MBS restrictions on vit D testing ‘a blunt instrument’, analysis suggests
A new clampdown has been proposed, but was the last one a failure?
A recent attempt by health officials to clamp down on unnecessary vitamin D testing was “a blunt instrument” that discouraged appropriate and inappropriate tests equally, a study suggests.
In 2014, the Federal Government introduced restrictions on the MBS criteria for vitamin D testing to ensure that funding would only be available for testing high-risk patients or those with a known deficiency.
The move followed a nearly 4000% increase in tests over the previous decade amid concerns the then-unrestricted Medicare items were being used to fund screening tests.
At the time, the government said it was better targeting the item to ensure it was only used for “clinically appropriate” tests.
