Patient Assistance Travel Scheme

The Patient Assistance Travel Scheme (PATS) provides financial support to eligible Northern Territory (NT) residents who need to travel for specialist medical care that isn't available where they live.

The subsidy helps with travel and accommodation costs but won't cover everything. Eligible people will need to pay any costs that are higher than the subsidy amount.

PATS supports eligible residents wherever they live in the NT.

Who can apply

You can apply if you:

• are an Australian citizen
• are a permanent resident who has lived in the NT for at least 6 months
• are registered with Medicare and have, or be eligible for a current Medicare card
• have a current referral to the nearest approved specialist medical service in the NT
• live more than 75km away from the nearest approved specialist in the NT
• need to travel more than 250km in one week for renal or oncology treatment
• are not receiving, and are not eligible to receive travel or accommodation assistance from a third-party insurance or other Australian Government services.

You can't apply if:

• you are an overseas visitor undertaking a journey to or from Australia
• you are an interstate visitor on holidays or business and normally live outside of the NT
• you fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) of the NT for work
• you can claim costs covered by a third party, such as Worksafe, Department of Veterans' Affairs or motor vehicle compensation
• you are not registered with Medicare and do not have a Medicare card.

More information

For more information, read the Patient Assistance Travel Scheme (PATS) NTH handbook PDF (1.2 MB)