Public consultation
All applications found suitable for the MSAC process will be open for public consultation.
To allow for consultation, our secretariat will publish an application page for your application. It will include your redacted application summary and your PICO set documents. Our secretariat will also publish the ratified PICO confirmation when it is available (if your application is on the standard pathway).
The MSAC process includes 2 rounds of consultation – pre-PASC consultation and pre-MSAC consultation. Only applications on the standard pathway will go through both. Pre-PASC consultation input will also be considered by the Evaluation Subcommittee (ESC) and MSAC.
To find out more, see the consultation information for the general public.
Targeted consultation
Targeted consultation encourages those with a particular interest in your application or relevant expertise to provide input.
In the consultation section of the application form, you can list the:
- professional bodies that represent the health professionals who would provide, request or be affected by your service or technology
- patient or consumer advocacy organisations relevant to your service or technology
- sponsors or manufacturers who produce similar products to your technology
- experts who can comment on your service or technology and the current clinical management of it.
During targeted consultation, our secretariat will contact these organisations and individuals directly to invite them to provide input. The same consultation form is used for both public and targeted consultation. Our secretariat may also:
- contact others directly for their input
- ask specific questions instead of or in addition to the consultation form.
Find out how we use consultation input from public and targeted consultation.
Responding to consultation input
You will have an opportunity to comment on public and targeted consultation input in your:
- pre-PASC response (if applicable)
- pre-MSAC response (your response to the ESC report or response to the overview paper).
Stakeholder forums
We may decide to hold a stakeholder forum to explore key questions about an application or emerging technology. The forums:
- provide us with a greater understanding of the issues
- may suggest ways to resolve outstanding matters.
Forums usually occur before or after an MSAC meeting. Our committee will decide who should attend. If appropriate, this may include:
- representatives of relevant clinical and consumer organisations
- representatives of the applicant and of competitor companies (if any)
- relevant individual clinical experts
- consumers with the relevant disease or condition.
Once finalised, our secretariat will generally publish the forum outcomes on the relevant application page.
Extra clinical or other input
We may seek input from clinical experts or other sources before or after we consider an application to help us understand or clarify specific issues.
Our committee and secretariat will consider who is best placed to provide timely and accurate advice. The extra input may come from:
- you, the applicant
- an HTA group
- another committee
- relevant policy or program teams from the Department of Health and Aged Care
- representative organisations, such as medical colleges
- individual experts.
You will receive a copy of the input (any in-confidence material may be redacted) if it is to:
- inform our advice on funding
- be included in one of the assessment documents.
Consultation for applications that need further PASC consideration
The PICO for some applications may need further consideration at a second PASC meeting. This is uncommon – our secretariat will contact you after the initial PASC meeting if this applies to your application.
In these cases, our secretariat may publish the ratified PICO confirmation from the first meeting on the relevant application page for consultation between PASC meetings. The consultation may seek advice on specific aspects of the PICO or ask specific questions of interest to PASC members.
You will have an opportunity to review and comment on any consultation input before the second PASC meeting.
Input from referrers or funding providers
We may share unredacted documents related to your application with agencies, committees or state or territory governments if they:
- provide or manage the funding you’re applying for
- have referred your application to us.
For example, we may share unredacted documents with:
- the National Blood Authority – if your application is for funding under the national blood arrangements
- state and territory governments – if your application is for a high cost, highly specialised therapy under the National Health Reform Agreement.
This helps them to:
- provide valuable input on your application as part of the MSAC process
- make a final decision on funding or implementation (if we support your application).
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