The Modified Monash Model (MMM): MM1–MM7 explained

The Modified Monash Model (MMM) is a classification system that ranks every location in Australia from MM1 (major cities) to MM7 (very remote). Its job is to measure how rural or remote a place is, so government programs can target support to where it’s hardest to attract and keep health professionals (Department of Health, Disability and Ageing).

If you’ve seen a job ad or an incentive described as “MM3 and above” or “MM5–MM7”, this is the scale being referenced. It also intersects with parts of the billing and telehealth landscape, which is why it’s worth understanding.

What the MMM is

The MMM was developed to better target rural health workforce programs, with the goal of attracting clinicians to regional, rural and remote communities. It builds on the Australian Bureau of Statistics remoteness structure but adds town size and road distance so that, for example, a small town near a large regional centre is classified differently from an isolated one (Department of Health, Disability and Ageing).

The result is a seven-point scale that captures rurality more precisely than a simple city-versus-country split.

MM1 to MM7 at a glance

Broadly, the categories run as follows (Department of Health, Disability and Ageing):

Category	Description (broad)
MM1	Metropolitan — major cities
MM2	Regional centres — areas close to towns of 50,000 or more
MM3	Large rural towns
MM4	Medium rural towns
MM5	Small rural towns
MM6	Remote communities
MM7	Very remote communities

Treat this table as an orientation, not a ruling. The precise thresholds and the classification of any specific address come from the official tool, not a summary.

The MMM number attached to a location isn’t a judgement about the place — it’s a funding lever. Higher MM categories generally attract more workforce support, because that’s where recruiting and retaining clinicians is hardest.

How an area is classified — and how to look it up

You don’t estimate an MMM category by eye; you look it up. The Health Workforce Locator is the official tool for finding the MMM classification of any address, suburb or locality in Australia (Department of Health, Disability and Ageing).

To check a location:

1. Open the Health Workforce Locator.
2. Enter the address, suburb or postcode.
3. Read off the MMM classification (and other classifications, such as Distribution Priority Area status, that the tool returns).

Because the model is updated periodically — for example, there have been MMM 2019 and MMM 2023 versions — and different programs may reference different versions, always confirm which classification a given program uses. Broader program context sits under DoctorConnect, the Department’s hub for rural workforce distribution and support.

MMM is not the only classification

When you look up a location, you’ll often see more than one label. The MMM sits alongside classifications like Distribution Priority Area (DPA) status, which is used to manage where certain doctors can access Medicare provider numbers, and the ABS remoteness structure the MMM is built on. These overlap but aren’t interchangeable — a place can be a particular MMM category and separately be, or not be, a DPA.

For a program that references location, read carefully which classification it actually uses. “Rural” in one program may mean MM3–MM7; in another it may hinge on DPA status or a specific MMM version. The Health Workforce Locator returns several of these labels at once, which is why it’s the tool to trust over a mental shortcut.

Why it matters for rural health and workforce

The MMM underpins a lot of the machinery that keeps rural practices staffed. It’s commonly used to scale:

• Workforce incentives for practitioners working in rural and remote areas, with larger payments in higher MM categories.
• Distribution rules that steer the medical workforce toward areas of need.
• Loadings on some Medicare-related incentives, where support is weighted toward more remote locations.

The practical upshot for a clinician or practice manager is that the same activity can attract different support depending on the MMM category of the location — so knowing your classification is worth a few minutes with the locator.

How it connects to telehealth

Telehealth and rurality are closely linked in policy, because telehealth is one of the main ways to extend care into MM5–MM7 communities that can’t sustain a full on-site workforce. While Australia’s permanent MBS telehealth items are broadly available nationally rather than gated purely by a patient’s MMM category, the MMM still shows up around the edges of telehealth: in rural workforce programs that make telehealth-capable clinicians viable in the first place, and in location-based loadings and arrangements that can apply to services delivered in rural and remote areas.

In other words, MMM rarely decides whether you can bill a telehealth item (for that, see telehealth MBS item numbers), but it often shapes the incentives and workforce support around rural telehealth. Where a specific program references location, check its current rules — and confirm the classification on the Health Workforce Locator. Registration models like MyMedicare add another layer of continuity-based support on top.

Where the platform fits in

For rural and remote care, the value of telehealth depends on it working over patchy connections and unfamiliar devices. MedCall is made for Australian clinicians and lets a patient in any MMM category join a secure video consult by tapping a texted link — no app, no account, Australian-hosted and never recorded. It won’t change an area’s classification, but it removes the friction that most often derails a rural telehealth consult.

The bottom line

The Modified Monash Model classifies locations from MM1 (major cities) to MM7 (very remote) to target rural health workforce support. You look up any area’s category on the Health Workforce Locator, and different programs may use different MMM versions — so always confirm which applies. For telehealth, MMM mostly shapes the incentives and workforce support around rural care rather than gating the items themselves. For the authoritative detail, use the Modified Monash Model fact sheet and the Health Workforce Locator.