Time to tweak the MBS to boost cardiac auscultation: cardiologist
Patients and doctors need greater awareness of the threat from undiagnosed heart valve disease, Professor Tom Marwick says
The MBS heart health check item number should be updated to include cardiac auscultation in a bid to diagnose valvular heart disease before patients present with an acute event, a leading cardiologist says.
At least half a million Australians currently have some form of the disease, and this figure is expected double by 2051, new figures show.
The director of Melbourne’s Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Professor Tom Marwick, says the projected increase in disease burden outlined in a whitepaper launched today was being driven by an ageing population.
And an additional 250,000 Australians currently have undiagnosed disease, he noted.
