Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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HEALTH INSURANCE REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1998 NO. 138

STATUTORY RULES 1998 NO. 138

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Health and Family Services

Health Insurance Act 1973

Health Insurance Regulations (Amendment)

The Health Insurance Act 1973 ("the Act") provides in part for the recognition of certain medical practitioners who are in approved placements.

Section 133 of the Act provides that the Governor-General may make Regulations for the purposes of the Act.

The Health Insurance Amendment Act (No 2) 1996, which amended the Act, introduced restrictions on the type of medical practitioners whose services can attract Medicare rebates.

Doctors who first became medical practitioners after 1 November 1996 are not recognised for the purposes of Medicare unless they fall into a number of categories. These categories are listed in section 19AA of the Act and include that of specialist and general practitioner. One of the categories involves registration under section 3GA of the Act. Section 3GA provides for the registration of doctors working in an approved placement for a specific purpose such as participation in a training program leading to specialist qualification. Before a doctor can be recognised in this category the Health Insurance Commission must have written notification from an approved body that the person is a participant- in an approved program.

Subsection 3GA (5) of the Act provides that a body specified in the Health Insurance Regulations (the Regulations) may inform the Health Insurance Commission that a person is enrolled in a course or program specified in the Regulations.

Regulation 6E specifies that bodies, programs and qualifications approved for the purposes of paragraph 3GA (5) (a) of the Act are to be set out in Schedules to the Regulations. Schedule 1A of the Regulations lists the specified programs and the bodies approving those programs for the purposes of section 3GA of the Act.

These provisions allow doctors who completed their intern year or period of supervised training after 1 November 1996, and are therefore ineligible to attract Medicare benefits for their services unless they are in an approved placement, to take up employment opportunities as locum relief in rural areas.

The amendment to the Regulations removed most rural divisions coordinating units from the list in Schedule 1A and replaced them with Rural Workforce Agencies, which are now approved bodies for the Rural Locum Relief Program, for the purposes of Section 3GA of the Act.

The Regulations commenced on 1 July 1998.