News
March MBS changes explained
Newly added nationwide items include patient-end support MBS items, which follows a recommendation from the MRAC.
New MBS items allow GPs to give face-to-face clinical support to patients during video consultations with non-GP specialists.
New MBS items are now available for GPs to give in-person clinical support to a patient during a video consultation with a non-GP specialist or consultant physician.
The move follows a recommendation from the MBS Review Advisory Committee to reverse the removal of face-to-face support items for such video consultations.
The MBS items are for GPs, prescribed medical practitioners and nurse practitioners, and are available across Australia.
An MBS factsheet issued by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (DoHDA) explains the MBS items and provides several examples of scenarios where they could be used.
These include for a housebound patient who needs a physical assessment as part of their video consultation with a specialist, or a patient at a residential aged care facility from a culturally diverse background who needs support understanding clinical details.
A further scenario describes a rural patient with a chronic illness who cannot travel for an in-person appointment with a specialist and needs help with video-conferencing technology, with physical observations also possible during the consult.
The items are only applicable for patient-end support involving video consultations.
Further details, including a list of applicable item numbers, are available on the RACGP website.
Additions to the eligible disabilities list
Stuttering, speech sound disorders, and cleft lip and/or palate (cleft conditions) are now on a list of eligible disabilities for MBS item group M10 – Complex neurodevelopmental disorder and disability services.
Further detail on referrals for allied health assessments is available online. Information on referrals for allied health treatment services is also available.
Full details on eligible disabilities are available in a DoHDA fact sheet.
Electrocardiogram item amendments
Electrocardiogram restrictions have been lifted as of 1 March, allowing MBS item 11714 to be claimed by GPs, reversing a controversial 2020 cut.
MBS item 11707 is now claimed when a medical practitioner has undertaken a trace to forward to a specialist or consultant physician for a formal report.
See the MBS fact sheet for full details.
Health assessment items for people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent
From 1 March, age delineations were replaced with general preventive health and assessment activities and guidance.
Revised item descriptors now include the clinical activities needed for billing – see MBS items 715, 228, 92004 and 92011.
Further details on the changes are also available in a DoHDA fact sheet.
Changes to time-tiered MBS health assessments
Clinically outdated screening tests and disease-specific vaccinations have been removed from MBS time-tiered health assessments for older people (75+), as well as for people with intellectual disability.
According to DoHDA, the changes ‘will ensure health assessment services remain current and clinically contemporary’.
See the MBS fact sheet.
Hospital-only MBS items clarified
Various MBS items allocated for in-hospital treatments only have been updated, after billing data showed some were still being billed for 85% of the MBS schedule fee rather than the standard 75% for hospital treatment services.
For more information see the DoHDA quick reference guide. Full details of the March MBS updates are on the RACGP website.
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