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Grounded Scribe
Reference only — not billing advice

MBS items change. Verify the current descriptor, fee, and rules on MBS Online before billing. This page does not include a fee amount. Last reviewed 1 May 2026.

  • Mental health
  • General Practitioner

Item 2717

GP Mental Health Treatment Plan — preparation (at least 40 minutes)

Preparation by a general practitioner who has completed mental-health-skills training of a GP Mental Health Treatment Plan for a patient with a mental disorder, where the consultation takes at least 40 minutes. Includes assessment, preparation of a documented plan, and discussion with the patient. This is the longer-consultation counterpart to item 2715 — it is a preparation item, not a review item. The MHTP review pathway is items 23 / 36 / 44 (time-tiered attendance) with the AN.0.56 timing rule (4 weeks since MHTP, 3 months since previous review).

Plain-English summary. See MBS Online for the verbatim descriptor of each item.

  • TimeAt least 40 minutes
  • FrequencyGenerally once per 12 months
  • ReferralNot required
  • ProfessionGeneral Practitioner

Requirements to bill

Conditions imposed by the descriptor that must be met to claim this item.

  1. GP must have completed mental-health-skills training (or claim under the equivalent non-skills item).
  2. Consultation must run for at least 40 minutes face-to-face with the patient.
  3. Recorded assessment of the patient.
  4. A documented treatment plan prepared during the consultation.
  5. The plan must be discussed with the patient and offered to them in writing.
  6. A review timeframe must be arranged.

Your notes must show

Documentation tests — what clinical notes need to record to match what the item asks.

  • Start and end times of the consultation, demonstrating at least 40 minutes face-to-face.
  • Assessment of the patient using a validated screening tool (e.g. K10, PHQ-9, DASS-21), with the score documented.
  • A diagnosis or clinical formulation.
  • A treatment plan that includes psychoeducation, non-pharmacological interventions, pharmacological treatment (if applicable), and referral arrangements.
  • Evidence the plan was documented and provided to the patient.
  • A specified review timeframe (review is billed under items 23 / 36 / 44 with the AN.0.56 timing rule — 4 weeks since MHTP, 3 months since previous review — not under 2717).

Common audit failures

Patterns the Professional Services Review scheme and Medicare audits flag.

  • Consultation under 40 minutes claimed as 2717 instead of 2715 — the time threshold is the only structural difference between the two prep items, so audit reviewers compare start/end times against 40 minutes precisely.
  • No validated screening tool score recorded.
  • Treatment plan referenced but not actually documented in the record.
  • No evidence the plan was discussed with the patient.
  • Item billed as a review consultation — 2717 is preparation only. Subsequent MHTP reviews are billed under items 23 / 36 / 44 (time-tiered attendance) with the AN.0.56 timing rule (4 weeks since MHTP, 3 months since previous review). The previously-cited dedicated review item 2712 has been retired.
  • Item billed more than once per 12 months without a clinical justification.

Related MBS items

Diagnostic codes commonly billed under this item

ICD-10-AM diagnoses whose Medicare pathway includes this item. Click through to the diagnostic-code reference for differential codes and clinical context.

Templates that document this item

Note templates inside Grounded Scribe that produce documentation aligned to this MBS item.

In-depth reading in the Library

Source authority

Documentation tests on this page reference the descriptor conditions and PSR-audit patterns covered in our existing Library guides. Always confirm current rules against the official descriptor.

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