Consultation Hub

Welcome to the Consultation Hub. This site will help you find, share and participate in consultations that interest you. Below you will find links to the consultations we are currently running.

Alternatively you may search for consultations by keyword, interest or status. Once finalised, decisions will be published under Closed Consultations.

Open Consultations

Prescribed List Reforms - Consultation Paper 10 - General Use Items utilisation, expenditure and integrity

On 1 May 2024, the Minister of Health and Aged Care announced that general use items (GUI) would be retained on Part D of the Prescribed List (PL). This decision follows consistent feedback from multiple stakeholders that removing the GUIs from the PL without an alternative funding arrangement.

National Roadmap to Improve the Health and Mental Health of Autistic People

Complete the survey The Department of Health and Aged Care wants your feedback on the National Roadmap to Improve the Health and Mental Health of Autistic People (the Autism Health Roadmap). You can provide your feedback by answering this survey, or you can email your comments to .

Autism Health Roadmap Survey- short form

Complete the survey You can provide your feedback by answering this survey, or you can email your comments to AutismRoadmapConsultation@health.gov.au Background The Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care has listened to many Autistic.

MPS 24/7 RN Trial Survey

The purpose of this survey is to provide MPS trial sites with the opportunity to provide feedback on their experiences with the 24/7 RN requirement trial and reporting arrangements.

The Australian Centre for Disease Control (CDC): Consultation on how the Australian CDC plans to use data

The Government has committed to establishing a centre for disease control (CDC) to make sure Australia is well prepared for public health emergencies The Australian Government wants the CDC to: prepare and plan for potential public health emergencies, such as pandemics.

Closed Consultations

Feedback on implementing MPS Direct Care Targets

The purpose of this survey is to provide MPS trial sites with the opportunity to provide their views, feedback and input in regard to direct care targets to inform subsequent discussions. At this stage, the survey is designed to get your high level views. There is no expectation that you will.

Prescribed List Reforms - Consultation Paper 9 - CIEDs and the cost of technical support services

On 19 April 2024, stakeholders were provided with an update on the Technical support services component of the CIED PL benefit . This included the Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC) advice and associated public summary document. We are inviting stakeholders to provide views.

Changes to the Recommended Use of Herpes Zoster Vaccines in the Australian Immunisation Handbook

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) is consulting with stakeholders to remove information about Zostavax in the Australian Immunisation Handbook, with an intention to submit the revised chapter to the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) for its approval.

Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) Review Advisory Committee: Open Consultation - Sport and Exercise Medicine Physician access to Group A4 MBS items

This review seeks input from consumers, medical practitioners, and allied health professionals on the following questions: A. Would a reclassification of Sports and Exercise Medicine Physicians (SEMPs) as consultant physicians with access to Group A4 MBS items: .

Consultation on private health insurance chronic disease management programs

The Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care is proposing to expand the list of health professionals for which insurer benefits under Chronic Disease Management Programs (CDMPs) will be eligible for risk equalisation across health insurers. Specifically, it is proposed that practice.

We Asked, You Said, We Did

Modernising My Health Record – Sharing pathology and diagnostic imaging reports by default and removing consumer access delays

We asked

The Department of Health and Aged Care, in partnership with the Australian Digital Health Agency, sought feedback to inform implementation of two changes to improve sharing of pathology and diagnostic imaging reports to My Health Record:

• better access: introducing requirements for pathology and diagnostic imaging providers to share reports to My Health Record by default
• faster access: removing the 7-day delay so consumers can see most pathology and diagnostic imaging results as soon as they have been uploaded to My Health Record.

You said

We received 416 submissions from a range of respondents including consumers and carers, healthcare providers and peak bodies.

Submissions have been published where respondents provided consent for this to occur.

We did

We reviewed submissions and prepared a summary report of key themes and feedback. Feedback is informing implementation, noting we will be undertaking further consultation as implementation progresses.

We have also established a Clinical Reference Group to support implementation by providing strategic advice and clinical oversight.

Public Consultation: Intellectual Disability Health Capability Framework

We asked

The Intellectual Disability Capability Framework drafting group asked for feedback about the draft Intellectual Disability Health Capability Framework in an open consultation from 3 -27 October 2023. We asked for feedback about the overall draft framework and asked for specific feedback about the following areas of the draft framework document:

• learning outcomes
• implementation guidelines
• capacity assessment tools
• terms and language.

This was the second consultation for this project (the first open consultation asked for feedback about the core capabilities).

You said

Thirty-three submissions to the open consultation were received from a range of stakeholders including individuals, health services, peak bodies, education providers, First Nations organisations and groups representing and serving those with intellectual disabilities . A breakdown of responses is as follows:

• 9 responses from individuals/consumers
• 17 responses from organisations
• 7 responses from section/teams within an organisation

The results showed that overall, 91% of respondents agreed that the learning outcomes were appropriate, and 67% agreed that the learning outcomes were measurable. In relation to implementation guidelines, 58% of respondents agreed that the implementation guidance for accreditation authorities was appropriate, and 70% of respondents agreed that the implementation guidance for education providers was appropriate. 67% of respondents agreed that the assessment tools were useful, and 85% of respondents agreed that the language used in the framework was appropriate.

Free text comments identified areas for amendments or emphasis in the draft Framework. Main areas that were identified include:

• strengthening guidance around integrating intellectual disability into crowded curricula and accreditation standards.
• the need to provide students with the appropriate placements to prepare them to meet the needs of people with intellectual disability.
• disability awareness training for educators.
• the need to acknowledge self-regulating health professions within the framework.
• suggestions to simplify the capacity assessment tools.
• proposed changes t o terminology and areas for emphasis in learning outcomes.

Feedback also identified areas that will be considered in the next phase of the project, including resource development, evaluation strategies and communities of practice. This feedback has been recorded and will be used in the next phase of the project.

We did

All submissions were reviewed, and amendments have been made as appropriate. The following significant changes were made:

• strengthened guidance about how educational institutions and accreditation authorities can integrate intellectual disability into curricula and standards. Flexible implementation options were provided and examples of ways that learning outcomes can be integrated into existing curricula were added.
• emphasised the need for appropriate placements to prepare students to meet the needs of people with intellectual disability and provided alternatives if no intellectual disability specific services.
• emphasised importance of disability awareness training for educators.
• acknowledged self-regulating health professions within the Framework.
• amended capacity assessment tools and made them modifiable, so they could be further revised to suit the needs of each organisation.
• updated terminology and glossary definitions as suggested. For example, diagnostic overshadowing was updated to a more contemporary definition.
• Added a new learning outcome to emphasise the need to limit diagnostic overshadowing. The new learning outcomes is: “Limit diagnostic overshadowing by evaluating when presentations are attributable to health and/or mental health concerns rather than intellectual disability”.

The next stage of the Intellectual Disability Health Curriculum Development Project, led by a team at UNSW Sydney, aims to curate and develop intellectual disability health resources to support the integration of the Framework into accreditation standards and health professional pre-registration education curricula. The project began in June 2023 and will run for two years, with resources released throughout this time. This phase involves significant consultation and co-design with people with intellectual disability, and consultation with key stakeholders including support networks of people with intellectual disability, accreditation authorities, and the higher education sector. The objectives of this next stage are to:

1. scope potential barriers and facilitators to implementation in accreditation standards and create a plan to support integration
2. curate a list of existing foundational knowledge and teaching resources and provide guidance around their use
3. identify and develop additional priority resources and tools to support education providers to implement the Framework. One such tool will support education providers to include people with intellectual disability and their support networks in the design and delivery of curriculum content.

We appreciate all the interest and expertise shared throughout the consultation phase and thank all stakeholders who prepared a submission.