Medical Treatment Overseas Program Public Survey

Overview

The Program

The Department of Health (the Department) has recently commissioned a review of the Medical Treatment Overseas Program (MTOP) which is being undertaken by Aspex Consulting with Dr Ruth Vine as the lead.

To support this review, Aspex Consulting are keen to obtain feedback from Australian treating specialists, previous MTOP applicants and the general public. The most efficient and effective way to gather this information is through an online survey.

MTOP provides financial assistance for approved Australian citizens and permanent residents with a life-threatening medical condition to receive proven lifesaving medical treatment overseas, where effective treatment is not available in Australia.

To be eligible for MTOP assistance, an applicant’s Australian treating specialist must submit an application that provides evidence addressing four (4) medical eligibility criteria:

1. The proposed overseas treatment or an effective alternative treatment must not be available in Australian in time to benefit the applicant.
2. The treatment must be significantly life extending and potentially curative.
3. There must be a real prospect of success for the applicant.
4. The treatment must be accepted by the Australian medical profession as a standard form of treatment for the applicant’s condition.

Privacy Information

Your personal information is protected by law, including the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act) and the Australian Privacy Principles, and is being collected by the Department, via Citizen Space, for the purposes of conducting a consultation process in relation to the review of the MTOP. The Department will collect your personal information at the time that you provide a submission, unless you choose to make a submission anonymously, and you are not reasonably identifiable from the information provided in your submission.

You should not include information in your submission about another individual who is identified, or reasonably identifiable.

You can get more information about the way in which the Department will manage your personal information, including our privacy policy, at https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/privacy-policy. You can obtain a copy of the Department’s privacy policy by contacting the Department using the contact details set out below. The Department’s privacy policy contains information about:

• how you may access the personal information the Department holds about you and how you can seek correction of it; and
• how you may complain about a breach of
  • the APPs; or
  • a registered APP code that binds the Department; and how the Department will deal with such a complaint.

Consent

By making a submission, I acknowledge that:

• I understand that the giving of my consent is entirely voluntary
• I am over the age of 18 years
• I understand the purpose of the collection, use, publication or disclosure of my submission
• I understand the Department is collecting the information requested in Citizen Space about me, including any sensitive information, for the purposes of the review of the Medical Treatment Overseas Program.
• I understand the Department will provide my responses to Aspex Consulting who are undertaking a review of the Medical Treatment Overseas Program.
• I understand that copyright in the content of my submission will vest in the Commonwealth of Australia
• Where relevant, I have obtained the consent of any individuals whose personal information is included in my submission, to the Department collecting this information for the purposes outlined in this notice