The Federal Government has announced who will be in charge of designing a cheaper, smaller Medicare.

Minister for Health Sussan Ley has unveiled the memberships of both the Government’s new Medicare Benefits Schedule Review Taskforce and the Primary Health Care Advisory Group.

The MBS taskforce will review over 5,500 services listed on the MBS to “better align with contemporary clinical evidence”, Ms Ley said.

The Primary Health Care group is set to find ways to provide better primary care.

Ms Ley has learned from the furore around recent attempts at healthcare reforms, and has pledged to consult widely, using the expert groups to provide vital direction on the broad reform process of Medicare.

Ms Ley says “the Medicare structure no longer efficiently [supports] patients and practitioners to manage chronic conditions or the complex interactions between primary and acute care”.

The Primary Health Care Advisory Group will be chaired by Dr Steve Hambleton , while the MBS Review Taskforce will be chaired by Professor Bruce Robinson.

The Primary Health Care group will deliver a final report and the MBS taskforce an interim report to Government by the end of 2015.

A full list of committee members and more information can be found here.