The association supports the addition of new items for gender-affirming surgeries and amendments to GP health assessment and CDM items.
The AMA has penned a letter to the federal government’s health funding advisory body reiterating its support for improved MBS funding for gender-affirming care for adults.
In 2023, the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons applied to the Medical Services Advisory Committee to request amendments to existing MBS items relevant to gender-affirming care and the creation of a series of new MBS items for gender-affirming surgeries for adults.
“Collectively, the objective of these amendments and additions to the MBS is to facilitate a multidisciplinary best model of care framework for patients pursuing medical interventions for gender affirmation that extends before and after any surgery,” read the application.
On Friday, the AMA released a letter it penned to the MSAC Secretariat reiterating its support for the proposed changes, which are currently being reviewed by the Evaluation Sub-Committee.
“The current funding arrangements are not fit for purpose and the absence and/or inadequate funding for a multidisciplinary best model of care framework for patients pursuing medical interventions for gender affirmation is potentially detrimental to both physical, emotional and mental aspects of their health,” AMA president Dr Danielle McMullen wrote in the letter.
“Gender-affirming care is linked with a range of positive health outcomes for people who are trans and gender diverse.
“Cross-sectional data of more than 27,000 participants indicates that having a health provider that understands someone’s gender identity and treats them with respect is associated with significant reductions in depression and suicidal thoughts.
“There is a need to update the MBS to promote to promote multidisciplinary care frameworks.”
The AMA previously submitted support for the surgical college’s application during the public consultation.
The new MBS items would relate to gender affirming chest surgery, genital reconfiguration surgery, gender affirming facial procedures and gender affirming voice surgery.
Currently, the aforementioned gender-affirming procedures are either not funded through the MBS at all, can be funded but not for gender affirmation or have MBS item descriptors that are a “poor fit” for use for gender affirmation and therefore cast doubt for doctors looking to use them.
Related
The application also sought amendments to the MBS items numbers for GP health assessments (701, 703, 705 and 707) which are not currently able to be used for consultations for people with gender incongruence seeking gender affirming care.
It called for minor amendments to chronic disease management/multidisciplinary care plan MBS items (721, 731, 729 and 732).
“[These items] have associated notes (AN.0.47) in the MBS resulting in these items being a ‘poor fit’ for providing consultations or multidisciplinary care to people receiving gender affirming care,” read the MSAC application.
“This application proposes minor amendments to the associated notes or MBS item descriptor for the purposes of legitimising the use of these items for providing gender affirming care.”
The surgical college said that the current funding arrangements for gender affirming surgical procedures were “highly fragmented”.
“Some procedures may be claimed through existing MBS items (which are not fit-for-purpose) or self-funded, including self-funding treatment overseas,” it said.
According to the application, 64,101 transgender people assigned male at birth and 64,044 transgender people assigned female at birth would be candidates for gender affirming medical interventions in 2023.
According to the summary of the public consultation input, the consultation received 20 supportive and seven unsupportive responses.
The application will be discussed at the upcoming MSAC meeting on the 3-4 April.
