The federal Department of Health and Aging has announced a review of the funding of pathology services as part of the government’s agenda to ‘ensure that spending on health is sustainable, affordable and provides maximum benefit to the greatest number of people’. The tasks of the Review of Pathology are to:

• Establish appropriate fee relativities for MBS items for different pathology disciplines;
• Identify groups of pathology tests that might have different funding arrangements;
• Identify options for tendering for selected pathology services.

More information is available on the DoHA website at http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/MBRT-Pathology

A Pathology Review Consultative Committee has been established. While there is representation from AIMS, AACB, ASM, ASC and HGSA there is no representation from Unions which represent medical scientists. The AMA has a representative on the Committee.

The questions that are posed by the discussion paper include:

• What are the common minimum requirements for high quality pathology services?
• How many pathologists are needed to run an efficient pathology laboratory in each discipline?
• How many scientists and technical staff are needed to run an efficient pathology services in each discipline?
• How could improved work practices be incorporated into the funding formula?
• What is the impact of the ‘episode cone’ on provider incomes? Should it be changed?
• What are the pros and cons of different methods of funding pathology in Australia?
• Can the costs of ‘medical’ and ‘technical and scientific’ aspects of testing be separated and different payments made for services on this basis?
• Public/private mix in pathology
• Funding of Point of Care testing