AMA Fees List Telehealth items update – 8 June 2022
As GP members are aware, a suite of Medicare funded telehealth services became a permanent part of the health system on 1 January 2022.
After years of lobbying for these reforms the AMA welcomed the announcement.
While having previously welcomed the introduction of permanent telehealth items, the AMA will seek to work with the new Government to review the operation of these items and ensure that there are no service gaps for patients, including with respect to access to telephone-based items where clinically appropriate.
In response to telehealth items being made permanent on the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS), the AMA Fees List has now been updated to provide corresponding AMA items and fees. The Fees List previously had only three main generic telehealth items and a number of telepsychiatry, general practice and ‘secondary consultations’ items. These have now been updated or replaced with specific specialist consultation items which align with the MBS telehealth items.
In addition, a limited number of private billing items (ie where no MBS item is available) are also included in the Fees List in response to submissions from craft groups, upon advice from the AMA Fees List Committee or where an AMA previously existed. This includes AMA items for GP Level C and D consultations that are not restricted to rural and remote regions. MBS GP Level C phone items 92746 and 92747 are not restricted by location but are due to cease on 30 June 2022. MBS GP level C phone items 91894 and 91895 are now permanently funded by Medicare but are restricted to rural and remote locations.
This current update also includes changes to three cardiac attendance and procedural items to reflect changes to the MBS items on 1 January 2022. Changes to an additional seven items remaining from 1 November 2021 are also included in this update: 4 new items for Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS); two new items for Faecal Calprotectin testing for the diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease; and one for Continuous Ambulatory Blood Pressure recording.
In total, this update includes changes to 277 items, with two changed item numbers and descriptors, seventeen 17 deleted, ten descriptors amended, 13 relocated to another group, 117 new items, one revised fee and 117 administrative changes (including corrections to spelling, grammar and/or formatting).
The updated AMA GP face to face and telehealth items are located under the following categories:
1.1 General Practitioner - Urgent Attendances After Hours
1.2 General Practitioner - Attendances
1.7 Multidisciplinary Care Plans
1.11 GP Mental Health and Pregnancy Support Counselling
1.11.1 GP Mental Health Treatment Plans
1.11.2 Eating Disorder Services
1.11.3 Focused Psychological Strategies
1.11.4 Pregnancy Support Counselling
1.36.1 General Practitioner
1.36.1.1 Urgent Attendance After Hours (1)
1.36.1.2 Standard Attendances (8)
1.36.1.3 Health Assessment for Indigenous People (1)
1.36.1.4 Multidisciplinary Care Plans (5)
1.36.1.5 Mental Health Services and Pregnancy Support Counselling (20)
The 1 March 2022 MBS changes (including pain management and gynaecology items) are currently undergoing craft group consultation and will be reflected in the AMA Fees List as soon as possible. For information on the MBS changes please visit MBS online here.
Draft fees for some items that are yet to be published are available by contacting the AMA Fees List team at feeslist@ama.com.au.
For any enquiries regarding the Fees List please email feeslist@ama.com.au.
