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Hi all,

Some of you may be aware that as of 1 July 2014 there are some substantial changes to aged care in Australia taking place.

Importantly, as Allied Health Professionals, these changes may affect those of us whom visit aged care facilities to provide Podiatry services.

At present, DVA will only pay Podiatry fees for those residents whom have been assessed as being LOW CARE. - The DVA has been very specific, stating that they will NOT accept financial responsibility re: Podiatry treatment for those residents assessed as HIGH CARE.


Now folks, this is where it gets interesting:


As of 1 July 2014, the federal legislation will be amended to remove the distinction between care recipients approved for HIGH level residential care or LOW level residential care. Care recipients will continue to be approved as recipients of residential care based on an assessment of their care needs; however, the approval will be for "residential care" without any distinction between whether the person requires a low level of residential care or a high level of residential care.


So, where does this leave us? How will the DVA be approaching this, given that there will no longer be a distinction between High and Low levels of care in nursing homes ???

APODC, could you please urgently clarify given that these changes are to be effected in some two weeks time?

 

Hi all,

An interesting request given the comments in http://www.podiatry-arena.com/podiatry-forum/showthread.php?t=97684

I've been speaking to senior people in the department over the past two weeks and I'm aware that they are working on draft three of their advice on the high care / low care issue. As soon as it's ready, we'll brief members on any implications.

Cheers,
Damian.

 

Hi thanks a lot for that Damian. Very much appreciated. Does anyone know what is going on or how we should approach billings in the nursing homes? It is now well into July and no word on the DVA website anywhere.. Will the DVA now be covering podiatry costs for all vetetans in aged care irrespective of their previous low care/high care classification??

 

Neither DVA nor Medicare have resolved the issues at this stage.

We're part of a small working group trying to sort through the issues (at this stage it's just us, DoHA and DVA) before a draft response goes to allied health professions for consultation. We'll be talking to members to make sure we're addressing their concerns in the working group.

Cheers,
Damian.

 

We were pleased to provide our advice to the state associations around this last week. I'm sure they are currently briefing members.

I understand Medicare may issue advice more broadly however we're not sure when this may occur.

 

Department of Veterans’ Affairs fee indexation arrangements
As a result of a decision in the 2014-15 Budget, the 1 July 2014 indexation of the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) will be restricted to General Practitioner services. The next scheduled indexation for all other MBS and DVA specific medical items will be 1 July 2016.

DVA is aligning indexation dates for dental and allied health provider fees with the MBS measure, and the next indexation for these services will also be on 1 July 2016.

 

We along with everyone involved in Medicare (except GP's) weren't happy about the indexation pause. We flagged it on Budget night http://www.apodc.com.au/index.php/budget-2014-15/#.VDxdqBZKv74 however if the medical specialists, radiologists, anesthetists etc can't get it reconsidered, we're unlikely to get government to listen on this issue.