Medibank’s health services arm has pushed revenue beyond $630m after spending more than $163m expanding its primary care network to 169 clinics, with the insurer targeting 7m GP consultations a year by FY28.
Medibank’s rapidly expanding health services business has increased revenue by almost 31% to $634.8 million in FY26 as the private health insurer continued its push into primary care, home-based services, and virtual health.
The Medibank Group’s 2026 annual report showed revenue from its primary care operations rose 29.6% to $316.5 million, while GP consultation numbers increased 26.7%.
The result included six months of contributions from Better Medical, which Medibank acquired during the year for more than $163 million.
The acquisition took the group’s primary care footprint to 169 GP and medical clinics nationally.
Medibank Health segment profit increased 31.3% to $100.7 million, including a $6.2 million contribution from Better Medical, while operating profit rose 27.4% to $107.3 million.
Community and acute care recorded even stronger revenue growth, rising 48.8% to $142.8 million, driven by increased patient numbers and a full year of 100% ownership of Amplar Health Home Hospital.
Medibank said its Amplar Health business supported more than 5.3 million patient interactions during FY26.
In its annual report, the company said the expanded primary care network “strengthens our ability to improve access, coordinate care and support better outcomes across the health system”.
Medibank was targeting seven million GP consultations annually by FY28, compared with 4.1 million in FY26 and 3.2 million a year earlier.
It also wanted virtual consultations to account for about 30% of GP consultations by FY28, up from 21.7% this year.
“Primary care is the cornerstone of our health system,” the report said.
“We’re working with GPs to evolve and improve primary care so that it can better serve the needs of an ageing population and growing chronic disease burden.
“We’re helping to redesign primary care to better meet consumer needs, to be proactive, connected and multidisciplinary, expanding clinical networks, empowering practitioners to work at their full scope, and embedding the needs of the consumer at the centre of every model of care.”
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Amplar Health launched its Online Doctor virtual care service in June.
The group set a target of at least $200 million in Medibank Health segment earnings by FY30 and said its balance sheet provided capacity for further growth.
It said it also had capacity to raise Tier 2 debt if further opportunities emerged, and would consider capital management measures “if suitable M&A opportunities do not eventuate in a reasonable timeframe”.
AI takes hold in virtual GP
The annual report also provided new detail on Medibank’s use of artificial intelligence across its health services operations.
Medibank said clinical documentation tools including Heidi were cutting administrative time by three to four minutes for every 15-minute Amplar Health consultation, with uptake reaching 80% among its Virtual GP service.
“AI is already improving workforce efficiency, patient navigation and care delivery,” the report said.
It said AI scribing pilots on frontline calls were saving an average eight minutes per interaction, while the technology was also being deployed in workforce planning and scheduling.
Medibank also reported that AI-assisted “tissue analytics” were delivering 95% accuracy compared with 60% manually, but the annual report did not provide further details on the technology or the basis of the comparison.
For patients, the company said AI-powered symptom checkers, triage tools and wellbeing coaches were providing personalised support while being used to “complement clinicians”.
Virtual nursing reaches aged care homes
Medibank was also expanding its role as a healthcare provider under government-funded programs.
Amplar Health was engaged by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing to deliver a virtual nursing program in residential aged care homes nationally.
According to the annual report, the program supported 20 homes and delivered 21,000 virtual care interactions over 12 months using phone, email and Visionflex technology.
Medibank said the service was helping older people access clinical support while “complementing and strengthening on-site care teams”.
The company was increasingly positioning home and community care as an alternative to traditional hospital-based treatment.
Amplar Health’s homecare programs saved about 194,000 hospital bed days during FY26, according to Medibank, which said this was equivalent to the capacity of a hospital with more than 500 beds for an entire year.
Acute home health admissions increased 13.7%, supported by growth in publicly funded home health admissions and increased capacity in its Transition Care Service.
My Home Hospital, which Amplar Health operated in partnership with the South Australian public health system, had cared for 24,000 patients since opening.
“Together, these programs demonstrate that personalised, community-based care can meaningfully expand system capacity while improving patient experience,” Medibank said.
Lower-tier cover growth
Medibank’s expansion in health services came as cost-of-living pressures continued to affect its core private health insurance business.
Health insurance revenue increased 4.6% to $8.59 billion during FY26, while operating profit rose 3.8% to $769.8 million.
Resident policyholders increased 1.1%, or 22,100, but Medibank said growth across the industry had become increasingly concentrated in cheaper insurance products.
“Cost-of-living pressures have impacted the industry with policyholder growth skewed to lower-tier products, higher switching and aggregators increasing their share of joins,” the annual report said.
Medibank said its own resident policyholder growth was also skewed towards lower-tier products.
From the first half of FY26, Medibank replaced the term “downgrading” with “Revenue Mix”.
The company recorded a 150-basis-point “Revenue Mix” impact, which it said reflected customer growth concentrated in lower-tier products, increased spending on offers, and investment in its Live Better program.
“The underlying calculation is unchanged and continues to reflect the difference between the average premium rate rise and reported revenue growth per policy unit in the resident private health insurance segment,” the company said.
Medibank expected the Revenue Mix impact in FY27 to be similar to FY26.
Shifting care out of hospital
The insurer was meanwhile continuing to put money into changing where privately insured patients received treatment.
Medibank said it provided private hospitals with more than $40 million during FY26 to support what it described as the shift towards new models of care.
“We have continued to invest in wellbeing, prevention, primary care and accelerating the shift to virtual, community and home-based treatment settings,” the report said.
Its No Gap hospital network was used by about 8200 customers during the year, reducing their out-of-pocket costs by about $7.5 million.
One in five Medibank-funded joint replacements in Melbourne and Sydney was now performed through a No Gap hospital.
Medibank expected hospital claims per policy unit growth to increase in FY27, partly because a $74.8 million covid utilisation benefit recorded in FY26 would not recur.
However, it also expected a continuing benefit from more procedures being performed “outside of traditional higher cost settings”.
The annual report was released as Medibank prepared to mark its 50th anniversary in October.
In the accompanying announcement, chair Mike Wilkins and chief executive David Koczkar said customers were increasingly turning to the group for services beyond insurance.
“For 50 years, we have stood alongside people in Australia to help them choose the right care and access it when it matters most,” they said.
“Today, customers turn to us not only for health insurance, but for health and wellbeing support that makes a genuine difference in their lives.”
Read the full annual report here.
