About the initiative
The Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) is a list of health professional services that the Australian Government subsidises. MBS items provide patient benefits for a wide range of health services including consultations, diagnostic tests and operations.
Between 2015 and 2020, the MBS Review Taskforce looked at more than 5,700 MBS items to see if they needed to be amended, updated or removed. It identified services that were obsolete, outdated or potentially unsafe. This resulted in almost 1400 recommendations form across more than 60 clinical committees.
The taskforce also recommended adding new items where needed, along with broader structural changes to the MBS.
Why it is important
This was the most thorough review of Medicare since it began in 1984. The review process is an important step towards safer, more modern care for all Australians.
Goals
The review aimed to improve the MBS by:
- updating the MBS to reflect modern medical practices and ensure patient safety
- delivering greater consistency and clarity across different parts of the MBS
- promoting better use of data and evidence to support MBS services.
Review process
The process was as follows:
- Taskforce established: We established the MBS Review Taskforce to address feedback from clinicians and the broader community that some services on the MBS did not reflect clinical best practice. The taskforce considered more than 5,700 items on the MBS.
- Committees established: The taskforce set up discipline-specific clinical committees and working groups, which reviewed a defined range of existing MBS items.
- Public consulted. The committees released their reports with draft recommendations and invited stakeholder feedback.
- Committees considered public feedback. The committees assessed the advice from public consultation and decided if any changes were needed to the recommendations. They then sent their recommendations to the MBS Review Taskforce.
- Taskforce considered committee and public feedback. The taskforce considered committees’ recommendations and the information provided by the public to make sure that all the main concerns were addressed.
- Taskforce delivered final recommendations to government. The taskforce delivered recommendations throughout the MBS Review process, and delivered their final report in December 2020.
- Taskforce developed ongoing system of review to make sure the MBS remains up-to-date.
- Government progressively considers taskforce recommendations and implements changes as agreed.
Review implementation
The Australian Government decides whether to adopt the MBS Review Taskforce recommendations. Once it supports a recommendation, work begins on implementing the resulting changes.
It can take 12 to 18 months to implement a change. This is because MBS items require:
- regulatory changes
- mapping changes – advising practitioners, hospitals, insurers and other stakeholders
- updating IT payment systems
- updating MBS Online
- advising stakeholders through webinars and fact sheets.
Ongoing stakeholder consultation
During implementation we established Implementation Liaison Groups (ILGs) for ongoing stakeholder consultation. These groups help us to:
- make changes that meets patient safety and care needs.
- make sure these changes have no unintended consequences.
ILG members generally include professional organisations, practicing clinicians, and consumer representatives. For any enquiries about ILGs, please contact us.
Recommendations implemented to date
Through Budget cycles since 2016 the Australian Government has progressively announced changes to the MBS arising from Taskforce recommendations.
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