For health professionals

2013-14 Budget

The 2013-14 Budget was handed down on Tuesday, 14 May 2013. Details of the Budget measures including questions and answers are now available on the 2013-14 Budget page.

The eHealth record system can help deliver more efficient health care

The personally controlled electronic health record system (eHealth) gives you an electronic summary of your patient’s key health information, taken from their existing records.

The eHealth record system will give you better access to patient information like medications, test results and allergies or treatments—meaning better, safer and more efficient care.

MBS items are available for use in the creation of shared health and event summaries. Health professionals will be able to bill the MBS for preparing both shared health summaries and event summaries as part of a consultation.  In deciding which item to bill, health professionals will only have to consider the reasonable time it would take—not the complexity of the consultation.

To register

To register your practice for the eHealth record system, go to ehealth.gov.au

Access through HPOS

If your practice is registered for the Healthcare Identifiers (HI) Service and has an active Healthcare Provider Identifier—Organisation (HPI-O) number, you can use HPOS to access the eHealth record system organisation registration services. Note: HI Service Responsible Officers (ROs) and Seed Organisation Maintenance Officers (OMOs) must have either performed an Evidence of Identity check with the HI Service or be recorded as a known customer to perform these functions.

As a HI RO or Seed OMO, you can:

• apply to register your organisation for the eHealth record system
• set access flags against registered organisations for the eHealth record system, and
• accept the eHealth record system organisation participation agreement.

As a HI Service RO or OMO, you can give health professionals, with a Healthcare Provider Identifier-Individual number, access to the eHealth Record Provider Portal by recording an authorisation link.

Note: OMOs must have authorisation rights over an organisation to perform this function.

For more information about the eHealth Record System go to the eHealth website or read the HPOS user guides.

Don’t hold on to your Fifth Community Pharmacy Agreement incentive payment claims until mid month

Fifth Community Pharmacy Agreement (5CPA) incentive payment claims and paperwork should be sent throughout the month to help avoid unnecessary delays during peak times. This will help make sure all payments are processed in the agreed timeframe.

Changes to Telehealth program

On 1 January 2013 the geographic eligibility criteria for telehealth Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) items changed.

To find out if this affects you, go to MBS Online.

For more information email telehealth@humanservices.gov.au

Important announcement - changes to dental services under Medicare

The government has announced the closure of the Medicare Chronic Disease Dental Scheme from 1 December 2012 and the Medicare Teen Dental Plan on 31 December 2013 and the introduction of the Child Dental Benefits Schedule (CDBS) from 1 January 2014.

The Medicare Chronic Disease Dental Scheme closed on 1 December 2012. No Medicare benefits will be paid for dental services provided under Medicare dental items 85011-87777 from this date. The cost of any future dental services will need to be met by the patient.

Patients without a GP care plan in place before 8 September 2012 will not be able to access the Medicare Chronic Disease Dental Scheme which closed on 1 December 2012.

The Medicare Teen Dental Plan will close on 31 December 2013. Eligible teens will be able to access the program until this date. Benefits will continue to be paid for services provided to eligible teenagers before the date of closure.

The CDBS will replace the Medicare Teen Dental Plan from 1 January. This $2.7 billion measure will provide a Commonwealth funded capped benefits entitlement for basic dental services for children. Around 3.4 million children aged 2-17 in families who meet a means test will be eligible for benefits each year. The means test will be the same as the existing Medicare Teen Dental Plan , which requires receipt of Family Tax Benefit Part A or other certain government payments.

Services for basic essential dental treatment, such as check-ups, x-rays, fillings and extractions will be included in the CDBS, the total benefit entitlements will be capped at $1,000 per child over a two year period.

More information is available on the Department of Health and Ageing website.

Ordering PBS stationery

The Camerons Group is the contracted supplier of PBS stationery.

If you order stationery through us, continue to do so using the same PBS stationery ordering contact details.

If you're an approved community pharmacy, private hospital pharmacy or participating public hospital and order directly through the stationery supplier, you can order or make enquiries through The Camerons Group. Their contact details are on the PBS page.

If you’re a stoma association or paraquad association, you can fax your order to The Camerons Group.

For more information about ordering PBS stationery go to the PBS page.

Pharmacists - Annotating prescriptions to clarify a prescriber’s intention

When something isn’t clear on a PBS prescription, and getting a new prescription will delay the customer’s treatment, you can call the prescriber to clarify their intentions. You may then annotate the prescription in line with the prescriber’s intentions.

More information about Annotating prescriptions to clarify a prescriber's intention is available on our website.

Check System Status

Provider percentile charts

Provider percentile charts show the number of services billed by peer groups for selected MBS items. You can use these charts to compare your billing data with your peers.

Last updated: 12 June, 2013

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