Annual, proactive, and comprehensive developmental checks throughout the first 2000 days of a child’s life should be federally funded, according to the RACGP.
The College wants to see a Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) Health Assessment item created to fund GP checks for children up to five and a half years of age to enable early screening and identification of developmental concerns, including autism, well before the current average age of diagnosis.
It comes as the federal government is making sweeping changes to the NDIS, including introducing the Thriving Kids program for children under nine with mild to moderate support needs for developmental delay or autism. The program puts added onus on GPs to identify developmental delays and connect parents and carers to targeted support for their child.
But currently, health checks for young children are not funded on the MBS.
RACGP Vice President and WA Chair Dr Ramya Raman said GPs were best placed to provide such check-ins, which would support child mental health and wellbeing.
While four-year-old check ups were once covered by the MBS, they no longer exist.
“That’s not there anymore, the intent of that was primarily for immunisations but it was also an opportunity where we could check development for the child in terms of gross motor skills, fine motor skills, speech and social interaction, do a dental hygiene check up and look at nutrition and weight,” Dr Raman said.
She said such checks would also provide an opportunity for parents or carers to raise any concerns, such as toileting issues, to give GPs a chance to address them early and prevent them from becoming complicated or having flow-on effects.
RELATED: Medicare funded three year old checks back on the cards
“Such checks would mean there is an opportunity to review and see how things are going,” Dr Raman said.
“It means we can intervene earlier and reduce adverse impacts and other psychosocial complications.”
The RACGP estimated the investment required to deliver these annual checks would be $160.4 million over four years, with annual costs rising as more children access timely developmental checks.
RACGP President Dr Michael Wright said this would support GPs to both uncover developmental concerns early so children received timely support through the Federal Government’s Thriving Kids program and identify other health issues and opportunities.
RELATED: The state of play on Thriving Kids and the role of GPs
“The first 2000 days of a child’s life shape their future,” he said.
“This will support the coming Thriving Kids reforms, but it’s not limited to Thriving Kids. This is about ensuring every child is set up for success in school and their early life.
“By funding annual developmental checks, the Government can help ensure every child has the best possible start in life.”
The College noted that if such assessments identified ongoing support needs, doctors would be able to connect families with funded services based on clinical need as part of a GP Chronic Condition Management Plan.
Last year Health Minister Mark Butler indicated his government could potentially introduce a new Medicare item for bulk-billed three-year-old health checks, however an announcement is yet to be made.
The Federal Budget will be delivered on Tuesday night (May 12) with a number of announcements expected within the health portfolio.
Want more news, clinicals, features and guest columns delivered straight to you? Subscribe for free to WA’s only independent magazine for medical practitioners.
Want to submit an article? Email [email protected]