23 April 2024

From 1 July 2024 the current schedule of items will be entirely replaced by the new schedule and all radiation oncology services will be billed under new Medicare item numbers.

The new item numbers and descriptors more closely reflect radiation oncology services provided to patients and are more straightforward, making billing to Medicare easier.

As there is no mechanism to ‘phase-out’ old items while ‘phasing-in’ new items, nor make current items available alongside or in conjunction with the new items. All radiation oncology facilities must ready to implement the new billing items by 1 July 2024.

We are assisting RANZCR and the Department of Health & Aged Care (DoH) to communicate relevant details of the MBS changes and facilitate a smooth transition to the new billing item numbers. 

The DoH is preparing a range of education materials which will become available closer to the implementation date.

RANZCR will communicate with members and oncology facilities as soon as these materials become available. We will continue to communicate with you.

New schedule
Please find a copy of the new Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) items in PDF format, and the official correspondence from the Department of Health and Aged Care. These items have been indexed to the financial year 2023-24 and will continue to be indexed annually, in line with routine MBS indexation policy.

Next steps
Given the scale of the changes, it is critical that radiation oncology centres’ billing systems are updated with the new Medicare Item numbers before 30 June 2024, while relevant staff will require training to ensure continuity of patient care when the new schedule comes into effect.

We invite all radiation therapy practitioners to send through any questions (general or specific) they have regarding this implementation, so that we can seek responses from the Department of Health as a matter of urgency. Please send your questions to info@asmirt.org with the subject heading RO MBS Implementation by 21 June.