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In October, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (Commission) launched the National Safety and Quality Primary and Community Healthcare Standards (Standards). The Standards are applicable across a range of health services, including dental practices, allied health, Chinese medicine clinics and skin clinics.
The Standards provide practices with a framework and various tools to ensure consistent governance, clinical practice and consumer interaction standards across primary health. The Commission is developing additional resources to assist practices to implement the Standards.
The Commission intends that the Standards will protect Australian from harm by improving quality in these health care settings. This is particularly because primary health comprises approximately one-third of Australia’s health expenditure (based on figures from 2017-18). This amounts to approximately $63 billion.
You can read the Commission’s media release here.
The Standards are available here.
The Morrison Government has announced a new project to improve the research and prevention of concussion and brain injuries in Australian sport.
The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) will conduct the Concussion and Brain Health Project (Project) which will begin this year and be delivered in 2024. The Project will utilise an additional $340,000 in funding from the federal government.
The Project will be a comprehensive study that will draw on the expertise of medical professionals and researchers, and will include an evaluation of the brain health of retired elite level athletes, in collaboration with the University of Newcastle and the University of Canberra. As part of the Project, the AIS will update the Concussion in Sport Australia: Position Statement which is a concussion management resource which was launched in 2019 and has been endorsed by over 50 leading medical and sporting organisations.
Over 700,000 Australians have a brain injury which can restrict their participation in daily life. Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt, stated, “Three in every four in Australia with brain injuries are aged under 65, and while the injury is not always linked to playing sport, there have been growing concerns regarding the long term impacts of multiple concussions.”
AIS Chief Medical Officer, Dr David Hughes, said, “This project will evaluate several domains of brain health in retired elite athletes including neuropsychological assessment, brain imaging, objective somatosensory assessment and potential involvement in a brain donor program.”
The Program comes amidst further funding from the federal government, which includes $5.7 million which was awarded last year from the Traumatic Brain Injury Mission to three major research projects investigating better detection and management of brain injuries.
The full government media release can be accessed here and the media release from the AIS can be accessed here.
The Minister for Health and Aged Care Greg Hunt has announced a proposal for the extension of MBS-subsidised telehealth consults for general practice subject to a voluntary patient registration scheme (VPR).
The public have been invited to submit feedback on this proposal, as part of the draft Primary Health Care 10 Year Plan (Plan). Following two years of consultations with peak medical organisations, the Plan recognises telehealth, VPR and new funding models as the key to future success in primary health care.
The proposed change extends the “existing relationship rule”, which currently applies to general practitioners regarding telehealth arrangements, to a number of other attendance items, strengthening face-to-face attendance requirements and ensure ‘usual doctor’ requirements for MBS health assessments, chronic disease management plans and medication reviews are linked to VPR for registered patients.
Currently, patient access to MBS-subsided telehealth appointments is conditional upon at least one face-to-face appointment in the previous 12 months. Under VPR, patients in metro and regional centres will have to attend at least three face-to-face visits in two years, while patients in remote areas will only have to attend one face-to-face appointment in two years.
Under the proposal, general practitioners will face additional obligations, such as adhering to the criteria compatible with patient registration prior to the provision of certain services, whilst also ensuring a patient’s registration is maintained at the time of provision of services.
You can review the proposal, and provide your feedback, here.
The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) has confirmed that severely immunocompromised people should receive a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as part of their primary course of vaccination treatment. ATAGI’s clinical guidance is aimed at addressing the risk of a suboptimal or non-response to the standard two dose schedule in this cohort and maximise the level of immune response to ‘as close as possible to the general population’.
A fact sheet produced by the Department of Health has now been issued explaining the process for immunocompromised patients to access Medicare rebates for their third dose of a COVID vaccine. From 11 October 2021, individuals who are severely immunocompromised should receive a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Assessment of suitability for these third doses to be eligible for MBS reimbursement have the same rules as suitability assessments for second doses. The same second dose MBS items are used, including when it is determined the patient is not suitable for a third vaccination dose.
The fact sheet sets out that flag fall and in-depth patient assessments may also be claimed (although in-depth patient assessments may only be claimed once per patient’s lifetime) if all other eligibility requirements are met. It also notes that the additional practice incentive program payment is not claimable for a third dose, remaining payable only when the first and second vaccine doses are administered under the same general practice.
Click here to access the Medicare Support for COVID-19 Vaccinations fact sheet, and here to access RACGP’s article titled “How to access Medicare support for third COVID vaccine doses”.
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