Heart Health Checks: what happens at your appointment
Heart disease remains one of the most common causes of death in Australia — but the long-term trend is an encouraging one, and a lot of it comes down to things that get picked up in general practice.
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, coronary heart disease was the underlying cause of 16,300 deaths in 2024, or 8.7% of all deaths. That made it the second leading single cause of death in Australia behind dementia, and it remains the leading cause of death among Australian men. An estimated 593,000 Australians aged 18 and over have had coronary heart disease at some point in their lives.
The encouraging part: between 1980 and 2024 the age-standardised death rate from coronary heart disease fell by 85% for men and 87% for women. The AIHW attributes that decline largely to population-wide reductions in smoking, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, alongside improvements in treatment. Those first three are exactly what a Heart Health Check is designed to find.
What a Heart Health Check actually is
"Heart Health Check" is the everyday name for a specific Medicare service — item 699 on the Medicare Benefits Schedule. It is an appointment with a GP in the consulting rooms, and the item description sets out what it has to include:
collecting relevant information, including taking your history;
a basic physical examination, which must include recording your blood pressure and cholesterol;
starting any treatment or referrals that are indicated;
putting a management plan in place; and
giving you preventive health advice and information.
Your GP works out your estimated five-year risk of a heart attack or stroke using the Australian CVD risk calculator, which takes in your age, sex at birth, smoking status, blood pressure, cholesterol ratio, whether you take medicines for cardiovascular disease, and your diabetes status. The Heart Foundation describes the resulting categories as high risk (10% or more), intermediate (5% to 10%) and low (under 5%). The point of the number is not the number — it is that it changes what your GP recommends next.
Who can have one
Medicare item 699 is available to Medicare-eligible patients aged 30 and over, once in any 12-month period. It cannot be claimed if you have had another Medicare health assessment in the previous 12 months — the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Health Assessment is the exception, and does not count for this purpose. It is not available to people who are hospital in-patients or residents of a residential aged care facility.
Separately from who can claim it, the Heart Foundation sets out who the clinical guidelines say should have their cardiovascular risk assessed: all people aged 45 to 79; people with diabetes from 35 to 79; and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from 30 to 79, with individual risk factors assessed from age 18. If you are outside those ranges but have a family history of early heart disease, or you are simply not sure, it is a reasonable thing to raise at your next appointment.
A Heart Health Check is best done by your usual GP — the doctor who has your history in front of them.
How to prepare
It helps to come with a list of any medicines and supplements you take, any recent blood test results, and what you know about heart disease, stroke or diabetes in your immediate family. If you have a home blood pressure monitor, bring a few readings.
To book a Heart Health Check at Miranda Central General Practice, call us on 02 9526 1233.
Sources: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Heart, stroke and vascular disease: Australian facts — Coronary heart disease (web report, last updated 27 May 2026). Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, Medicare Benefits Schedule item 699. National Heart Foundation of Australia, What is a Heart Health Check? (Heart Health Check Toolkit).
This article is general information only and is not a substitute for individual medical advice. Please speak with your GP about your own circumstances.
