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Medical directors in vital advocacy work
The IVF Medical Directors’ Group has been very active addressing a range of Federal and State Government initiatives.
Group Chair, Dr Richard Henshaw, said recent activities included working with the New South Wales Government on structuring an IVF assistance package to enhance access to affordable fertility treatment ensuring patients receive the maximum benefits to help offset costs.
The government package extends rebates for pre-IVF fertility testing, introduces a new rebate for fertility treatment, increases the number of IVF treatment places in publicly supported clinics, and increases fertility preservation services for patients with a medical need.
Dr Henshaw said the group had advocated on behalf of patients to the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs, which is conducting an inquiry into universal access to reproductive care.
“We are also continuing to liaise with the Federal Government concerning Medical Benefits Schedule (MBS) out-of-pocket costs specifically relating to on-line guidance and support services,” he said.
“The IVF Medical Directors’ Group has also been active in presenting a submission to the Medical Benefits Review Committee regarding a proposed genetic counselling item.”
Other recent activities include liaison with RTAC and the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority (VARTA) concerning regulatory matters.
The IVF Medical Directors’ Group also continues to have input to the evolving Your IVF Success website including collaboration with ANZICA.
The website was created to help people make informed decisions about IVF treatment. It was developed by the University of New South Wales with input from clinicians and consumers and funding from the Australian Government.
Richard Henshaw
Continuing input to the evolving Your IVF Success website in collaboration with ANZICA
The website provides a searchable database of all fertility clinics in Australia and includes comparable information on the types of patients they treat and their success rates compared to national averages.
It also includes an IVF Success Estimator that allows patients to enter their own characteristics and receive an individualised estimate of their chances of having a baby using IVF, based on data from over 600,000 IVF cycles performed in Australia.
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