GPs will soon have access to a Medicare item for ambulatory blood pressure monitoring after the Federal Government backed expert recommendations to fund the ‘gold standard’ test.

Announced in this week’s Federal budget, the item is expected to come in from November with a schedule fee of $107.20.

A draft version of the item descriptor (below) states it will cover interpretation and reporting of the recordings of at least 24 hours, as well as the drawing up of a treatment plan. 

However, funding will be restricted to tests for diagnosis only, not monitoring of hypertension, and the item can only be claimed once every 12 months.