Australian Government - Department of Health and Ageing

Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC)

Deadlines for assessment

2012 deadlines for the Evaluation Sub-Committee (ESC) and MSAC in relation to a submission-based assessment (SBA)
All deadlines are COB Wednesday pre-ESC and COB Thursday pre-MSAC:
Notification deadline1
Passed
12 January 2012
17 May 2012
Lodgement deadline2
Passed
9 February 2012
14 June 2012
Applicant provided contracted critique3 for comment
11 January 2012
9 May 2012
12 September 2012
Applicant comments on contracted critique due
25 January 2012
23 May 2012
26 September 2012
ESC meeting date
9-10 February 2012
14-15 June 2012
11-12 October 2012
Applicant provided ESC Report4 for comment
8 March 2012
12 July 2012
8 November 2012
Applicant comments on ESC Report due
22 March 2012
26 July 2012
22 November 2012
MSAC meeting date
29-30 March 2012
2-3 August 2012
29-30 November 2012

The SBA is the means by which an applicant can provide the evidentiary basis for MSAC to appraise a proposed medical service and so advise the Minister in relation to its public funding.

1 Notification deadline

Each applicant is required to notify the ESC Secretariat at least 4 weeks before it wishes to lodge an SBA. Applicants are encouraged to provide this information earlier if they are able to do so.

2 Lodgement deadline

Each applicant is required to lodge its SBA for consideration by ESC on the first day of the previous ESC meeting. This means that the SBA will be considered by ESC at its following meeting. For example, an SBA lodged on 9 February 2012 will be considered by ESC on 14-15 June 2012.

3 Contracted critique

A critique of a submission is undertaken by a health technology assessment group contracted by the department. The critique comments on the appropriateness of the methodology used for identifying and evaluating evidence, whether the analysis undertaken by the applicant is unbiased, reproducible, transparent and well-documented, and comment on the strength of the evidence supporting the conclusions drawn in the assessment.

Applicants will be provided the contracted critique for any comment. Comments are due within two weeks of receipt of the critique. If an applicant wishes to provide comment, it can do so in a separate document of up to 5 pages (plus up to 2 further pages for figures and/or tables as necessary) for consideration at the ESC and MSAC meetings.

ESC Report

The ESC Report is the document that summarises the evidence and outlines the issues for MSAC consideration discussed in the ESC meeting and also addresses comments received from the applicant. It later forms the basis of the beginning of the Public Summary Document. Applicants will be provided the opportunity to provide any comment on the ESC Report. Comments are due within two weeks of receipt of the ESC Report. If an applicant wishes to provide comment, it can do so in a separate document of up to 3 pages.

Page currency, Latest update: 30 September, 2011