The federal Department of Health will release an initial request for information (RFI) for its planned overhaul of the Medicare payments system in the next fortnight followed by a full procurement phase later in the year, with the aim of demonstrating actual progress in the implementation of the system by early 2019.

DoH officials held two meetings in Sydney and Melbourne earlier this month to brief the market on its plans for a digital payments platform to replace the 200-odd applications and 90 databases underpinning the 30-year-old Medicare system.