More Information about Better Access

The Better Access to Psychiatrists, Psychologists and General Practitioners through the Medicare Benefits Schedule (Better Access) initiative is one of 18 Australian Government initiatives introduced under the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) National Action Plan on Mental Health 2006-2011.

Better Access was introduced in response to low treatment rates for mental disorders, and its ultimate aim is to improve outcomes for people with such disorders by encouraging a multi-disciplinary approach to their mental health care. Underpinning this aim are the following objectives:

• Encouraging more GPs to participate in early intervention, assessment and management of patients with mental disorders and streamlining access to appropriate psychological interventions in primary care;
• Encouraging private psychiatrists to see more new patients;
• Providing referral pathways for appropriate treatment of patients with mental disorders, including by psychiatrists, GPs, clinical psychologists and other appropriately trained allied mental health professionals; and
• Supporting GPs and primary care service providers with education and training to better diagnose and treat mental illness.

Better Access takes the form of a series of new item numbers which have been added to the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS), supported by a range of education and training activities for relevant providers. The specific MBS items numbers include:

• GP items numbers: These reimburse GPs for preparing and reviewing mental health care plans (2710 and 2712, respectively) and providing mental health care consultations (2713)
• Psychiatrist items numbers: These reimburse psychiatrists for conducting an initial consultation with a new patient in their consulting rooms, in a hospital or at the patient’s home (296, 297 and 299, respectively), for providing and reviewing a patient assessment and management plan (291 and 293, respectively); and
• Allied health professional item numbers: These reimburse clinical psychologists for delivering psychological therapy (80000, 80005, 80010, 80015 and 80020), registered psychologists for providing focused psychological strategies (80100, 80105, 80110, 80115 and 80120), selected occupational therapists for providing focused psychological strategies (80125, 80130, 80135, 80140 and 80145) and selected social workers for providing focused psychological strategies (80150, 80155, 80160, 80165 and 80170).