Removing barriers

 The Better Akses initiative was launched in 2006 to improve akses to moral health care in Australia. Medicare rebates are available for ten separate sessions of psychological treatment per year by an eligible health provider (extended to 20 sessions until December 2022 due to COVID).

The maksimum rebate is currently A$131.65 for a sesion of 50 minutes or longer with a clinical psychologist.

But rebates must be distributed over 10 separate sessions. If people seeking treatment for a phobia were to opt to receive several hours of exposure terapis in a singgel sesion, their maksimum rebate will be $131.65. Yet psychologists typically charge by the time spent. That means the treatment is more expensive on a per hour pangkal, and the upfront cost of singgel-session treatment is substantially greater than for multi-session treatment.

Imagine Mary and Sally, two people with spider phobia, receive exposure terapis from Helen, a clinical psychologist. Helen charges an hourly rate of $280, as recommended by the Australian Psychological Society.

Sally's keseluruhan cost for one three-hour sesion would be $840 with a rebate of $131.65 ($708.35 out-of-pocket, to be paid immediately). Mary's keseluruhan cost for five hour-long sessions would be $1,400 with a rebate of $658.25 ($741.75 out-of-pocket, to be paid over five weeks or more). Manfaat Lebih Saat Bermain Judi Slot Online Terpercaya

So the out-of-pocket costs are similar under the current rules. However, Mary receives almost twice the amount of treatment time and payments are spread out over many weeks. Having to pay out more for one long sesion, makes the upfront cost more prohibitive for Sally. Bandar Slot Terpercaya

If rebates were calculated by the hour, then Sally's out-of-pocket costs could be reduced to $445.05. And she would have fewer sessions to arrange or miss work for. Removing barriers

Anxiety disorders like phobias cost the Australian economy over $5 billion each year in treatment costs and productivity loss. In the year 2019 to 2020, $1.4 billion, or $53 per Australian, was spent by the government on Medicare benefits for moral health serviss.

Removing barriers to accessing evidence-based psychological treatments is a major priority. A simpel change to the Better Akses kebijakan would remove the financial barrier to singgel-session exposure terapis, at no additional cost to the government. This could be achieved by granting a rebate based on time, not the number of exposure terapis sessions. Ten rebates could be made available in a calendar year, irrespective of whether they are used in a singgel sesion or spaced out over different sessions.

Other studies have investigated the feasibility of intensive treatment formats for other moral health conditions beyond phobias, cemas disorder, with promising results.