Medicare Benefits Schedule Project - General Practice

Page contents: Key Messages | What are the new MBS item numbers, and which clients are eligible for MBS-rebateable services? / Further information

The Department of Human Services Primary Health Branch is working to provide information and support to Victorian healthcare providers working in partnership to expand the range of services available to patients through the MBS.

Enhanced patient access to primary care services (public or private) can be a significant outcome of work by Victorian general practices to implement evidence-based models of care that involve community health and other primary healthcare providers, and that incorporate MBS item numbers.

Key Messages

New MBS Item numbers

Over the past eight years, a suite of new MBS item numbers have been progressively introduced to support optimal, evidence-based models of care. The new items:

• encourage a more integrated approach to health care provision
• provide a catalyst for strengthening partnerships with community health and other public and private primary health providers
• provide impetus for practices to reconfigure their services to increase client access to services, and maximise care options, particularly for disadvantaged patients, and patients with complex care needs.
  

Multidisciplinary models of care

Enhanced patient access to services (public or private) can be a significant outcome of work by general practices involving state-funded services such as community health and other private providers in team-based care, incorporating appropriate MBS item numbers.

• there is a significant body of evidence supporting the effectiveness of planned, team-based care, particularly for patients with chronic diseases and complex care needs
• practitioners will determine which models of care are best suited to their patients, often in collaboration with other health care providers. These decisions will be based on a range of factors including individual patient assessments and, at the population health level, local analyses of patient characteristics and needs, the local prevalence of chronic disease, support from Divisions of General Practice and other GP organisations and the availabilit2 April, 2009s can be built.
  

What are the new MBS item numbers, and which patients are eligible for MBS-rebateable services?

The Commonwealth reviews the types of services it will fund through the Medicare Benefits Schedule annually, and releases a new Schedule every 1 November. New items are also sometimes introduced to the Schedule at other times. Since 1999, the Commonwealth has progressively introduced a suite of new MBS item numbers aimed at enabling primary care teams to invest more time in the prevention and management of chronic disease, and the management of mental health conditions.

These MBS item numbers, their applicability to patients and their business rules have been summarised and grouped into eight categories (below). There is also a summary of the practice nurse MBS item numbers that are currently available.

The MBS item number summaries have been reviewed and endorsed by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing.

MBS Item Numbers – How to Use These Resources (36kb, pdf)

MBS Item Numbers – About Medicare (21kb, pdf)

1. Health assessment item numbers
2. Prevention item numbers
3. Care planning and case conferencing item numbers
4. Allied and dental health item numbers
5. Better Access to Mental Health item numbers
6. Service Incentive Payments (SIP) item numbers
7. Quality Use of Medicines item numbers
8. Bulk Billing Incentive item numbers

Summary of practice nurse MBS item numbers (22kb, pdf)

MBS flipchart (218kb, pdf)
Please note: This download does not currently include the following items:

(i) Healthy Kids Check
(ii) Type 2 Diabetes risk evaluation
(iii) Follow-up allied health services for people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent, who have had an MBS health check

Further Information

If you would like more information about the Medicare system, access Medicare Australia’s Mediguide.

Contact

For more informtaion contact the General Practice Partnerships team.

The Department of Human Services Primary Health Branch acknowledges and thanks the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing, General Practice Victoria and many individual Divisions of General Practice for their input into and feedback about these resources.

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