AMA Fees List updates

Fees for all medical services listed on the AMA Fees List has been updated ahead of 1 November 2022.

Update to items

Members are advised that an update to 247 items on the AMA Fees List will come into effect on 1 November 2022 to reflect changes that occurred on the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) from 1 March 2022 to 1 August 2022.

The changes include 36 new items; amendments to 126 descriptors; deletion of 61 items, 18 revised fee and descriptors amendments; three revised fees and three administrative changes (including corrections to spelling, grammar and/or formatting).

The item changes are for the following services and specialties: gynaecology (113 item changes), pain management (52 item changes), colorectal surgery (58 items) and other miscellaneous changes to anaesthesia, audiometry, cardiology services and Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA) PET.

New look website

The Fees List website has also been refreshed with a new look and feel to improve user experience, including on mobile devices. The website’s functionality and content remain the same and members can access the Fees List with their usual AMA login username and password.

Indexation

Members are also advised that the fees for all medical services listed on the AMA Fees List will be indexed by 3.45 per cent on 1 November 2022. Preview files of the indexed Fees List schedule are now available for access and/or download into your business or practice software. These files replace the 1 November 2021 edition and all its associated version updates.

The indexed fees will be published on the AMA Fees List website and come into effect on 1 November 2022.

The Fees List is indexed each year by the AMA Medical Fees Index (AMA MFI), which normally exceeds the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The AMA MFI is a weighted average of the changes in various cost and income components determined by three macroeconomic indices published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS); the Wage Price Index (WPI); CPI and private motoring CPI.

The AMA MFI in 2022 is lower than all group CPI due to practice costs being heavily influenced by staff wages and the WPI therefore having a greater weight in the methodology than CPI. The AMA Fees List provides members with costing assistance, but recognises that practice cost structures can vary, and we encourage users to also have regard to their own experiences and circumstances in setting a fair and reasonable fee. 

Reminder about terms of use

Members are reminded to review the AMA Fees List terms of use. In order to use the AMA Fees List, you must be a Licensee, an End User or a Sub Licensee. A Licensee will be either:

1. a current AMA member whose licence to use the AMA Fees List is not suspended under section 13; or
2. a person or entity who has paid the appropriate licence fee to the AMA, including any associated payment processing fees.

Other important clauses in the Fees List Terms of Use to be mindful of include:

5.4 Unless expressly authorised by the AMA, you must not:

• advertise any amounts that you charge for medical services in such a manner that it discloses (either directly or indirectly) the content of the AMA Fees List;
• represent in accounts, patient information sheets or other materials that any amounts that you charge for medical services are fees set by or recommended by the AMA.

6.2 You acknowledge and agree that:

• the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) prohibits businesses from engaging in anti-competitive conduct, including price fixing arrangements between competitors.

9.4 You acknowledge and agree that all Licensees should, subject to any contractual obligations to the contrary (such as arrangements with insurers):

• make their own decisions as to what fees they will charge for any service; and
• satisfy themselves in each individual case as to the fee that it is fair and reasonable to charge, having regard to their own practice cost experience and the particular circumstances of the case and the patient (including taking into account costs of running medical practices which vary across Australia, includes employing practice staff and operating expenses such as computers, rent, electricity, general insurance and professional insurance).

Please note that registered medical practitioners who are AMA members or have purchased a Licence may authorise their practice managers and other administrative staff who work in their practice to use the AMA Fees List on the doctor’s behalf. If staff work for more than one doctor, then each doctor needs their own Licence.