Maintain Your Brain Plus MRFF expansion reshapes national brain health rollout

Maintain Your Brain Plus expansion funded by MRFF reshapes national brain health rollout.

National rollout

Maintain Your Brain Plus is moving from pilots to scale after a $3 million MRFF grant, recruiting about 5,000 Australians aged 45 to 79 over five years. Led by Professor Henry Brodaty, the program brings clinicians, primary care experts and consumer voices together to measure cognition, quality of life and healthcare use. At the same time, Ripple Women’s Digital Health Challenge has expanded from two to 26 innovations using Cogniss’ no-code platform with AWS and UK partners. Genomics Australia also positions genomics as a preventive tool, which will depend on HTA reform and funding decisions to reach patients. The shared signal is rapid scale; the risk is proving cost-effectiveness across diverse settings and overcoming interoperability hurdles that could slow deployment.

Funding and access

From 1 July, the Medicare Benefits Schedule increases rebates by 2.6 per cent. For example, item 23 Level B GP consult rises from $43.90 to $45.04, a lift of about $1.14. Private insurers have approved higher premium adjustments, shaping affordability for patients and clinics. Tasmania will open two bulk-billed Tasmanian Docs clinics delivering roughly 20,000 visits per year each, funded by the state to expand access in regional areas pressured by emergency department demand. These measures shift care economics in favour of access, but fundamental cost pressures and complex funding rules persist, potentially slowing broad digital health uptake.

Patient communications

By 1 July, practices must register branded sender IDs with telcos to stop patient messages being flagged as spam. The change should bolster trust in reminders, test results and other communications. Yet, delays or mismatches in ABR checks could disrupt delivery, risking missed information in urgent care or routine follow-ups.

Self-guided care

Medicare Mental Health Check In now includes a self-guided LiCBT pathway alongside the clinician-led service. Free and available to Australians aged 16 and over with mild mood concerns, the self-guided option begins with a brief phone triage. This expands access for those who prefer not to or cannot see a clinician immediately, but raises concerns about digital access and literacy gaps that could leave some users behind.