Additional 10 MBS Mental Health Sessions
From 9 October 2020, the 36 temporary MBS items that were introduced on 7 August 2020 will be amended to allow any Medicare-eligible person to access up to 10 additional treatment services in a calendar year for treatment of a mental health disorder (additional Better Access treatment services).
For more information go the factsheet page.
Extension of the temporary telehealth and phone consultations until 31 March 2021
A range of COVID-19 health measures are being extended for a further six months, to 31 March 2021. This extension will include Medicare-subsidised telehealth and pathology services, GP-led respiratory clinics, home medicines delivery, public and private hospital services. Patients will continue to have access to Medicare-subsidised telehealth for general practitioner, nursing, midwifery, allied health and allied mental health services, where and when they need them. Telehealth is also being extended for essential specialist services, such as consultant physician, geriatrician, and neurosurgery services.
Changes to bulk-billing
The telehealth and phone consultation services provided by GPs and other doctors in general practice will be amended to remove the requirement to bulk-bill attendances for certain patients. When the amendment takes effect on 1 October 2020, these doctors will be able to choose to bulk-bill or patient bill any temporary COVID-19 telehealth and phone attendance service. Bulk billing will continue to be available and regular billing practices will apply to all of these services.
It is still a legislative requirement that these services, provided by GPs and other doctors in general practice, must be performed by the patient’s usual medical practitioner (please see Note AN.1.1 for the definition of ‘patient’s usual medical practitioner’ as some exemptions do apply).
The temporary doubling of the schedule fees for the bulk-billing incentive items will cease and schedule fees will return to the normal rate.
Fact sheets with further information can be found at the MBS temporary telehealth services page.
Pathology item 69501
The SARS-COV-2 pathology testing item for essential workers will be expanded from 22 September 2020 to include people who travel interstate as a rail crew member.
Sleep study and vigilance testing items
Minor updates will be made to improve terminology within the item descriptors. These changes do not change policy for providing MBS sleep studies.
Item Changes
The October 2020 MBS files are available on the October 2020 downloads page.
| Amended Items from 9 October 2020 (36 items) | 93300, 93301, 93302, 93303, 93304, 93305, 93306, 93307, 93308, 93309, 93310, 93311, 93330, 93331, 93332, 93333, 93334, 93335, 93350, 93351, 93352, 93353, 93354, 93355, 93356, 93357, 93358, 93359, 93360, 93361, 93362, 93363, 93364, 93365, 93366, 93367 |
| Amended Items from 1 October 2020 (134 items) | 12203, 12204, 12205, 12207, 12208, 12210, 12213, 12215, 12217, 12250, 12254, 12258, 12261, 12265, 12268, 12272, 91790, 91795, 91797, 91799, 91800, 91801, 91802, 91792, 91803, 91804, 91805, 91794, 91806, 91807, 91808, 91809, 91810, 91811, 91812, 91813, 91814, 91815, 91816, 91817, 91818, 91819, 91820, 91821, 91842, 91843, 91844, 91845, 92004, 92011, 92016, 92023, 92024, 92025, 92026, 92027, 92028, 92055, 92056, 92057, 92058, 92059, 92068, 92069, 92070, 92071, 92072, 92099, 92100, 92101, 92102, 92103, 92112, 92113, 92114, 92115, 92116, 92117, 92118, 92119, 92120, 92121, 92122, 92123, 92124, 92125, 92126, 92127, 92128, 92129, 92130, 92131, 92132, 92133, 92134, 92135, 92136, 92137, 92138, 92139, 92142, 92145, 92146, 92147, 92148, 92149, 92150, 92151, 92152, 92153, 92154, 92155, 92156, 92157, 92158, 92159, 92160, 92161, 92170, 92171, 92176, 92177, 92182, 92184, 92186, 92188, 92194, 92196, 92198, 92200, 92210, 92211, 92216, 92217 |
| Amended item from 22 September (1 item) | 69501 |
| Fee Adjustments from 1 October (7 items) | 10990, 10991, 10992, 64990, 64991, 74990, 74991 |
| Ceasing Items (2 items) | 10981, 10982 |
Relevant Legislation
Health Insurance Legislation Amendment (extend Cessation Date of Temporary COVID-19 Items) Determination 2020The purpose of this instrument is to extend the availability of the items for six months until 31 March 2021.This instrument also amends the telephone and phone consultation services provided GPs and other doctors in general practice to remove the requirement to bulk-bill certain patients. This instrument also amends the SARS-COV-2 pathology testing item for essential workers to expand it to include people who travel interstate as a rail crew member.
Health Insurance Legislation Amendment (Bulk-billing Incentive (No. 2)) Regulations 2020The purpose of the instrument is to remove the temporary increase that was applied to the schedule fees for the bulk-billing incentive items and return the schedule fees to their normal rate from 1 October 2020. This includes the application of indexation of 1.5 per cent that was applied to most MBS items on 1 July 2020.
Health Insurance (Section 3C General Medical – Expansion of GP and Allied Health Mental Health Services) Amendment (Expand Eligible Patients) Determination 2020The purpose of the instrument is to allow any Medicare-eligible person to access up to 10 additional treatment services in a calendar year for treatment of a mental health disorder (additional Better Access treatment services). These services are in addition to the existing 10 mental health treatment services which are available to people with a mental health disorder each calendar year under Better Access (initial Better Access treatment services).