EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1986 NO. 156
ISSUED BY AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH
HEALTH INSURANCE ACT 1973
HEALTH INSURANCE (VARIATION OF FEES AND MEDICAL SERVICES) (NO. 41) REGULATIONS
Section 133 of the Health Insurance Act 1973 (‘the Act’) provides in part that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing all matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed, for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Section 9 of the Act provides that medicare benefits shall be calculated by reference to fees for medical services set out in the table of medical services in Schedule 1 to the Act. Schedule 1 contains items setting out the description of each medical service and the fee for the calculation of medicare benefit applicable in each State. Medicare benefit is normally payable, in accordance with section 10 of the Act, at a rate of 85% of the relevant fee set out in the table of medical services. An additional amount of medicare benefit is payable where required to ensure that the difference between the benefit normally payable and the fee set out in the table of medical services does not exceed $10.00 in relation to a single professional service, or an aggregate of $150.00 per patient in a year in relation to multiple professional services.
Section 4 of the Act provides that the table of medical services may be varied or replaced by regulations, and that regulations replacing such a table may be amended by regulations. The Health Insurance (Variation of Fees and Medical Services) (No. 37) Regulations (‘the Regulations’), as amended, prescribe the present table of medical services pursuant to section 4 of the Act. The present table is set out in the Schedule to the Regulations.
The Minister for Health has agreed to recommendations which have been made by the Medical Benefits Schedule Revision Committee. The Committee is a non-statutory body, comprising representatives of the Australian Medical Association and the Commonwealth, which advises the Minister for Health on revisions which should be made to the table of medical services. The Committee has made recommendations in connection with the introduction of magnetic resonance imaging technology into Australia, to the effect that the description of one item should be amended and that another item should be deleted.
Magnetic resonance imaging is a recently-developed diagnostic technology which produces pictures of the body by means of a magnetic field in conjunction with radio waves, rather than by the use of X-rays. The procedure produces images which are superior to those produced by current procedures, is non-intrusive and does not present a radiation hazard.
Regulation 3 amends the Schedule to the Regulations to give effect to the amendments recommended by the Committee. Regulation 2 provides for the amendments to come into operation on 1 July 1986.
It is expected that the first magnetic resonance imaging unit in Australia will become fully operational in Sydney on 1 July 1986. The regulations are intended to replace items in the table of medical services which related to the procedure while it was still under evaluation.