Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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HEALTH INSURANCE (1992-1993 PATHOLOGY SERVICES TABLE) REGULATIONS 1992 NO.336

STATUTORY RULES 1992 No. 336

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Health, Housing and Community Services

Health Insurance Act 1973

Health Insurance (1992-1993 Pathology Services Table) Regulations

Section 133 of the Health Insurance Act 1973 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations for the purposes of the Act.

Section 9 of the Act provides, in effect, that medicare benefits shall be calculated by reference to the fees for medical services (including pathology services) set out in the table (which includes the pathology services table) in Schedule 1A to the Act.

Section 4A of the Act provides, among other things, that the regulations may prescribe a table of pathology services in accordance with the form of table set out in Schedule 1A and that, upon commencement of a regulation prescribing a table of pathology services, the table so prescribed has effect as if it were set out in Schedule 1A in place of the table in that Schedule. The Health Insurance (1992-1993 Pathology Services Table) Regulations prescribe such a table.

The Regulations will replace Statutory Rules 1991 No. 442, and Statutory Rules 1992 Nos. 23, 46 and 273.

The Regulations provide for the inclusion of a new item, revise the descriptions of three items, raise the fees for all items by 2.31 per cent, increase the fees for the three most common pathology items by a further $0.50, and incorporate a range of minor editorial changes to item descriptions amending the capitalisation and hyphenation of words and replacing figures for words when appropriate.

Provision was made for the 2.31 per cent across-the-board fee increase for all items in the Pathology Services Table in the 1992 Budget. The proposal to increase the fee for item numbers 65007, 66211 and 69217 by a further $0.50c, which will cost about $4.6 million a year in extra benefit payments, was approved by the Minister on 19 September 1992 in response to industry representations that the effect of the fee freeze which formed part of the 1991 Budget needed to be mitigated.

Item number 66262 has been included because although it gained Ministerial approval as part of the new Immunology Group in Statutory Rules 1992, No. 273. It was inadvertently omitted from that regulation.

The descriptions of the 3 items numbered 66317, 69223 and 73523 have been amended by the Pathology Services Table Committee so as to refine, tighten up or expand the previous wording. On balance these changes are unlikely to have any financial implications.

These Regulations (with effect from 1 November 1992) will replace all previous regulations.