Interview with Deborah Cameron on ABC 702 Sydney

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PDF printable version of Interview with Deborah Cameron on ABC 702 Sydney (PDF 21 KB)

16 May 2011

Topics: Federal Budget, MRI

Deborah Cameron: The big headline grabber in the budget last week is the big initiative around mental health, a large amount of money set aside by the government for expenditure over the next four years, and much of it welcomed by the mental health sector, and many people who are affected by it.

But there were so many other parts of the Health budget that affect your daily life, if you go to the doctor today and the doctor orders a set of tests, one of them might include an MRI.

With me this morning is the Health Minister Nicola Roxon, Minister, good morning. Minister? Oh, we seem to have lost the Health Minister, I don't quite know what's happened there, we'll get her back though.

Deborah Cameron: The Federal Health Minister, Nicola Roxon. Minister, good morning.

Nicola Roxon: Good morning.

Deborah Cameron: Well, first of all, let's look at an element of the budget that was a little overlooked, but which is in every day sort of interactions between patients and their doctors, the MRI scan.

Nicola Roxon: This is a really important investment, because basically the sort of MRI policies, and expansion of those services, has really been in a hiatus since the Wooldridge scan scam, more than a decade ago, and this actually now gives us an opportunity to expand the number of MRI machines where patients can get a Medicare rebate, so they're not paying out of their own pocket, or paying a smaller amount, but it also allows patients to get a referral for particular conditions, from GPs, so you save time rather than going to a specialist for that scan, and that can make a very big difference for particular illnesses.

Deborah Cameron: Now you're putting $100 million into the program, are you worried about over-usage?

Nicola Roxon: No, to the contrary, what we've actually seen is a pattern that's been worrying, that a number of patients, and quite a large number, have been having CT scans that they can get Medicare for, and not having an MRI, even though their condition, or the symptoms, are ones that actually mean an MRI would be preferable, and of course would not mean they're being subject to radiation.

So we've worked very closely with the radiologists, with the AMA, we've conducted a detailed review, so that we can standardise and make more available, and cheaper, these scans for appropriate conditions, where that's needed, and it means then people can choose the right test for the particular illness, rather than factor in which one will cost them more or less money.

Deborah Cameron: Now does that mean that more MRI machines will be in more clinics?

Nicola Roxon: There are a lot of MRI machines that exist now, but where there is no Medicare licence, so what we're doing is looking at the assets that currently exist, and making sure that they can have a Medicare rebate available for more of the tests, not all of the tests that they do, but some more of them.

So we're building on the existing capacity first, and then we're increasing the number of MRI machines that will be able to be bid for licences for new suburbs, or an area that's been underserviced, and putting that in a regular way, so that basically, if you're a patient, you can have that available as an option at a lower price, and closer to home.

Deborah Cameron: How do you explain the difference in price for the system of having someone taking their - getting a medical examination via an MRI, compared with a CAT scan?

Nicola Roxon: Look, it does depend on the conditions and the particular test, but really the comparison is, for example on Friday I was in Melbourne at a machine, and this applies in many suburbs across Sydney, particularly outer urban Sydney, where they charge $200 or $300 for particular MRI scans, the patient has to pay the full amount of that, there's no Medicare rebate.

Because of this change, they will then be able to provide a rebate, and that particular practice intends to bulk bill for all of the conditions that we're opening up, so that's for breast cancer, for rectal cancer, for a range of other common conditions, that need an MRI scan.

Deborah Cameron: Now obviously the other element of this is just the risk of exposure to dangerous x-rays from the CAT scan, so that people aren't being diverted into the more complex stream, when the more simple one would do, and that's an important thing for health consumers to understand.

Nicola Roxon: Absolutely, particularly for children, being able to have the MRI as the first line scan, there are conditions where people will need to immediately go to a CT scan, but the far more common process is being able to go and have the MRI, be able to identify a problem more quickly, and because we're also allowing GPs to refer for children, from next year, we think that we can speed up the process, and today I'm going to be at the Westmead Children's Hospital, actually talking a young woman whose life was saved because she was able to have an MRI scan quickly, and we want that to be possible for more patients across the country.

Deborah Cameron: Minister, thank you very much for your time this morning.

Nicola Roxon: It's a pleasure.

Deborah Cameron: The Federal Health Minister, Nicola Roxon.

Ends