Disinvestment
Medicare Benefits Schedule – A quality framework for reviewing services (MBS Quality Framework).
In the 2009-10 Budget, the Australian Government agreed to put in place a new evidence-based framework which will better manage the Medicare Benefits Schedule into the future.
A key component of this Quality Framework is the implementation of a systematic approach to the review of existing MBS items to ensure they reflect contemporary evidence, offer improved health outcomes for patients and importantly, represent value for money. The primary focus of the review framework is to identify and evaluate current MBS services that present potential safety and quality issues, or provide the opportunity to encourage more appropriate clinical use.
The first stage of the Quality Framework commenced in 2010, with the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing commissioning a whole of specialty review of Medicare-funded ophthalmology services. This review is to be conducted in two phases by AHTA on behalf of the Department: the first completed in early 2011, with the second phase commencing in late 2011 and finalised in 2012.
