What is a Heart Health Check?

An outline of the assessment and an implementation flowchart

A Heart Health Check (MBS item number 699 and 177) is the patient-friendly term for a comprehensive CVD risk assessment and ongoing management plan for people who do not have CVD.

Eligibility

• Age ranges for assessing CVD risk in people without known CVD:
• All people aged 45–79 years
• People with diabetes aged 35-79 years
• First Nations people aged 30–79 years (assess individual CVD risk factors in First Nations people aged 18–29 years)

Consultation time

• At least 20 minutes

Risk assessment

Use the Aus CVD Risk calculator with the following variables:

• Age
• Sex at birth
• Smoking status
• Systolic blood pressure
• Total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol ratio
• Use of CVD medicines
• Postcode (optional)
• History of atrial fibrillation (optional)
• Diabetes status (with specific diabetes variables)

Identify CVD risk category

Estimated 5-year CVD risk will fall into one of the following categories:

1. High risk: ≥ 10%
2. Intermediate risk: 5% to 10%
3. Low risk: < 5%

Consider reclassification factors k

• Ethnicity and First Nations people
• Family history of premature CVD
• Chronic kidney disease
• People living with severe mental illness
• Coronary artery calcium score.

More guidance on the reclassification factors and other risk considerations are available in the Aus CVD Risk calculator and the Australian Guideline for assessing and managing CVD risk. Visit cvdcheck.org.au to learn more.

Other risk considerations

• History of hypertensive disorders and/or pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes during pregnancy

Interventions

• Communicate risk and options for management with the person
• Encourage, support and advise a healthy lifestyle
• Recommend interventions and referrals to support lifestyle changes
• Prescribe blood-pressure lowering and lipid-modifying pharmacotherapy where appropriate
• In collaboration with the person being assessed, implement a plan for management and assessment of individual risk factors.

Follow-up

• Implement reminder system to recall patients where clinically necessary.

How often can this be claimed?

• Once per patient in a 12-month period. Cannot be claimed with other health assessments e.g. items 701, 703, 705, 707 & 715
• Item 699 or 177 can be co-claimed with other items to enhance patient management. Here are some examples of how you can co-claim.
• Bulk-billing: Like other health assessments, 699 or 177 can be co-claimed with item 10990 or 10991, where eligible.
• Chronic disease management (CDM): For Heart Health Check patients who have a chronic disease and require a CDM plan, 699 or 177 may be claimed in conjunction with the suite of CDM items available where eligible.

Schedule fee (as of November 2023)

• 699: Fee = $80.10. Benefit = 100% rebate
• 177: Fee = $64.10. Benefit = 100% rebate

Visit mbsonline.gov.au for full details on the Heart Health Check item descriptions, explanatory notes and schedule fees.

How to implement Heart Health Checks in your practice

More information

In this Toolkit

• Identifying eligible patients

• Patient invitation templates

• Templates for use with patients

Other resources

• Aus CVD Risk calculator

• Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS)

• Order up to 50 free copies of the 'What is a Heart Health Check?' brochure from the Heart Foundation online shop

Read next ...

CVD guideline and Aus CVD Risk calculator