The Heart Health Check faces the axe in the federal budget

A simple test that can detect Australia’s biggest killer is under threat as experts fight to save it from the federal budget’s razor gang.

In the last four years, more than 407,000 Australians have had the check but the Department of Health is reviewing the check which was only ever given interim status under Medicare.

A simple test that can detect Australia’s biggest killer and prevent 76,500 heart disease events is under threat as experts fight to save it from the federal budget’s razor gang.

The check-up is under threat in spite of the fact the number of Australians with heart attack risk factors soared by 42 per cent during Covid and there were 2,300 more deaths from heart disease than expected last year.

The Heart Health Check was introduced with bipartisan support in April 2019 after News Corp and the Heart Foundation exposed the fact we had no screening program for the nation’s leading cause of death.

In the last four years more than 407,000 Australians have had the check but to save $10 million a year, the Department of Health is reviewing the future of the check which was only ever given interim Medicare status.

Shane Warne died last year from “coronary artery atherosclerosis”, which can cause heart attacks. Picture: Getty Images

A coalition of eight peak heart groups met with the Department of Health on Wednesday to plead for the check to continue to receive a Medicare subsidy.

“The tragic deaths of Shane Warne and Kimberley Kitching had given us this momentum and to just take that away, it’s going to be a disaster,” CEO of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute Professor Jason Kovacic said.

Kimberley Kitching also died from a heart attack. Picture: David Geraghty / The Australian.

Over the last decade the Victor Chang Institute has carried out 100,000 heart health checks at sporting and community events.

Recently the number of people returning results showing they had high blood pressure, high cholesterol or high blood glucose levels rose from 33 per cent to 47 per cent.

People put on weight during Covid and working from home meant they were moving less than ever before and this was ramping up their heart health risks, Professor Kovacic said.

Professor Jason Kovacic, CEO of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute.

The number of heart disease deaths is also soaring according to an Actuaries Institute study.

“In the first eight months of 2022, around 10,200 Australians died of heart disease, which is about 17 per cent higher than was expected or projected,” Professor Kovacic said.

“And then in the face of all that we’re contemplating undoing Heart Health Check testing within Medicare rebate items. It’s amazing on every level, it’s just absolutely crazy,” he said.

The groups also want the test updated to include Auscultation (where a doctor listens to the heart with a stethoscope) to check for a heart murmur.

Listening to the heart using a stethoscope can assist in identifying heart arrhythmias, such as atrial fibrillation and if it is detected early and treated using anti-clotting treatments the risk of stroke is reduced.

Heart disease is Australia’s leading cause of death. Picture: iStock

GP groups are not enthusiastic about the Heart Health Check claiming they are not paid enough to carry it out and that they do not get paid to carry out follow up appointments if a problem is found.

GP’s cannot bill Medicare for a Heart Health Check if they have already billed for another more general health check during the same 12 month period.

Last financial year (2021-22) 109,202 Heart Health Checks were claimed, up from 89,873 in (2020-21).

Modelling from the Heart Foundation shows 76,500 heart disease related events could be prevented over the next five years with the widespread uptake of Heart Health Checks.

The peak bodies trying to save the Heart Health Check include – Hearts4heart, Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand, Australian Cardiovascular Alliance, Baker Institute, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, The Australian & New Zealand Society of Cardiac & Thoracic Surgeons, Australian Cardiac Rehabilitation Association, Heart Support Australia.

Originally published as The Heart Health Check faces the axe in the federal budget