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• Indigenous Chronic
  Disease Package
• Tackling Chronic Disease
  Risk Factors
  • National action to reduce Indigenous smoking rate
  • Helping Indigenous Australians to reduce their risk of chronic disease
  • Local Indigenous community campaigns to promote better health
• Improving Chronic Disease
  Management and Follow up
  • Subsidising PBS medicine co-payments
  • Higher utilisation costs for MBS and PBS
  • Supporting primary care providers to coordinate chronic disease management
  • Improving Indigenous participation in health care through chronic disease self management
  • Increasing specialist and allied health follow up care
  • Monitoring and evaluation
• Workforce Expansion,
  Training and Support
  • Workforce education and training
  • Expanding the outreach and service capacity of Indigenous health services
  • Engaging Medicare Locals to improve Indigenous Access to mainstream primary care
  • Attracting more people to work in Indigenous Health
  • Clinical practice and decision support

6. Chronic Disease Follow-up Services (MBS items 10950 and 10997)

• General Overview

1. Information for General Practitioners on the Indigenous Chronic Disease Package
2. Patient identification
3. Practice Incentives Program (PIP) Indigenous Health Incentive
4. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health assessment items
5. MBS items overview
6. Chronic disease follow-up services
7. Allied health follow-up services
8. Practice nurses/Registered Aboriginal Health Worker follow-up services
9. Pharmaceuticals Benefit Scheme (PBS) Co-payment measure
10. Care Coordination and Supplementary Services Program (CCSS)

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Who is this document for?

• General practices
• Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services and other Indigenous Health Services

These items are NOT specifically for Aboriginal and/ or Torres Strait Islander people but any person with a chronic condition.

Item	Description	Fee*	Benefit	Frequency#
10950	Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander health service by an eligible Aboriginal Health Worker (For persons with a chronic condition and complex care needs)	$59.90	85% = $50.95	Maximum of five services per year (includes both 10950 and 10997)
10997	Service provided by a Practice Nurse or registered Aboriginal Health Worker	$11.55	100% = $11.55

* Current as at 1 Nov 2010.

Patient eligibility

Items 10950 and 10997 are NOT specific to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Patients with a chronic condition may be eligible. Refer to item description on reverse for more information.

Eligible practitioners

An eligible Aboriginal Health Worker is an Aboriginal Health Worker who has certificate level III and is registered with Medicare Australia to provide the MBS Item.

Practice Nurse means a registered or enrolled nurse or Nurse Practitioner who is employed by, or whose services are otherwise retained by, a general practice.

A registered Aboriginal Health Worker means a person in the Northern Territory who is registered as an Aboriginal Health Worker under the Health Practitioners Act 2004 (NT), who is employed or retained by a general practice, or by a health service that has an exemption to claim Medicare benefits under sub-section 19(2) of the Health Insurance Act 1973.

10950: Aboriginal Health Worker Service

This item may only be accessed by a patient with a GP Management Plan and Team Care Arrangements OR by a resident of an aged care facility whose medical practitioner has contributed to a Multidisciplinary Care Plan (items 721, 723, 729, 731 and 732).

Item 10950 is for an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander health service provided to a person by an eligible Aboriginal Health Worker.

To claim this item, the following criteria must be met:

• the service must be recommended as part of a Team Care Arrangement or Multidisciplinary Care Plan;
• the service is of at least 20 minutes duration; and
• the person is referred to the eligible Aboriginal Health Worker by the medical practitioner using a referral form that has been issued by the Department of Health and Ageing or a referral form that contains all the components of the form issued by the department.

Item 10997: Service provided by a Practice Nurse or registered Aboriginal Health Worker

Item 10997 may only be accessed by a patient with a GP Management Plan, Team Care Arrangements or Multidisciplinary Care Plan (items 721, 723, 729, 731 and 732).

This item will assist patients who require access to ongoing care, routine treatment and ongoing monitoring and support between the more structured reviews of the care plan by the patient’s usual GP.

Item 10997 may be used to provide:

• Checks on clinical progress;
• Monitoring medication compliance;
• Self management advice; and
• Collection of information to support GP reviews of care plans.

Restrictions

Items 10950 and 10997 do not apply for services that are provided by any other Commonwealth or state funded services. However, where an exemption under subsection 19(2) of the Health Insurance Act 1973 has been granted to an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service or state/territory government health clinic, Items 10950 and 10997 can be claimed for services provided by Practice Nurses or registered Aboriginal Health Workers salaried by, or contracted to, the service or health clinic. All requirements of the item must be met.

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Page currency, Latest update: 09 December, 2010

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