Tuyển tập báo cáo các nghiên cứu khoa học quốc tế ngành y học dành cho các bạn tham khảo đề tài: Footing the bill: the introduction of Medicare Benefits Schedule rebates for podiatry services in Australia. | Journal of Foot and Ankle Research BioMed Central Open Access Footing the bill the introduction of Medicare Benefits Schedule rebates for podiatry services in Australia Anthony J Short Address School of Public Health Queensland University of Technology Brisbane Australia Email Anthony J Short - anthony@ Published 7 December 2009 Received 2 December 2009 Journal of Foot and Ankle Research 2009 2 36 doi l757-ll46-2-36 Accepted 7 December 2009 This article is available from http content 2 l 36 2009 Short licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http licenses by which permits unrestricted use distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract The introduction of Medicare Benefits Schedule items for allied health professionals in 2004 was a pivotal event in the public funding of non-medical primary care services. This commentary seeks to provide supplementary discussion of the article by Menz Utilisation of podiatry services in Australia under the Medicare Enhanced Primary Care program 2004-2008 Journal of Foot and Ankle Research 2009 2 30 by placing these findings within the context of the podiatry profession clinical decision making and the broader health workforce and government policy. Introduction The Enhanced Primary Care EPC program was introduced in 1999 as a range of measures targeted at primary care to improve the quality of chronic disease management. Under the Howard Government in 2004 the then Minister for Health and Ageing the Honorable Tony Abbott modified the EPC program under the Strengthening Medicare initiative to provide limited access to allied health professional AHP services under the Medicare Benefits Schedule MBS . New MBS item numbers were introduced for AHPs such as podiatrists managing chronic disease in primary health care .
