Changes to Family and Carer Participation under the Better Access Initiative

On 1 March 2023, new items were made available to allow providers to deliver up to two Medicare-subsidised services per calendar year, to a person other than the patient, under Better Access where:

• The patient has been referred for Better Access services (for allied health practitioner delivering these services),
• The treating or referring practitioner determines it is clinically appropriate,
• The patient consents for the service to be provided to the person as part of their treatment,
• The service is part of the patient’s treatment, and
• The patient is not in attendance.

Further information on the new MBS items is available in explanatory note AN.20.1, AN.7.31, MN.6.8 and MN.7.5 on MBS Online, as well as the factsheet titled ‘Family and Carer Participation under the Better Access Initiative’ available on the MBS Online webpage.

A separate fact sheet has been developed for patients, available here.