EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

 

Select Legislative Instrument 2005 No. 219

 

Health Insurance Act 1973

 

Health Insurance (Diagnostic Imaging Services Table) Amendment Regulations 2005 (No. 3)

 

Subsection 133(1) of the Health Insurance Act 1973 (the Act) provides that the

Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, 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.

 

The Act provides, in part, for payments of Medicare benefits in respect of professional services rendered to eligible persons.  Section 9 of the Act provides that Medicare benefits shall be calculated by reference to the fees for medical services, including diagnostic imaging services, set out in prescribed tables.

 

Section 4AA(1) of the Act provides that the regulations may prescribe a table of diagnostic imaging services, the amount of fees applicable in respect of each item and the rules for interpretation of the table.  The Health Insurance (Diagnostic Imaging Services Table) Regulations 2004 (the Principal Regulations) prescribe such a table.

 

The Minister for Health and Ageing gave policy approval, for services provided, using a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) unit, located at the Mater Misericordiae Health Services Brisbane Limited, known as the Mater Children's Hospital, Brisbane, to be granted Medicare eligibility.

 

The purpose of the amendment Regulations is to provide Medicare eligibility for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans conducted at the Mater Children's Hospital.  This would be achieved by inserting a new item 4 in the table in paragraph 36(c).

 

Following consultation, the Queensland State Government recommended that Medicare eligibility be granted to the Royal Children's Hospital, Brisbane.  During 2005, consultation with the Mater Children's Hospital, Brisbane, revealed that it was the only tertiary children's hospital in Australia without direct access to a Medicare eligible MRI unit.  Unlike x-ray and computed tomography, MRI does not use ionising radiation.  This is especially important for children who face far greater risks from radiation than adults.

 

The Regulations enables the MRI machine located in the Mater Children's Hospital to provide Medicare eligible services. 

 

The Regulations commence on the day after they are registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.