Your role
The National Lung Cancer Screening Program uses low-dose computed tomography (low-dose CT) scans to look for lung cancer in eligible asymptomatic high-risk people aged between 50 to 70 years.
Healthcare providers play a central and critical role in the program, including:
- general practitioners and specialists
- practice nurses, nurse practitioners, registered nurses and enrolled nurses
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers and health practitioners
- practice managers and administrative staff
- health support workers in
- health promotion
- disability support
- mental health support
- bicultural workers
- allied health professionals
- public and private radiology service providers
- respiratory physicians
- oncologists.
Get ready for the program
It is important that you are aware of the program now, so you have plenty of time to prepare. You can prepare for the program by:
- regularly reviewing information on this website as it becomes available
- registering and integrating with the National Cancer Screening Register (NCSR)
- working with your practice to identify patients who could be eligible from July 2025, including to
- review and update smoking history in your clinical patient records
- establish electronic (EMR) based prompts which can help identify potential participants as they become available.
Find out more about:
Healthcare providers can refer their patients for lung cancer screening once the program begins from July 2025. People with symptoms that suggest they may have lung cancer should not be referred to the program. Instead, their symptoms should be investigated according to Cancer Australia’s guide for investigating symptoms of lung cancer.
Learn more about how to get ready for the program.
MSAC recommendations
The Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC) considered the strength of the available evidence for the program related to:
- comparative safety and clinical effectiveness
- cost-effectiveness and total cost
- recommended the benefits of low-dose CT screening outweighing the potential harms for those meeting the eligibility criteria.
MSAC also recommended the use of nodule management protocols which can reduce the:
- number of false positive findings
- subsequent need for additional invasive diagnostic procedures.
Read MSAC’s public summary documents explaining the outcomes of the decision-making process.
See our resources that provide healthcare providers, the general public and patients with information and materials supporting the program.
Program guidelines
To support the delivery of the program, we worked with Cancer Australia and held public consultations to develop the National Lung Cancer Screening Program Guidelines. The guidelines help healthcare providers:
- navigate the program with evidence-based recommendations along the screening pathway
- manage participants’ journeys through the screening program.
Cancer Australia commissioned the University of Melbourne to develop the guidelines in consultation with:
- experts
- clinicians
- researchers
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
- members of the public.
The guidelines outline advice and recommendations based on existing evidence and materials. This includes the MSAC’s advice on a lung cancer screening program and assessment pathways.
The guidelines also include information on:
- steps of the screening and assessment pathway
- participant recruitment and eligibility
- how to provide smoking cessation advice and support
- the requirements for shared decision-making
- the processes for a low-dose CT request, scan, and assessment
- evidence-based recommendations and practice points
- links to other resources and materials that support the program.
Professional colleges and peak bodies are helping to prepare their sectors for the program launch. Their work includes developing specific materials that link to the program guidelines.
See our resources for healthcare providers.
New MBS items for NLCSP low-dose CT scans
Two new Medicare Benefit Schedule (MBS) items will be created to provide low-dose CT scans under the program. The new MBS items are for:
- the screening low-dose CT scan done by the participant approximately every 2 years
- the interval low-dose CT scans for any follow-up of results of the screening low-dose CT scan.
These will be mandatory bulk billing items and will have mandatory reporting requirements. Individuals can choose to opt-out of the NCSR and still have a free low-dose CT scan. However, they will not be considered a participant of the program or receive any communication from the NCSR. The radiology provider will still be able to receive the rebate from Medicare.
From July 2025, the MBS website will provide more information on these new items, including the item descriptors and explanatory notes.
In June 2024, the NLCSP Expert Advisory Committee finalised the MBS item descriptions. This followed a consultation process between October 2023 to March 2024 with:
- the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO)
- Cancer Australia
- professional colleges
- peak bodies
- the NLCSP Expert Advisory Committee
- state and territory governments.
Screening costs
MSAC set the criteria for the NLCSP MBS items. The Medicare schedule fee for the 2 new MBS items will be based on the schedule fee for MBS item 56301 and standard indexation will apply. The NLCSP MBS items are exempt from the 2024–25 Budget measure to amend the schedule fee for certain CT items. This means the program’s MBS rebate is higher than the general no contrast low-dose chest CT.
Radiology providers must bulk bill low-dose CT scans for the program when using the NLCSP MBS items above.
Mandatory reporting
We have worked with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR) to develop a structured radiology reporting system. This will ensure a nationally standardised approach for radiologists to accurately and consistently report NLCSP low-dose CT scan results.
Reports for the person’s initial scan and their subsequent scans will be read and reported using the NLCSP Nodule Management Protocol. RANZCR and the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ) worked in partnership to develop the protocol. It applies the recommendations made by MSAC and is derived from the:
- Pan-Canadian Early Detection of Lung Cancer (PanCan) risk calculator for reporting baseline scans
- Lung CT Screening Reporting & Data System (Lung-RADS) for reporting follow-up scans.
Reporting initial scans
The program will use a modified version of the PanCan risk model for baseline scans. This is the initial scan when entering the screening program.
PanCan is a risk assessment tool based on patient and nodule characteristics. It estimates the probability that a nodule from a low-dose CT scan is lung cancer.
We used clinical evidence and consultation to choose PanCan as the baseline nodule management model. It also has the highest sensitivity for baseline scans. PanCan has been internationally validated for use in baseline scans.
Reporting interval follow-up scans
The program will use a modified version of the Lung-RADS for interval follow-up scans. Lung-RADS is a quality assurance tool which standardises lexicon, interpretation, reporting and management of findings in lung cancer screening.
Lung-RADS helps nodule categorisation and will support healthcare providers in considering the next steps.
Healthcare providers will refer patients with low and medium risk for more frequent monitoring and will quickly work with patients with high risk.
You can read more about the required nodule management system in MSAC’s March–April 2022 public summary document attachments.
We are working with Cancer Australia and the radiology sector to ensure this reporting supports both the:
- clinical needs of the program
- mandatory requirement for radiology providers to report to the NSCR.
Reporting to the National Cancer Screening Register
The National Cancer Screening Register (NCSR) provides a single electronic record for each person in Australia participating in the Australian Government’s National Bowel Cancer Screening Program and National Cervical Screening Program. The rules that accompany the National Cancer Screening Register Act 2016 will require radiologists to report NLCSP screening information to the NCSR.
Similar to the bowel and cervical screening programs, healthcare providers will access information in the NCSR through the:
- Healthcare Provider home page
- Healthcare Provider Portal.
The NCSR provides information and helpful reminders about screening.
See Accessing the National Cancer Screening Register for more information about what patients can use the portal for.
Healthcare providers may access participant information and remind them if they need to take action for to lung cancer screening.
To support the delivery of the program, the NCSR:
- maintains a national database of lung screening records
- reminds participants when they are due or overdue for lung screening and when they need to take action after a scan
- provides participant lung screening reports to
- help radiologists in reporting low-dose CT scans
- support healthcare providers in recommending follow-up investigations
- enables participants to access their lung cancer screening information in the register, including updating their participation, such as changing their communication preferences
- monitors the effectiveness, quality and safety of lung cancer screening to improve delivery of the program.
The program guidelines, along with workforce education and information materials, will help healthcare providers navigate and provide information to the NCSR.
An individual can choose to screening using the program MBS items and not be registered within the NCSR. However, these individuals will be considered external screeners and will not be captured in program reporting or receive reminders from the NCSR.
Integration with radiology information software providers
Work is in progress to ensure the NCSR interacts and operates effectively with existing radiology information software. New structured reporting templates will integrate into the current systems and push relevant information into the NCSR.
We are working closely with the radiology sector and understand a significant portion of the private providers will integrate with the NCSR within the first 6 months of the program starting. Recognising that this is a change for radiologists and radiology providers, there will be a 6 month transition period. During the transition period we will allow reporting via post or fax as we finalise integration. This ensures:
- participants are not affected by integration delays, as they have alternative reporting options
- all reports are captured for historical and evaluative purposes, which is crucial for participants' journeys and future evaluations of the NLCSP
- radiologists can focus on integration without any additional workload, as the transition ties into existing workflows.
Data collection and software providers
The Australian Government operates the NCSR under strict protocols to ensure all personal information is safe.
As part of developing it, we have been and will continue consulting with relevant stakeholders on the data that will be collected for the program. Only data that supports a patient’s journey and program participation will be collected. This data will also help:
- track the success of the program
- improve the delivery of the program to ensure better health outcomes.
The low-dose CT scans of program participants will not be stored in the NCSR. However, all state and territory governments are currently working together to develop national health information capabilities under the Intergovernmental Agreement on National Digital Health 2023–27. This will allow health professionals across different sectors to access key health information, including diagnostic images, about their patients in a timely way, regardless of where the information is stored.
The program will not require medical imaging providers to have any additional software to deliver the program.
Workforce education and information
Cancer Australia commissioned a consortium led by the Daffodil Centre to develop an online education module package for the healthcare workforce. This includes information on:
- navigating the program pathway
- delivering the program
- supporting participants.
This package will become available to the healthcare workforce on the Lung Learning Hub in April 2025 and will offer Continuing Professional Development points. The training will equip the healthcare workforce to:
- understand the impact and survival data of lung cancer
- know the role of different healthcare providers in the program
- navigate screening, assessment, and referral pathways
- accurately assess patient eligibility
- use culturally safe and effective communication strategies to discuss eligibility screening processes, results and ongoing support
- access key participant and health professional resources to help implement the program.
The Daffodil Centre were also commissioned to develop a suite of printable resources for the public and the healthcare workforce, including information about:
- the program and how it works
- eligibility
- shared decision making for lung cancer screening
- understanding lung nodules and other findings
- how to provide support for screening participants
- frequently asked questions.
The health workforce resources are designed to ensure the healthcare sector and all professions along the screening pathway are ready for July 2025.
We will also tailor these materials to further support healthcare providers to deliver the program in a culturally appropriate way for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other priority populations.
See all resources for the general public and healthcare workers.
Radiology sector materials
The radiography and radiology workforce has a specific and significant technical role in delivering the program.
Cancer Australia commissioned the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR) to develop a suite of:
- radiology sector-specific information materials
- accredited education training resources to support the radiology workforce.
RANZCR will run webinars and workshops in the months leading up to the start of the program. This will ensure the radiology sector is ready for July 2025. Find out more about RANZCR’s work on the program.
We also provide updates to and seek feedback from our Diagnostic Imaging Stakeholder Committee. The committee provides a forum for diagnostic imaging stakeholders, including industry, clinicians, and consumer representatives. They share information and discuss issues related to diagnostic imaging and the diagnostic imaging sector, including:
- diagnostic imaging policy and regulatory issues relating to Medicare
- changes and trends in diagnostic imaging services.
As the radiology workforce is an accredited and regulated workforce, there will be no further accreditation required to deliver the program.
Find information materials and education and training resources tailored to the needs of the radiology workforce on the RANZCR website.
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