2010

The Parliament of the

Commonwealth of Australia

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Health Insurance Amendment (Pathology Requests) Bill 2010

(Mr Dutton)

(1)     Schedule 1, page 3 (lines 9 to 14), omit items 2 and 3, substitute:

2  Subsection 16A(3)

Repeal the subsection. Substitute:

             (3)  A medicare benefit is not payable in respect of a pathology service (other than a pathologist-determinable service to which subsection (6) applies) that has been rendered by or on behalf of an approved pathology practitioner unless:

                     (a)  the service was rendered pursuant to a request made by the treating practitioner and, if an approved pathology practitioner was specified on the request, the service was conducted by that practitioner; or

                     (b)  the service was rendered pursuant to a request made by another approved pathology practitioner who received a request for the service made by the treating practitioner and the treating practitioner did not specify a pathology practitioner.

          (3A)  In subsection (3), a treating practitioner may only specify an approved pathology practitioner on clinical grounds.

[specifying a pathology practitioner]