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Medicare for Health Professionals

The development and review of Eating Disorder treatment and management plans.Courses of evidence-based eating disorder psychological and dietetic treatment services.A review by a psychiatrist or pediatrician

These items are relevant for medical practitioners in general practice, consultant psychiatrists or consultant paediatricians and eligible Clinical Psychologists and Psychologists, Occupational Therapists, Social Workers and Dietitians.

Brief summary of the MBS changes and list of items can be found in the Medicare Items Summary.

People diagnosed, as per DSM 5, with:

  • Anorexia nervosa (automatically eligible), or
  • Bulimia nervosa (and meets additional criteria), or
  • Binge eating, (and meets additional criteria), or
  • Other specified feeding or eating disorder (and meets additional criteria).



The patients (with a diagnosis other than anorexia nervosa) must have:

  1. A global EDE-Q score of 3 or higher; and
  2. Their condition is characterised by rapid weight loss, or frequent binge eating or inappropriate compensatory behaviour as manifested by 3 or more occurrences per week

In addition, these patients must have at least two (2) of the following indicators:

  • Clinically underweight with a body weight less than 85% of expected weight where weight loss is directly attributable to the eating disorder.
  • Current or high risk of medical complications due to eating disorder behaviours and symptoms.
  • Overnight inpatient admission for an eating disorder in the previous 12 months
  • Inadequate treatment response to evidence based eating disorder treatment over the past six months despite active and consistent participation

Check out InsideOut’s online screener and online Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q), which is automatically scored, graphed and normed online.

The Approved Psychological Treatments to be Delivered Under Medicare

  • Family Based Treatment for Eating Disorders (EDs) (including whole family, Parent Based Therapy, parent only or separated therapy)
  • Adolescent Focused Therapy for EDs
  • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for EDs (CBT-ED)
  • CBT-Anorexia Nervosa (AN) (CBT-AN)
  • CBT for Bulimia Nervosa (BN) and Binge-eating Disorder (BED) (CBT-BN and CBT BED)
  • Specialist Supportive Clinical Management (SSCM) for EDs
  • Maudsley Model of Anorexia Treatment in Adults (MANTRA)
  • Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) for BN, BED
  • Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) for BN, BED

All health professionals who plan to deliver services covered under the Eating Disorder Plan items must be appropriately trained. Our online training packages provide introductory training in treating eating disorders. We encourage interested clinicians to additionally access further specialised training and ongoing supervision.

Still have questions? Try finding an answer in our FAQ database.Read our FAQ Arrow Icon

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