Client Clinical Services To be counted as a client, a person must have received at least one contact with the service, during a non-administration related service provision. For example, brief intervention, counselling, education or care coordination.
Medicare Related Services In July 2018, we trialed a new Medicare arm. Clients with a Mental Health Care Plan or similar can access Medicare-subsidised individual counselling with either Claire Day (Social Worker) or Rosie Davidson (Clinical Psychologist). This trial was so successful that in February 2019, we introduced three permanent Medicare counsellors to our team. Clients with a Mental Health Care Plan or similar can access Medicaresubsidised individual counselling or dietetics sessions with either Jane Bowman (Mental Health Social Worker), Carolyn Uhlmann (Registered Psychologist), or Megan Bray (Dietitian). The option of accessing subsidised individual counselling has helped to reduce the waiting times for our free counselling, and we plan to increase the availability of Medicare sessions in the future to ensure that all clients can access counselling in a timely fashion. Similarly, the ability to see a dietitian on-site has proven to be popular, with Megan now opening her books for a full day each week.
Annual Report
In December 2018, a new Medicare eating disorder funding initiative was announced, set to introduce life-changing amendments to the Medicare Benefits Scheme to improve access and affordability of eating disorder treatments. The reform is set to feature a dedicated single Medicare Benefits Scheme item number for eating disorder treatment for those with severe and complex illness, delivering up to 60 Medicare funded sessions of treatment – 40 psychotherapeutic and 20 dietetic across the range of eating disorders – anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder and atypical presentations. The scheme also relies on diagnosis by a GP and mental health practitioner, to recognise that these psychiatric illnesses have a significant physical impact and integrated treatment is essential. Eating Disorders Queensland welcomes this reform as a step in the right direction towards improving accessibility and availability of care for those living with an eating disorder and will be expanding our Medicare arm from November 2019 to accommodate the increased number of sessions available to each client.
15
