a system instead — a recurring report, a booking workflow, and a template — and the dependence on memory disappears.

CTA: health assessment templates and autofills at betterbilling.com.au/templates.