Advocacy
Campaigns
The AACP is pursuing the introduction of new items for prolonged consultation and review consultations for situations where patients of consultant physicians and paediatricians require significantly longer consultations than available under items 132 & 133. Currently there is provision for longer consultations for geriatric and psychiatric assessments only.
Telehealth MBS Items
Advocacy by the AACP and other medical organisations has now resulted in reinstatement of ALL Telehealth (video/telephone) items, at least up to 30 June 2022, including the items that enable specialist medical practitioners to provide Telehealth consultations to hospital in-patients when their doctor cannot attend the hospital due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Achievements
MBS items 132 and 133
The AACP achieved a significant win for all consultant physician and paediatric practice with the introduction of two major Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) items – Items 132 and 133.
The AACP identified the need for Medicare items that appropriately recognised the time and skill of consultant physicians and paediatricians in treating patients with increasingly complex conditions. It was then due to the AACP’s sustained advocacy that the Government introduced MBS items 132 and 133 for extended consultations with patients with two or more co-morbidities.
These items are now the cornerstones of consultative medicine.
Introduction of foreshadowed “30/20 telephone rule”
TELEHEALTH Introduction of foreshadowed "30/20 telephone rule" On 1 October 2022 changes to the prescribed pattern of services were made by the Department of Health with the introduction of the new ‘30/20 telephone rule’. These changes, foreshadowed earlier in the year, [...]
2022 Call for Nominations
2022 Call for Nominations For the Election to the Council of The Australian Association of Consultant Physicians On behalf of the Council of the Australian Association of Consultant Physicians (AACP) members of the AACP [...]