Editor's Note 12 Dec 2022: The Government has confirmed it will not be extending the temporary additional 10 psychology sessions beyond 31 December 2022, despite our extensive advocacy efforts as a community and profession to have the additional sessions made permanent. Please see our News Update (12 Dec) for further information.
There has been much discussion of late surrounding the future of the additional Medicare subsidised psychology sessions. We understand this is causing uncertainty for many psychologists and your clients.
At this stage, the Federal Government has not made an announcement about the future of the additional Medicare subsidised psychology sessions.
The Government has stated that any decision on the additional 10 sessions will be widely communicated with the sector in advance of the current end date of 31 December 2022 to ensure continuity of care and certainty in treatment planning.
Current advice from Medicare (as at 24 November 2022):
Medicare has confirmed that the 'additional' 10 Better Access services will continue to be available until 31 December 2022. Clients can be referred for and access these services until this date. Clients are unable to access 'additional' services after 31 December 2022 and any unused 'additional' services will be forfeited. This applies regardless of when the referral for the additional sessions was issued. A new referral consistent with referral requirements for initial Better Access services would be required for the client to access initial sessions in 2023.
The APS position:
The APS position is that these sessions should be a permanent feature of the Better Access program. We maintain this position and will continue to advocate for it. We are grateful to Federal Health Minister Hon Mark Butler MP and the Federal Government for their willingness to listen to our position and we appreciate the open and frank nature of our discussions on this issue so far.
With your backing – our 28,000 members nationwide – we have been advocating relentlessly on this issue for many years. Long before the pandemic, the APS has been urging the Government to increase the number of sessions from 10 to at least 20.
Our efforts have snowballed in the past two months, culminating in a discussion in Federal Parliament earlier this month with Minister Butler stating he was “very alive to the views of the APS … about [the additional 10 sessions]”. This week we were pleased to have Hon Emma McBride MP, Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, join our member-only ‘fireside chat’, where she praised APS and our members for our continued advocacy and solutions-oriented approach to addressing access and affordability issues for the community.
We will continue to advocate on this important issue. We will let you know as soon as we hear any news from the Government.
In the meantime, if you have any further queries please contact Medicare https://www.health.gov.au/contacts/medicare-provider-enquiry-line or APS Professional Advisory Services https://psychology.org.au/for-members/member-advice/advisory-service