Patients in Australia can obtain a referral from their GP for a Mental Health Treatment Plan, which allows them to access six psychological therapy sessions subsidised by Medicare. After they have used these sessions, patients can visit their GP to obtain a Mental Health Treatment Plan Review, allowing them to access an additional four subsidised sessions.
Under the Better Access to Psychiatrists, Psychologists and General Practitioners through the MBS (Better Access) initiative, the Australian government allows patients to obtain an additional referral from their GP for a further 10 subsidised psychological therapy sessions, for a total of up to 20 subsidised sessions in a calendar year until 30 June 2022.
The Australian government has expanded this coverage so that these 10 additional sessions are available for all patients who have already used their initial 10 sessions (six under the initial MHTP and four under the MHTP Review) in a calendar year, not just patients who are subject to restrictions due to COVID-19. Please see Medicare's website for more information about patient eligibility.
You can manage these referrals in Halaxy by importing three referral types from Halaxy's database. These are:
Please see Mental Health Treatment Plans - Tracking Group and Individual Sessions Separately for information on group and individual sessions.
Note
You may have previously imported these referral types under the name MHCP rather than MHTP, as Mental Health Treatment Plans were previously known as Mental Health Care Plans.
For information on how to how to import referral types, please see Guide to referral types.
For information on how to apply referrals in Halaxy, please see Guide to referrals.
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Appointments
Hover your cursor over a referral in the appointment information panel, on an invoice or on the patient's Funding page to see how many appointments a patient has had in the current calendar year and in previous calendar years. This displays any appointments with a fee under the same funder (for example, any appointment with a Medicare fee).
GIF: Hovering over a referral to see appointments in a calendar year
You can use Halaxy's referral report feature to track which patients need to renew their referral. You can then create a campaign to advise these patients they may be eligible for 10 additional subsidised sessions if they have already had 10 sessions in the calendar year.
To create a campaign that captures patients with an expired (or nearly expired) MHTP review:
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Create a communication template to send to patients advising them that they may be eligible for additional sessions.
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Click Reports > Contact.
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On the top right, click New Report.
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Configure the following parameters:
Image: Parameters to run a referral report that captures patients with an expired MHTP review
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Referral Type: Select MHTP (Review 1) Referral or MHCP (Review 1) Referral.
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Limit: Select less than equals and enter 1 appointment remaining.
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(Optional) Patient Status: Select Current to limit the report to current patients only.
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(Optional) Alt Date Range: Select This Week to only capture patients with an appointment this week. Leave blank to capture patients regardless of whether they have an appointment or not.
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Click Run.
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A report will appear that shows all patients with an expired or nearly expired MHTP review. Click Save.
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On the top-right, click Set as Campaign.
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Set the campaign settings and select the communication template you created in Step 1.
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Click Save.
Your campaign will be sent to all patients who appeared in the report, according to the schedule you set in Step 8.
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