AMA Supplementary Submission to MBS Review Wound Management Working Group

The AMA has welcomed the majority of the recommendations proposed by the MBS Review Wound Management Working Group, after a long campaign by the AMA to convince policy makers that current MBS arrangements fail to recognise the importance of wound care and the benefits for patients and the health system if timely healing of wounds is supported and promoted.

The recommendations support a GP-led and stepped approach to wound care that would ensure patients and their wounds are appropriately assessed, treated and reviewed. The Report includes a recommendation to remove the current bulk billing restriction that prevents the recovery of the costs of dressings, while at the same time recognises the needs of less well off patients by proposing the development of a wound consumables scheme. Both of these policy prescriptions have been promoted by the AMA over many years.