MBS Companion
Type an item number, or plain language such as long consult or skin excision. Results appear as you type. Press Enter to copy the top item number.

Back to MBS Companion
195

Attendance by a medical practitioner who holds endorsement of… — on one or more patients at a…

Professional attendances · Group A7 — Acupuncture and non-specialist practitioner items

Derived fee

This item has no schedule fee of its own. The fee is calculated from the formula published in the schedule, so any single figure shown here would be misleading.

Schedule formula
The fee for item 193, plus $31.10 divided by the number of patients seen, up to a maximum of six patients. For seven or more patients - the fee for item 193 plus $2.45 per patient.
Conditions in the descriptor
under 20 minHospital

Time requirement as written: “less than 20 minutes”

Descriptor · the legislated text
Professional attendance by a medical practitioner who holds endorsement of registration for acupuncture with the Medical Board of Australia or is registered by the Chinese Medicine Board of Australia as an acupuncturist, on one or more patients at a hospital, for treatment lasting less than 20 minutes and including any of the following that are clinically relevant: (a) taking a patient history; (b) performing a clinical examination; (c) arranging any necessary investigation; (d) implementing a management plan; (e) providing appropriate preventive health care; for one or more health-related issues, with appropriate documentation, at which acupuncture is performed by the medical practitioner by the application of stimuli on or through the skin by any means, including any consultation on the same occasion and another attendance on the same day related to the condition for which the acupuncture is performed
Descriptor current from 1 Nov 2022.
Rarely claimed

4 times nationally in 2025-26, across all providers. If you have arrived here from a search, it is worth re-reading the descriptor to check this is the item you mean.

Services Australia, Medicare Item Reports. Counts services processed in the period, summed over all states. Shown only where the count is low enough to be worth a second look.

Explanatory notes · departmental guidance · 1
AN.0.29 Acupuncture (Item 193, 195, 197 and 199)
Note AN.0.29

Items 193, 195, 197 and 199 cover not only the performance of the acupuncture but include any consultation on the same occasion and any other attendance on the same day for the condition for which acupuncture was given. 

For the purpose of payment of Medicare benefits "acupuncture" is interpreted as including treatment by means other than the use of acupuncture needles where the same effect is achieved without puncture, eg by application of ultrasound, laser beams, pressure or moxibustion, etc. 

For more information on the content-based item structure used in this Group, see para AN.0.9 of explanatory notes to this Category.

View on MBS Online

Item number195
Category1 — Professional attendances
GroupA7 — Acupuncture and non-specialist practitioner items
Subheading
Item typeS
Fee typeDerived
In schedule since1 Nov 1998
Fee current from
GP scopeYes · tier 3
Safety net300% of the Derived fee for this item, or $500, whichever is the lesser amount
Official page As at 1 Aug 2026