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• General Practice Statistics Reports

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• PIP by Division of General Practice

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• Monthly and Quarterly Standard Reports
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All PBS by ATC Level 1 classification supplied from July 2011 to March 2013

Printing and Downloading the Reports

• Pages are best printed in landscape mode.
• Instructions on how to download the statistics into a spreadsheet are contained in Downloading Statistical Information.

General

• Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) item descriptions appear in the current Medicare Benefits Schedule book or MBS Schedule online (maintained by the Department of Health and Ageing(DoHA)).
• From 1st February 2004 additional payments will be paid to general practitioners for Bulk Billed medical services provided to:
• Commonwealth concession card holders
• Children under the age of 16 years
• Eighteen new items have been introduced into the Medicare Benefits Schedule:
• 10990 - 10992 - General Medical Services Table
• 63491, 63494, 63497, 64990 and 64991 - Diagnostic Imaging Services Table
• 74990 - 74999 - Pathology Services Table
• These items do not represent additional Medicare services, simply an additional payment.
• The Pharmaceutical Benefits Schedule (PBS) statistics are based on all PBS and Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (RPBS) items as described in the Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits or Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits website (maintained by the DoHA).
• PBS item descriptions can be looked up in the current Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits book or the online searchable version of the Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits (maintained by the DoHA).
• Statistics are supplied for both the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme (PBS) and Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme (RPBS, ie. items supplied to war veterans and their dependants).
• The ATC classification used in these reports corresponds to the World Health Organisation definition. The "Schedule of Pharmeutical Benefits" uses a slightly modified definition and so descriptions of some ATC level 3 categories and some drug placements are different.
• For MBS reports there are "drill down" links on the generated report that will produce a report on all the groups and subgroups in a category or all the items in a subgroup.
• If you require statistics at a more detailed level please contact us detailing your request and supplying your phone and fax numbers. Medicare Australia is not funded for data provision, charging on a cost recovery basis for providing more detailed statistics.
• Provision of any statistical information is subject to privacy considerations.

Definition of Divisions of General Practice

• For the purposes of these reports, a Division of General Practice is a geographic area covering postcodes, and in some cases parts of postcodes, allocated by the DoHA.
• More than one division may operate within some postcodes.
• The Divisions of General Practice are defined by the DoHA. More information is available on the DoHA web site.

Medical Practitioners Included in the Data

Please note, the count of providers is a raw count. It includes:

• General Practitioners and Other Medical Practitioners (who can claim Group A2 items- "Other Non-Referred Attendances to which no other item applies") who generate $1,000 or more MBS schedule fees in the quarter chosen are included in the tables.
• The definition of a General Practitioner is specified in the Medicare Benefits Schedule Book.

Allocation of Data to Divisions of General Practice

• Data is mapped to divisional boundaries using the postcode of the Medical Practitioner's principal practice location.
• Where the postcode of the principal practice location is shared between several divisions the percentage allocation of the number of services, the value of the benefits and the number of Medical Practitioners are apportioned to the respective divisions according to the postcode's percentage split specified at the DoHA site.

Allocation of Data to Time Periods

• For MBS, quarter is determined by the date the service was processed by Medicare Australia, not the date the service was provided.
• For PBS, quarter is determined by the date of supply of the pharmaceutical item by the pharmacy not the date the item was prescribed.
• Financial and calendar year reports are an aggregation of the quarterly data. A financial year is 1 July to 30 June.
• Quarters for MBS statistics are a three month period defined as:
• Quarter 1: from January 1 to March 31
• Quarter 2: from April 1 to June 30
• Quarter 3: from July 1 to September 30
• Quarter 4: from October 1 to December 31
• Figures may vary according to the number of processing days in a month, which depends on the number of days in the month, public holidays, overtime worked etc.

MBS Data Represented in the Reports

• The reports only relate to the value (benefit) or volume of services that have been processed by Medicare Australia.
• These reports include only those services that are rendered or referred by a Medical Practitioner as defined above, that qualify for a benefit, and for which a claim has been processed by Medicare Australia.
• The referred totals do not include ordered services that were performed by the same Medical Practitioner who ordered them (self referred).
• The figures do not include services provided to public patients in public hospitals or services that qualify for a benefit under the Department of Veterans Affairs National Treatment Account.
• MBS data is made available shortly after the quarter has completed. MBS data is based on date of processing of the claim by Medicare Australia.

PBS/RPBS Data Represented in the Reports

• Medicines which may be prescribed under the PBS and RPBS are listed in the Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits (the Yellow Book)
• Patient Contributions - General patients, who do not hold a concession card (General - Ordinary), pay a maximum contribution towards the cost of each PBS medicine. The maximum General patient contribution is specified in the Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits. The Government pays the remainder. Holders of a Department of Social Security or a Department of Veterans' Affairs treatment card may pay a contribution towards the cost of each PBS or RPBS medicine. The value of this contribution is specified in the Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits
• Only items contained in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Schedule appear in these statistics. Items supplied to General patients, costing less than the General patient contribution rate, do not receive a PBS benefit and are therefore not included.
• The reports only relate to the value (benefit) or volume (items) of PBS and RPBS items that have been processed by Medicare Australia.
• The figures refer only to paid items processed from claims presented by approved pharmacies.
• The figures do not include any adjustments made against pharmacists' claims, any manually paid claims or any benefits paid as a result of retrospective entitlement or refund of patient contributions.
• The figures do not include items provided to public patients in public hospitals.
• The figures do not contain Section 100 items (highly specialised drugs available through hospital pharmacies for out-patients).
• PBS/RPBS data is delayed until the following quarter has passed, due to the time lag involved between the supply, and the subsequent processing of the claim. PBS data is based on the date of supply by the pharmacy.

Disclaimer

The information and data contained in the reports and tables have been provided by Medicare Australia for general information purposes only. While Medicare Australia takes care in the compilation and provision of the information and data, it does not assume or accept any liability for the accuracy, quality, suitability and currency of the information or data, or for any reliance on the information or data. Medicare Australia recommends that users exercise their own care, skill and diligence with respect to the use and interpretation of the information and data.

Last updated: 30 August 2013