Australia and New Zealand Working Group for Cardiovascular MRI

Dear Reader,

On behalf of the ANZ CMR Working Group, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to the first edition of our long overdue ANZ CMR newsletter. In what we hope will be an informative quarterly update, we will keep you abreast of all the important developments in the changing landscape of CMR in Australia and New Zealand.

Over the last few years, we have made considerable progress in the provision of CMR services which were really accelerated by the first new Medicare item number for CMR for the evaluation of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC). Whilst initially we would have hoped for a broader range of rebateable cardiomyopathy indications for CMR, the new ARVC rebate provided an important first step for the acceptance and integration of CMR as a critical investigation in a wide range of cardiac diseases. With the help of our radiology colleagues, we have founded a conjoint committee for the certification of CMR providers, developing a bilaterally accepted (CSANZ and RANZCR) set of training standards and also developed the regulatory framework for provision of Medicare funded CMR services across Australia. This has been an outstanding achievement and I am truly grateful for all those, too many to mention individually, who contributed so much to what at times had seemed like a Sisyphean task.

More recently, the Working Group advocated strongly for a new item number for CMR in the assessment of vaccine associated myocarditis, leading to a temporary Medicare CMR item number for this important indication. Whilst this item number was initially only valid for CMR scans performed up to 30th June 2022, we have recently been advised that there will be some extension of this item number beyond this date. Importantly, CSANZ have just submitted a formal application for a new Medicare item number for CMR for the more general indication of myocarditis (application 1317), which is open for public consultation until July 8th. We remain hopeful of a positive response, and PASC/PICO assessment is underway with further meetings on 11th August to progress the application process.

In addition to its commitment to advocate for greater support of CMR as a clinical service across Australia and New Zealand, the Working Group continues to develop educational resources and promote research and training opportunities. Several of these will be highlighted in this newsletter but for a comprehensive overview I would direct you to our ANZ CMR website. Perhaps the most important to mention at this juncture is the hosting of this year’s CMR Australia conference in Melbourne 2022. After 2 years of being cruelled by COVID-19 restrictions we are delighted to be able to host this important event again and look forward to your participation.