Footnotes

• Contributors TBP drafted the letter. All authors revised the letter and approved the final version.

• Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

• Competing interests AGE holds a HCF Research Foundation Professorial Research Fellowship and receives income as a Ministerial appointee to the (Australian) Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) Review Taskforce, as a Board Member of the NSW Bureau of Health Information (BHI) and as a consultant to Private Healthcare Australia and the Queensland and Victoria state health departments. TB-P has received consulting fees from Queensland Health and the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services.

• Patient consent Not required.

• Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.