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2019-2020-2021-2022
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Health Insurance Amendment (Administrative
Actions) Bill 2022
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Health and Aged Care, the Hon Greg Hunt
MP)
Health Insurance Amendment (Administrative Actions) Bill 2022
OUTLINE
The Health Insurance Amendment (Administrative Actions) Bill 2022 ensures that the
Chief Executive Medicare can legally allow Services Australia to develop a
computerised system to action decisions made by a specified body to place doctors
on, and remove doctors from, the Register of Approved Placements.
To be eligible to access a Medicare benefit, doctors who have made a permanent
commitment to Australia must either hold fellowship of an Australian medical college
or participate in an approved workforce or training program. A medical practitioner
who is granted entry into these programs must be placed on the Register of Approved
Placements.
Workforce and training programs are managed by a specified body who is also
responsible for determining eligibility. The specified bodies are listed in the
Regulations and include the Department of Health and the general practice colleges.
Services Australia administers the Register of Approved Placements based on notices
provided by the specified body. Services Australia does not make an independent
assessment or decision, rather, they process the notices provided by the specified body
in order to facilitate Medicare access.
Financial Impact Statement
Nil.
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Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny)
Act 2011
Health Insurance Amendment (Administrative Actions) Bill 2022
This Bill will be compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or
declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights
(Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
Overview of the Bill
The Health Insurance Amendment (Administrative Actions) Bill 2022 ensures the
Chief Executive Medicare can legally allow Services Australia to develop a
computerised system to action decisions made by a specified body to place doctors
on, and remove doctors from, the Register of Approved Placements.
Human rights implications
This Bill will promote the following articles of the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR):
• The right of individuals to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of
physical and mental health (Article 12);
• The right to work, including the right of everyone to the opportunity to gain a
living by work which he/she freely chooses or accepts, and will take appropriate
steps to safeguard this right (Article 6);
• The right of everyone to the enjoyment of just and favourable conditions of work,
including equal opportunity for everyone to be promoted in his/her employment
to an appropriate higher level, subject to no considerations other than those of
seniority and competence (Article 7(c)).
Article 12 of the ICESCR
The right to health includes the obligation to provide timely and appropriate health
care, which is 'available, accessible, acceptable and of a high quality'. Furthermore,
accessibility includes both physical accessibility to health services and economic
accessibility, namely the provision of health services which are affordable to all.
The Bill will amend the Act to provide an opportunity to streamline administrative
processes for medical practitioners placed on the Register of Approved Placements. It
also allows the Chief Executive of Medicare to correct an incorrect action where this
is identified or has been notified to Services Australia.
Medical practitioners who need to be placed on the Register of Approved Placements
are restricted from accessing a Medicare benefit. Providing medical practitioners with
a digital option to replace the manual application process will reduce the timeframe
for access to Medicare benefits, thereby allowing medical practitioners to provide
services to the community sooner.
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Articles 6 and 7 of the ICESCR
The Bill will support the right to work under Articles 6 and 7(c) of the ICESCR by
supporting the rights of medical practitioners, specialists and consultant physicians to
gain equitable and timely access to Medicare rebates, which directly affects their
employability in private practice.
Medical practitioners who need to be placed on the Register of Approved Placements
cannot provide Medicare eligible services to patients until the placement is granted.
The vast majority of workforce and training programs on the Register of Approved
Placements support general practice. Due to the range of general practice services
available, patients are unlikely to attend a practice if a Medicare benefit is not
payable. This has the practical effect of preventing these medical practitioners from
working.
The Bill will provide an opportunity to reduce the timeframes for access to Medicare
benefits, thereby supporting medical practitioners to gain or maintain employment in
general practice.
Conclusion
This Bill will promote Articles 6, 7(c) and 12 of the ICESCR. The Bill will be
compatible with human rights.
[Circulated by the authority of the Minister for Health and Aged Care, the Hon
Greg Hunt MP]
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Health Insurance Amendment (Administrative Actions) Bill 2022
NOTES ON CLAUSES
Clause 1 - Short Title
This clause provides that the Bill, once enacted, may be cited as the Health Insurance
Amendment (Administrative Actions) Act 2022.
Clause 2 - Commencement
Subclause 2(1) provides that each provision of the Act specified in column 1 of the
table set out in the subclause commences or is taken to have commenced in
accordance with column 2 of the table. The Act is to commence on 1 July 2022.
Clause 3 - Schedules
This clause provides that legislation that is specified in a Schedule to the Act is
amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule, and any other
item has effect according to its terms. This is a technical provision which gives
operational effect to the amendments contained in the Schedules.
SCHEDULE 1 - Register of Approved Placements
Item 1 - Section 3GC - Use of computer programs to manage Register of
Approved Placements.
Item 1 inserts a new section 3GC after 3GB to provide for the use of computer
programs to manage the Register of Approved Placements.
New subsection 3GC(1) provides for the Chief Executive of Medicare to arrange for
the use of computer programs for taking actions required by section 3GA (Register of
Approved Placements) or section 3GB (Removal of Approved Placements).
New subsection 3GC(2) states that an action taken by the operation of a computer
program is taken to be an action by the Chief Executive Medicare.
New subsection 3GC(3) allows the Chief Executive Medicare to substitute an action
made under subsection (2) if the Chief Executive Medicare is satisfied that the action
taken by the computer program is incorrect.
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