General practice is at the forefront of healthcare in Australia and is well-placed to deliver essential preventive healthcare activities.
By providing general practices with an opportunity to evaluate a patient’s health and wellbeing, health assessments are crucial to supporting the delivery of quality healthcare. However, practices should make a few considerations before undertaking a health assessment.
The patient’s usual medical practitioner should do the health assessment. You are the patient’s usual medical practitioner if you:
or a medical practitioner in the same practice have provided the majority of health care to the patient over the last 12 months
will provide the majority of health care to the patient over the next 12 months.
There are MBS items covering health assessments for specific target groups. GPs should use their judgement in determining which MBS health assessment item to claim.
The item claimed should reflect the:
time taken to complete the health assessment (including practice nurse time)
complexity of the patient’s presentation
comprehensiveness of the examination, in line with the patient’s needs and the assessment requirements
specified for each target group
preventative strategies or activities put in place.
For more information on health assessments and your responsibilities, click here.
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