Q. Are there plans to change medical card (GMS) numbers?

A. Yes, during 2017 the number range facilitated by the current format of the medical card will be exhausted. A recent letter from the Primary Care Reimbursement Service (PCRS) states: "A new format will be implemented during June 2017 to provide for ongoing allocation of Medical Card numbers to eligible applicants. The current number format consists of an alpha character in position one of the number, followed by six numeric characters, eg. A000009. The planned revision to the card number involves reposi-tioning of the alpha character to position two of the number. The card number will still contain six numeric characters, eg. 0A00009." PCRS has been in contact with GP practice software system vendors to inform them of the changes.