The Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA) welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Department of Health and Aged Care’s consultation on modernising the Medicare Benefit Scheme’s (MBS) health assessment items.
To modernise health assessment items to strengthen care continuity and preventive intervention, AHHA recommends a combination of the three options outlined in the discussion paper. We also recommend planning and implementation that includes:
- A focus on the value that health assessment items can provide to people and communities in outcomes, rather than volume of services provided.
- Making the best use of the available workforce to provide health assessments to people who will benefit from them.
- Going beyond prescriptive approaches to incentivise uptake of health assessment items.
- The mobilisation of data and technology in the delivery of, and access to, health assessment items – particularly for those in rural and remote areas.
