This Team Care Arrangement (TCA) Notes Template Item 723 is designed to assist General Practitioners (GPs) in documenting comprehensive care plans for patients requiring coordinated healthcare services. Medicare has changed how TCAs work. Since 1 July 2025, the TCA and GPMP have been merged into a single GP Chronic Condition Management Plan (GPCCMP). Existing TCAs and GPMPs remain valid until 30 June 2027.
With Heidi, the AI care partner for all clinicians, you can instantly generate TCA templates that:
- Track essential details including patient medical and family history, current medications, allergies, and treatment goals.
- Identify key healthcare providers, necessary allied health services, and specific arrangements to facilitate coordinated and effective care.
- Monitor treatment progress and patient compliance with prescribed actions to optimise health outcomes and care continuity.
What is a Team Care Arrangement Template?
A Team Care Arrangement (TCA) Template is a structured document GPs use to coordinate multidisciplinary care for patients with chronic or complex conditions. It's now part of the GP Chronic Condition Management Plan (GPCCMP), but if you're managing an existing TCA prepared before 1 July 2025, this guide still applies to you.
In this article, we'll cover why TCA templates matter, the common challenges in preparing them and how to overcome those, and a step-by-step guide to building an effective template. We'll also share customisable, AI-enabled templates you can use in your practice.
Why Is a Team Care Arrangement Template Essential for Australian Healthcare?
TCA templates streamline communication between healthcare providers, support compliance with Medicare requirements, and improve patient outcomes by coordinating multidisciplinary care plans. They also help maintain clear, consistent documentation, reduce errors and support continuity of care.
How to Overcome the Common Challenges of Team Care Arrangements
While effective team care arrangements improve patient outcomes, the process of creating and implementing the TCA itself can be quite complex.
Let’s talk about the common challenges of TCAs, along with some practical tips to overcome them:
1. Incomplete or Inaccurate Patient Information
The patient’s medical history, allergies, and current medications must be thoroughly documented in the TCA since they have a direct impact on the success of the eventual care plan. Solution: Implement standardized intake forms and AI-assisted documentation tools to ensure that information collected is both complete and accurate.
2. Lack of Clear Communication Among Providers
Misalignments can happen between GPs, specialists, and allied health professionals, which can cause delays in treatment. For example, a GP might update the TCA with a new medicine but fail to notify allied health providers, which can confuse treatment adjustments.
Solution: Use a shared digital system or documentation tool that facilitates real-time updates.
3. Difficulty in Identifying the Right Allied Health Providers
Finding and coordinating with the right specialists can be time-consuming. Aside from considering the patient’s specific needs, your selected provider’s availability must also align with your care plan’s schedule.
Another consideration is whether the specialist you've selected bills under Medicare and whether they meet the requirements for your patient's referral.
Solution: Maintain an updated referral directory which includes each specialist’s credentials, availability, and Medicare billing status (if applicable). You can also look into automated referral-tracking systems that quickly match your patient with the right allied health providers based on eligibility, service type, and location.
4. Compliance with Medicare Requirements
Meeting all required documentation and billing codes are met in your TCA can be challenging. Incomplete or incorrect submissions can result in rejected claims, audits, or even financial penalties.
Solution: Regularly check for Medicare updates and training resources to ensure accurate billing. You can also use AI-driven medical scribes that can auto-check documentation, flag missing details, and suggest the correct billing codes to reduce errors.
5. Patient Engagement and Adherence Issues
A major challenge to the success of TCA plans is ensuring that patients actively participate in their care plan. Even with a well-structured TCA, patients may still fail to follow through with recommended treatments, appointments, or lifestyle changes. These can lead to poor health outcomes and ineffective care coordination.
Solution: Provide clear, personalized instructions to explain each step of the care plan, why it’s necessary, and the expected health benefits. Involve the patient in goal-setting, so they’re more likely to stay committed. Use digital reminders and follow-up systems e.g., automated SMS, emails, or app-based notifications to encourage adherence.
Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Team Care Arrangement Template
An effective TCA comes from structuring a clear, organised and compliant document. Follow the steps below to create an effective TCA template:
Step 1: Gather Essential Patient Information
Start with a section for basic patient details: full name, date of birth, contact information, and Medicare or private insurance details. Include the patient's primary GP and any other designated carers. Then dedicate space to document past medical history, family history, current medications and allergies, to build a comprehensive clinical background. This becomes the basis for the rest of the TCA.
Step 2: Define Patient Goals and Treatment Objectives
Outline specific, measurable health goals for the patient — for example, "Maintain HbA1c below 7%." Goals need to be realistic and patient-centred to support adherence and progress-tracking.
Step 3: Identify Required Treatments and Services
With goals defined, list the necessary interventions: medication adjustments, dietary changes, exercise programs or therapy sessions. Specify patient responsibilities too, such as self-monitoring blood pressure or attending physiotherapy.
Step 4: Assign Healthcare Providers and Schedule Appointments
Document the GP, specialists, and allied health providers responsible for each aspect of the patient's care. Log appointment dates, provider roles and contact details in the care plan.
Step 5: Establish a Follow-up and Review Plan
Set a review date to assess progress and adjust the care plan as needed, with regular check-ins to support treatment adherence and provider coordination. Automated reminders such as SMS, email or similar can make this easier and encourage ongoing communication.
Team Care Arrangement (TCA) Example
Here’s a free TCA example in PDF and Google Doc form, or create a version tailored to your workflow with Heidi.
TCAs require detailed documentation, seamless coordination, and Medicare compliance. Trying to tick all of these boxes manually can be tedious and complex.
Dr Henry Konopnicki, a GP based in Melbourne, felt that tedium firsthand. As a GP and Aged Care Physician moving between mobile, in-home and clinic-based visits, he used to finish his clinical notes at midnight.
Thankfully, AI-powered TCA templates can now simplify this process while ensuring both accuracy and efficiency. Now he writes them straight after each consult.
Heidi saves him 2-3 hours daily on documentation, sharpens note accuracy, and keeps his aged care and mental health teams coordinated without the manual back-and-forth.
"Heidi's completely changed my workflow," he says. "It's essential to my practice."
Easily Complete HPI Templates with Heidi
Heidi is our state-of-the-art AI platform designed to help healthcare providers complete TCA templates in real-time. With your patient’s permission, simply hit record and let Heidi work as you go.
Here’s how Heidi helps you complete your TCA plan:
- Transcribe – Open Heidi on your computer or mobile device and press Start so Heidi can capture your conversation in the background. For information that you don’t want to verbalise, you can type them under context notes to be considered later.
- Customize – After the session, simply select your preferred TCA template and watch as Heidi perfectly transcribes the details of your conversation and context notes in the appropriate fields and format!
- Transform – After generating your completed TCA template, you can ask Heidi to give additional documentation including referral letters or patient summaries as needed.
Heidi complies with jurisdiction-specific regulations, ensuring data localization for customers in Australia under the Australian Privacy Principles (APP), while also meeting internationally recognized privacy and security standards. Read more about our compliance here.
Free Team Care Arrangement Templates
Team Care Arrangement Psychology Template
This TCA for Depression and Anxiety Disorders Template is designed to help General Practitioners (GPs) document and manage patient care plans based on the latest guidance from the Australian government. It includes sections to capture patient information, medical history, medication management, and specific goals for improving mental health.
Team Care Arrangement Review Template
This General TCA Review Template - Item 732 is used by GPs to evaluate and update a patient’s TCA plan based on the latest guidance from the Australian government. It facilitates the review of care goals, checks progress, and determines the need for treatment plan adjustments.
