The RBM calculations focus on closure of the CDBS. They assume that closing the CDBS will lead to savings which are exactly equivalent to the regulatory costs associated with participating in the program. The costing only relates to private sector regulatory costs: public sector dental services were excluded. The regulatory costs of participating in the CDBS apply to dental practices and patients and there are no costs for community organisations. There is no up-to-date data on the number of private dental practices operating in Australia. The number of private dental practices involved in the CDBS was estimated using Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) workforce data, advice from the Department’s dental advisers about the structure of the industry and the likely ratio of employed dentists to dental practices, and departmental data on the number of dentists participating in the program. As of 2012, there were 10,254 employed private dentists in Australia. The calculations assumed the number of private dental practices in operation is 60% of this figure, i.e. 6152. 88% of dental practitioners participated in CDBS in 2015. By applying the same percentage to the number of practices it was calculated that there are 5414 private practices participating in the program. Public dental services were excluded. In 2015, 780,150 children utilised the CDBS as private patients which we used as the basis for calculating the regulatory costs to the individual. Public patients using the program were excluded. The key requirement for participating in the CDBS include checking eligibility and cap balance during dental visits, documenting informed financial consent between the dental provider and patient, and invoicing either by bulk billing or non-bulk billing methods. The average amount of time taken for dentists or their staff to perform these procedures was calculated based on advice from our dental advisers. Salary rates were sourced from Payscale.com and the standard non-wage labour on-costs multiplier was applied. As both dentists and patients take part in these processes, similar timings for patients were applied, less the time for administrative tasks that are only undertaken by dental practices such as record keeping. The cost of patient time was calculated using the recommended cost of leisure time. Additional time for patients who are not bulk billed and need to seek reimbursement from Medicare via the various claiming channels available was also estimated. There are no offsets required for the proposed Public Dental Scheme as government-to-government regulation falls outside the Regulatory Burden Measurement Framework.
The RBM calculations focus on closure of the CDBS. They assume that closing the CDBS will lead to savings which are exactly equivalent to the regulatory costs associated with participating in the program. The costing only relates to private sector regulatory costs: public sector dental services were excluded. The regulatory costs of participating in the CDBS apply to dental practices and patients and there are no costs for community organisations. There is no up-to-date data on the number of private dental practices operating in Australia. The number of private dental practices involved in the CDBS was estimated using Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) workforce data, advice from the Department’s dental advisers about the structure of the industry and the likely ratio of employed dentists to dental practices, and departmental data on the number of dentists participating in the program. As of 2012, there were 10,254 employed private dentists in Australia. The calculations assumed the number of private dental practices in operation is 60% of this figure, i.e. 6152. 88% of dental practitioners participated in CDBS in 2015. By applying the same percentage to the number of practices it was calculated that there are 5414 private practices participating in the program. Public dental services were excluded. In 2015, 780,150 children utilised the CDBS as private patients which we used as the basis for calculating the regulatory costs to the individual. Public patients using the program were excluded. The key requirement for participating in the CDBS include checking eligibility and cap balance during dental visits, documenting informed financial consent between the dental provider and patient, and invoicing either by bulk billing or non-bulk billing methods. The average amount of time taken for dentists or their staff to perform these procedures was calculated based on advice from our dental advisers. Salary rates were sourced from Payscale.com and the standard non-wage labour on-costs multiplier was applied. As both dentists and patients take part in these processes, similar timings for patients were applied, less the time for administrative tasks that are only undertaken by dental practices such as record keeping. The cost of patient time was calculated using the recommended cost of leisure time. Additional time for patients who are not bulk billed and need to seek reimbursement from Medicare via the various claiming channels available was also estimated. There are no offsets required for the proposed Public Dental Scheme as government-to-government regulation falls outside the Regulatory Burden Measurement Framework.
Child-and-Adult-Public-Dental-Scheme-RIS.docx