Changes to Chronic Disease Management and MBS items
New information on changes to Chronic Conditions Management Items was released on 23 August 2024.
Subject to the passage of legislation, from 1 November 2024, there will be a revised structure for items for chronic disease management. Aside from the change in name to Chronic Conditions Management, existing items will cease from 1 November* including:
- GP management plans (229, 721, 92024, 92055),
- Team care arrangements (230, 723, 92025, 92056), and
- Reviews (233, 732, 920278, 92059)
These items will be replaced with streamlined GP chronic condition management plans and reviews (see table below).
Proposed new Chronic Condition Management Items commencing 1 November 2024*
.jpg "Proposed new Chronic Condition Management Items commencing 1 November 2024")
*Subject to the passage of legislation
New item numbers are also anticipated to outline the important role of practice nurses, Aboriginal health workers and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners in assisting GPs in the preparation of chronic conditions management plans and reviews.
To encourage more regular reviews and ongoing care, the MBS fees for planning and review items will be equalised.
Patients will also need to have their GP chronic condition management plan prepared or reviewed in the previous 18 months to access related allied health services.
New Chronic Conditions Management items also leverage MyMedicare and are likely to drive a wave of MyMedicare registrations by patients. To support continuity of care, patients registered through MyMedicare are only able to access GP chronic condition management plan and review items through the practice where they are registered for MyMedicare (patients not registered for MyMedicare will be able to access the items through their usual GP). Currently 1.5M Australians are registered for MyMedicare. Chronic conditions management activities make up a substantial proportion of general practice activity with 2022 -23 data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare identifying that:
- Almost 1 in 6 (16%; 4.1 million) Australians claimed a Chronic Disease Management service, and
- 60% of people (10.2 million) who visited a general practitioner (GP) in the last 12 months had a long-term health condition.
To prevent any disruptions to care, patients with an existing GP management plan and/or team care arrangement in place prior to 1 November 2024 will be able to continue to access services consistent with those plans for two years. From 1 November 2026, a new GP chronic condition management plan will be required for ongoing access to allied health services. In addition, from 1 November 2026, a GP chronic condition management plan will be required to access domiciliary medication management reviews (items 245 and 900).
For a full summary see the Services Australia Fact Sheet PDF Version - Upcoming Changes to Chronic Disease Management MBS Items – Overview.PDF (mbsonline.gov.au) or see attached.
Steps your practice can take to prepare
Here are some ideas you might like to consider to start preparing your practice team for Chronic Conditions Management and MyMedicare patient registration:
- Discuss what these changes mean with your practice team and identify any activities or processes you need to review or update (e.g. incorporating MyMedicare registration in your workflows for chronic disease/conditions management).
- Register your practice for MyMedicare if you have not done so already.
- Engage your patients to encourage them to register with MyMedicare, particularly those with a chronic condition or existing care plan:
- Prepare your practice team to speak with patients about MyMedicare. Discuss MyMedicare at a practice meeting or print off copies of the MyMedicare brochures and MyMedicare patient registration frequently asked questions for your practice team to have on hand to support conversations with patients.
- Include the MyMedicare Registration form and brochure with your patient consent and data collection form
- Update your practice website to include links to MyMedicare brochures a, MyMedicare patient registration information, and MyMedicare patient registration frequently asked questions
- Place MyMedicare posters and brochures in your practice waiting room/reception and display MyMedicare Patient videos in your waiting room screens.
- Post information about MyMedicare in your practice Facebook or social media page using the following Social Media Tiles.
The MyMedicare communication resources for General Practice includes social media tiles, videos, brochures and posters.
Western NSW Primary Health Network will keep you updated with more information about these changes as it is released. Please contact us by emailing practicedevelopmentteam@wnswphn.org.au for information and support.
Patient information about MyMedicare
To inform patients and their carers about MyMedicare the resources below can help explain the benefits and what it means for them.
Patient Brochures
Patient Videos