MediBetter offers comprehensive MBS-compliant billing solutions - essential software tools for clinicians and administrative staff - to simplify billing, improve compliance, and allow clinicians to focus on patient care.
Its main product reads patient consult notes and then provides Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) billing optimisation based on the care delivered during the GP appointment.
It sounds like a simple billing tool, but the problem MediBetter is solving improves the financial health of general practice itself, and by extension improves conditions for GPs, and the health of the general population.
The overlooked economics of general practice
The Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) is the backbone of how Australian clinicians are paid. Every consultation, procedure, and test is linked to an MBS item number, and the value of those numbers determines how much a doctor can bill the Health Department for the service and how much a patient pays out of pocket.
“There are thousands and thousands of item numbers for patient reimbursement, but most GPs will only ever bill about 20 of these, because they’re not trained to and don’t have the time to learn all the nuances of the MBS.” Their focus is on clinical performance and patient care.
This has led to massive underutilisation. Funding that should flow into general practice simply doesn’t, creating a ripple effect across the entire health system.
“GPs’ pay has fallen well behind specialist pay,” Patrick explains. “And when fewer doctors choose general practice, healthcare becomes more expensive overall.
For Patrick, the math is clear: “Investing in primary (GP) care is the best investment. For every dollar spent in primary care, the return can be anywhere from one-to-seven or even one-to-fourteen in long-term health outcomes. With time to focus on each patient’s care, and not on administration, illnesses such as poor mental health, diabetes, or heart conditions can be caught early, reducing emergency care later on.
A smarter way to fund the front line
Without doing a big overhaul of the MBS, MediBetter is using the current infrastructure that's in place. MediBetter’s flagship tool, BOSS (Billing Optimisation Support Software), reads a doctor’s consult notes and suggests the most appropriate MBS item numbers, in real time.
It navigates the web of billing rules - which item numbers can be billed together, timeframes, age restrictions, and eligibility nuances - all so GPs can get paid properly for the care they’re already providing.
That means GPs can spend more time with each patient easing burnout and improving continuity of care. “Right now, the workflow pushes GPs to cram as many consults as possible into the day, that’s not sustainable — for the doctor or the patient,” Patrick says.
From paramedic to founder
Patrick’s journey to building MediBetter started when he was a paramedic; he spent years treating acute emergencies - cardiac arrests, strokes, crises that could often have been prevented with earlier primary care management.
“I was demoralised dealing with advanced pathology in people’s homes when I knew a lot of it would be better managed if we just dealt with their blood pressure or diabetes earlier,” he recalls. “It’s not the sexy side of medicine, but it’s the side that makes a big difference.”
That frustration drove him back to study medicine, determined to work upstream - on prevention, not reaction. While working at Tweed Hospital, he helped lead quality improvement projects in clinical coding optimisation - a system much like the MBS.
Patrick explained that by bridging this gap in the data and coding, he was able to net almost an extra million dollars a year in much needed funds for the hospital, just by clarifying what was already there in the patients notes.
At the time Patrick’s sister Kate Taudevin was an occupational therapist in rural Queensland - working on the front line in the community. “Her clinic was struggling financially,” Patrick says. “They weren’t utilising the MBS to the best of their ability, but that’s not uncommon; rural practices are shutting down across the country.”
So together, the siblings decided to build something to help improve the situation.
The birth of MediBetter
Neither Patrick nor Kate came from a digital tech background. Kate had business experience - she had run a café and a wholesale vegetable business; Patrick was balancing hospital shifts as a junior doctor.
Our program - AUSCEP - became their launchpad.
“It opened so many doors. We wouldn’t have known where to start otherwise. It becomes its own little community - we’ve since had people we met on the program come and work for us, and if you have a question, someone always knows the next tool, the next contact, the answer.”
Through AUSCEP, they connected with other clinician-entrepreneurs and began testing their prototype with 50 GPs. The results validated their value proposition. Even a 5 per cent improvement in income, Patrick notes, translates to thousands of dollars per practise, allowing more care per patient, more GP’s per practise and earlier patient interventions.
Scaling smart, not loud
In the last two years, MediBetter has evolved into a platform providing backend integration for other digital health companies - quietly powering billing logic behind the scenes.
“There are so many scribe apps, but very few MBS optimisation systems because the data set is so complex,” Patrick explains. “We don’t want to compete with scribing applications; we want to integrate. That’s why we built it as a backend service - so others can use it without reinventing the wheel.”
With new contracts on the horizon, MediBetter is growing fast, but Patrick remains pragmatic about the startup grind.
“Keep your head down until your product performs,” he advises future founders.
“We advertised too early and hit issues with accuracy. Everyone saw what we were doing and started racing us to it. Don’t declare yourself too loud and proud until you’re further along the development track.”
Life in the deep end
People often ask - what does it take to be an entrepreneur? Patrick is a perfect example of the Clinical Entrepreneur. Despite juggling MediBetter, fellowship exams, and clinical work and a family, Patrick thrives in the chaos.
“I fall asleep with my laptop in my lap and wake up and go straight back to it,” he laughs. “You have to learn everything - from marketing to web management to HubSpot. AI has been a game changer; I’m coding now, and I’ve got no tech background.”
But his long-term goal isn’t more patients or more titles.
“I don’t want to be 100 per cent involved in clinical care forever,” he says. “I love the problem-solving side of medicine - and I love applying that mindset to bigger problems. This startup space gives me that.”
A better way forward
At its heart, MediBetter is about more than billing optimisation. It’s about rebuilding respect for general practice and ensuring that the clinicians powering the primary care health system are valued for their work.
As Patrick puts it: “We’re not trying to overhaul the system. We’re just using the infrastructure that’s already there - and using it better.” And sometimes, that’s all innovation really is: helping the people who help everyone else.
And finally, some advice from Patrick for the budding entrepreneurs and junior doctors reading this article - “You forget how far you’ve come in so short a time - from being that intern on night shifts, running the hospital halls alone, to now presenting on stage and talking to CEOs of huge companies. It’s wild. But it’s exactly where I want to be.”
https://www.medibetter.com.au/
