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UPDATED ITEMS FILE Version 20.5

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Two new items have been added for anaesthetic telehealth consultations, effective from 22 May.

 

92701 – telehealth attendance, ..

 

92712 – phone attendance, ..

 

.. by a medical practitioner in the practice of anaesthesia for a consultation on a patient undergoing advanced surgery or who has complex medical problems, involving a selective history and the formulation of a written management plan documented in the patient notes, and lasting more than 15 minutes. Schedule Fee = $88.25.

 

Points to note:

•         The items will be effective from 22 May 2020, and will not apply retrospectively.

•         The items will cease after 30 September 2020.

•         These are intended to substitute for face-to-face consultations in the range 17615 – 17625.

•         They only apply for consults longer than 15 min, and include complexity criteria.

 

Full details are on the Medicare’s May 22 page, or the complete COVID-19 page.

ASA members can view a description of the usage of these items on the ASA website (login required).

 

There have also been a number of other minor changes to fee schedules for various funds. 

 

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AHSA COPAYMENT CHANGE

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A reminder, that from July 2020, known-gap accounts for AHSA will have a limit of $500 per episode of care. Previously AHSA funds allowed up to $400 per item. For more details see this AHSA notification.

 

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HCF and AGE MODIFIERS

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We've followed up reports that HCF is rejecting invoices with the new age modifiers 25013 and 25014. HCF recommends waiting a couple more weeks until they integrate these new items into their claims processing system before submitting any claims with these age modifiers. They were not able to give a specific date this would be resolved.

 

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UPDATED PROGRAM FILE Version 9.71

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There have been a number of miscellaneous changes as described on our What’s New page.