The Department of Health has been forced to clarify a plan that said COVID-19 PCR testing would require a medical referral from January next year.
The Health Minister released the government's COVID Health Management Plan for 2023 on Monday morning, which stated the testing regime would be overhauled to be brought into line with other respiratory illnesses.
The plan said testing would "no longer be a surveillance tool but will be more targeted".
"From 1 January 2023, to obtain a Medicare-funded PCR test you will require a referral from a medical or nurse practitioner. There is no public health requirement or recommendation for low risk individuals to seek PCR testing," the new COVID arrangements stated.
But the Health Department has since published a note on its website advising people will only "require" the test in certain circumstances.
"PCR tests remain free for everyone who needs them. Priority populations can access them free through state testing sites and GP-led respiratory clinics," the note reads.
"And anyone whose GP or nurse practitioner requests a PCR test for them [from a pathology clinic] will be bulk billed."
The same plan also recommended that low-risk people who worked or lived with high-risk people should use rapid antigen tests (RATs), but could seek a PCR test through their doctor or another referral pathway if their RAT result was negative but they continued to have symptoms.
The department has sought to clarify that state and territory clinics, hospitals, and GP-led respiratory clinics would test people without a referral, though this detail is not included in the 2023 plan.
Rather than the scheme being limited to be "aligned" with other illnesses, the department said testing arrangements would remain "largely the same" in 2023.
At least two years of COVID waves to come
Chief medical officer Paul Kelly said the pandemic would continue to "throw up new challenges", including the likely emergence of new variants, including those able to partially evade immune responses.
Professor Kelly said Australians should expect new regular waves of COVID-19 for at least the next two years, though their severity might be milder.
In its update, the government said it would continue to secure new vaccines that provided greater protection against COVID-19 variants, as well as potentially protected against other viruses such as influenza.
An additional $2.9 billion has been invested into special COVID-19 measures for 2023, including standard funding for coronavirus admissions to hospital, and the extension of some services such as GP respiratory clinics.
"The vast bulk of them will continue to operate throughout the remainder of summer, and from the first of March will be put on to a retainer arrangement where that can be agreed so that they're able to scale up in the event of future waves," Health Minister Mark Butler said.
However, the government has decided not to extend access to the 10 additional subsidised psychology appointments that were funded to the end of this year.
