The Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC) process relies heavily on stakeholder engagement and input. The MSAC process includes a number of engagement points, inviting interested parties to provide input to the process.
Below is an overview of Applicant and public engagement points in relation to the stages of the MSAC process:
Application Acceptance
Once an application is deemed suitable for assessment, the application form is provided to professional bodies/organisations for targeted public consultation. Stakeholders for targeted public consultation will be identified by both the Applicant and the Department and will always include the medical profession and consumer organisations.
The Application Form will be published on the MSAC website for stakeholders to provide comment at any time during the life of an application.
PICO Development
The Applicant will be involved and engage with the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Group during the development of the PICO confirmation.
The Applicant is provided the opportunity to comment on the PICO Confirmation (which is prepared by an external HTA Group engaged by the Department) before the PICO Advisory Sub-committee (PASC) consideration of the document.
The Applicant can elect to be present at the PASC meeting for consideration of their application, and make a short five minute presentation.
The ratified PICO confirmation is published on the MSAC website for public consultation at any time in the application’s MSAC process.
If PASC request a formal public consultation prior to the PICO confirmation being ratified, the draft PICO confirmation will be uploaded to the MSAC website for comment at any time during the life of the application
Rare applications that require at least two considerations by PASC will have a formal consultation period (on the MSAC website and on Citizen Space) between the two PASC meetings.
A consumer representative who resides on the PASC member is present at PASC meetings and contributes to the discussion by offering consumer/patient input at any time during the discussion.
Assessment Report
The Applicant will be involved and engage with the contracted HTA (CA) Group during the development of the assessment report.
The Applicant will be provided opportunity to comment on the draft contracted assessment report before it is finalised.
The Applicant will be provided the opportunity to comment on the Critique of the Assessment Report (whether CA or submission based assessment) after it is finalised. Applicant comments on the critique will be considered by ESC.
A consumer impact statement within the assessment report is mandatory (as outlined in the Technical Guidelines). This will include comments from consumers/organisations on the application form and PICO confirmation.
A consumer representative ESC member speaks to every item at the meeting and offers consumer/input using a PowerPoint presentation.
The ESC member consumer representative advice is recorded in the ESC summary, along with other details of ESC’s consideration.
MSAC Consideration
The Applicant is provided the ESC Report (including meeting outcomes) for comment prior to consideration by MSAC.
An MSAC consumer representative member is present at MSAC meetings and contributes to the discussion by offering consumer/patient input at any time during the discussion
The APR is updated and remains available on the MSAC website for public comment at any time during the application’s MSAC process.
Post MSAC Consideration
MSAC’s advice to the Minister of Health is made public by a Public Summary Document (PSD) that explains the rationale for its advice. This will be made available on the MSAC website. The Applicant will be given the opportunity to comment on the PSD and have their comments incorporated in the document before it is finalised.
These Guidelines for Public Consultation (in the MSAC Process) are supported by the Department of Health’s Stakeholder Engagement Framework, which can be found at:
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/stake-frame
