National Healthcare Agreement: PI 25-Specialist services, 2012

Collection and usage attributes

MBS items for specialist services (approximately 6,000 current items and 6,000 historic items).

The definition of specialist services is all items in the Department of Health and Ageing and Medicare Australia broad type of service groups for:

• Specialist attendances
  MBS items: 85, 88, 94, 100, 102-152, 154-159, 177, 189, 300-338, 342-370, 385-388, 410-417, 501-536, 820-866, 887-893, 10801 to 10816 and 17603.
• Obstetrics
  MBS items: Group T4 of the Schedule and Item 9011.
• Anaesthetics
  MBS items: Groups T5, T6 (excluding Items 17600 and 17603), T7, T10 and Items 9021 to 9060.
• Pathology
  MBS items: Category 6 of the Schedule.
• Diagnostic imaging
  MBS items: ultrasound (791, 793, 794, 910, 911, 913, 990-993, 995 and 999 and Group I1), CT (Group I2) Radiology (Group I3), MRI (Group I5), Nuclear Medicine Imaging (Group I4), and Group I6 (Items 64990 and 64991).
• Operations
  MBS items: Group T8 of the Schedule and Items 9401-9409, 9415-9435, 9440-9449, 9458, 9476-9850.
• Assistance at operations
  MBS items: Group T9 of the Schedule.
• Radiotherapy
  MBS items: radiotherapy and therapeutic nuclear medicine (Groups T2 and T3) of the Schedule.
• Other medical MBS services (excluding optometry, other allied health services and the Dental Benefits Schedule)
  MBS items: miscellaneous, oral and maxillofacial surgery (Category 4), cleft lip and palate (Category 7), Category 2, Group T1 , Group T11, the bulk billing incentive Items 10990, 10991 and 10992, and Group B1 (Dental Benefits Schedule).

Rates directly age-standardised to the 2001 Australian population.

Medicare Benefits Scheme data presented by Indigenous status are adjusted for under-identification in the Medicare Australia Voluntary Indigenous Identifier (VII) database.

Analysis by state and territory, remoteness and SEIFA Index of Relative Socioeconomic Disadvantage (IRSD) is based on the postcode of residence of person as recorded in Medicare Australia's database at the date the last service was recieved in the reference period. 

Presented per 1,000 population.

1,000 × (Numerator ÷ Denominator).

Medicare Benefits Scheme and Department of Veterans' Affairs data combined.

2008–09 and 2009–10 (updated for DVA data), and 2010–11—Nationally, by SEIFA Index of Relative Socioeconomic Disadvantage (IRSD) deciles

2008–09 and 2009–10 (updated for DVA data), and 2010–11—State and territory, by:

• remoteness (Australian Standard Geographical Classification Remoteness Structure)
• SEIFA IRSD quintiles
• Indigenous status (Medicare Benefits Scheme data only)

Some disaggregations may result in numbers too small for publication.

Most recent data available for 2012 CRC report: 2010–11.

This indicator presents rates for total specialist numbers (including all item numbers specified in calculation conditions).

Specialist Services do not include GP/VRGP non-referred attendances, Primary care, Other non-referred attendances, Practice nurse Items, Allied health (including Dental) or Optometry services.

MBS and DVA item numbers change over time. Extracted data may include historical item numbers that are no longer current but have been processed by Medicare Australia within the reference period.

There may be overlap between this and other indicators (e.g. Medicare claims for private sector mental health services are also presented in indicator 28).

Representational attributes

Indicator conceptual framework

Data source attributes

Accountability attributes

Source and reference attributes

Relational attributes