HEALTH INSURANCE (1994-1995 DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING SERVICES TABLE) REGULATIONS 1994 NO. 363

HEALTH INSURANCE (1994-1995 DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING SERVICES TABLE) REGULATIONS 1994 NO. 363

STATUTORY RULES 1994 No. 363

Issued by authority of the Minister of Human Services and Health

Health Insurance Act 1973

Health Insurance (1994-1995 Diagnostic Imaging Services Table) Regulations

The Health Insurance Act 1973 (the Act) provides for payments by way of medicare benefits, payments for hospital services and payments for matters concerning related committees and tribunals.

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

Section 4AA of the Act provides that the regulations may prescribe a table of diagnostic imaging services (the table). The Health Insurance (1993-1994 Diagnostic Imaging Services Table) Regulations, Statutory Rules 1993 No. 271 currently prescribe such a table.

Section 9 of the Act provides that medicare benefits shall be calculated by reference to the fees for diagnostic imaging services set out in the table.

Details of the regulations are as follow:

Regulation 2 provides for the regulations to commence on 1 November 1994.

Regulation 3 provides for the repeal of Statutory Rules 1993 No. 271 which give authority for the table which is to be replaced.

Regulation 4 prescribes the new table of diagnostic imaging services and rules of interpretation.

Rules of Interpretation

The Rules of Interpretation have been amended to provide for:

(a)        a change in the method of describing anaesthetic units attributed to items in the table, in particular, the symbol "(AUn)" has been replaced with a formula, such as, "(Anaes. 17726 = 16B + 10T)"; and

(b)        increased dollar amounts in Rules 10, 11, 15 and 16 to reflect changes resulting from the fee increase.

Except for re-numbering some of the Rules, there are no other changes.

Table of Services and Fees

The fees for services in the table have been adjusted in line with the announcement made in the 1994/1995 Budget. Fees have been adjusted by the addition of 1.27 per cent. Except for minor rewording of some items to clarify their meaning, there are no other changes.

The Regulations commenced on 1 November 1994.