Assessment for a COVID-19 oral anti-viral medication

Introduced on 19 July 2022, the two temporary MBS items will be available until 31 December 2023 (not 31 December 2022 as originally scheduled) to continue to support medical practitioners with treating COVID-19 positive patients.

The two items 93716 (for General Practitioners) and 93717 (for Other Medical Practitioners) are available for medical practitioners working in a general practice setting to assess a patients suitability to receive a prescription for a COVID-19 oral antiviral treatment via a telehealth phone consultation lasting at least 20 minutes (25 minutes for OMPs). These items are specific to services for eligible Medicare patients nationally who have confirmed their COVID-19 infection via a laboratory test (PCR) or a COVID-19 rapid antigen self-test (RAT) which has been approved for supply in Australia by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

The Medicare benefits for these temporary items will be paid at 85% of the schedule fee and are equivalent to the benefit paid for other time-tiered consultation items of equivalent duration.

Further information is available in the following factsheet:

PDF Version Factsheet for COVID-19 Oral Antiviral Extension (PDF 149 KB)

WORD Version Factsheet for COVID-19 Oral Antiviral Extension (Word 121 KB)