Have you seen the most asked member question lately? Our monthly Member Benefits Bulletin has this covered! We encourage you to keep an eye out for it when it hits your email and in the meantime, head to this webpage for a breakdown of other questions commonly asked by members in months gone by. You never know what you will find!
Here is the most commonly asked member question in recent weeks. Don’t forget to check out our member-only web resource for more useful Q+As!
Where two or more RACFs are co-located or are adjacent to each other, a practitioner is not eligible for extra compensation for visiting the second facility, this is consistent with the GP RACF attendance arrangements. For more information about billing flag-falls for RACF’s under MBS click here.
Commencing 10 December 2020 and available until 30 June 2022, temporary Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) items have been made available to improve access to multidisciplinary care for residents of residential aged care facilities (RACF) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new items apply to RACF residents referred for allied health services under the following treatment, management or care plans:
Under the new items, allied health providers may claim a call-out or ‘flag-fall’ fee to cover their costs to travel to a RACF to provide a face-to-face service.
These temporary MBS items are applicable for non-admitted patients that reside in a RACF and cannot be claimed as part of hospital treatment.
What are the temporary changes?
As part of the Australian Government’s response to COVID-19, 69 new temporary MBS allied health attendances items have been introduced to support the provision of comprehensive care for residents within RACF. The new temporary allied health MBS items are:
Group M29, sub-group 1, Group M30, sub-group 1 and Group M31, sub-group 1
• Twenty nine (29) new initial/long attendance allied health items for residents of RACF.
Group M29, sub-group 3, Group M30, sub-group-3 and Group M31, sub-group 2
• Thirty three (33) new subsequent/standard allied health items for residents of RACF.
Group M29, sub-group 2, Group M30, sub-group 2 and Group M31, sub-group 3
• Seven (7) new additional physical therapies items for residents of RACF.
A separate flag-fall item (90004) has also been introduced. This can be claimed by allied health providers with the first attendance provided face-to-face at a RACF. A list of the new items is provided later in this fact sheet.
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