Petition from hundreds of displeased GPs was solicited against the latest Medicare compliance drive.
Spearheaded by Dr. Gillian Riley, the petition has been signed by 700 practitioners up to this date. The petition demands to halt the Medicare compliance campaign that will affect the patients in general.
RACGP President Dr. Harry Nespolon expressed his disapproval on the compliance push because it is very counterproductive since it requires the separation of mental health and physical examination.
He added that the mental and physical concerns should not be neglected since it falls under the scope of general practitioners.
The said petition came from the recent letter from the Department of Health (DoH) to 341 GPs who were believed to be overbilling particular mental health items.
It is provided in the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) rules that consultation items should not be imposed upon patients unless it is clinically indicated that the treatment should be immediate.
Such a rule is detrimental to the overall provision of healthcare to the patients and could even affect their access to it.
It also stated in the petition that the rule discourages GPs to look after people with mental health issues. This is believed to have negative effects on the provision of holistic care.
Many GPs asserted that providing care for both mental and physical health should be done together considering their possible impacts on the general well being of the patient.
The provision of the rule undermines the healthcare sector in general and puts the public at risk.
According to GP and ANU Associate Professor Louise Stone forwarded that the comorbidity of mental and physical health is very high. She added that the letter from the DoH distributed had been no sense or clinical relevance at all. Moreover, she pointed out as well that the MBS rule itself could sometimes be vague.
The problem lies primarily in the vagueness of the rule. It is difficult to assess the immediacy of the treatment needed and it does not provide a highlighted note regarding the difference between mental and physical treatment.
The professor even accused that the rule is manipulative since it lessens the charge to Medicare by halting the items to the GPs for the benefit of the patients.
Dr. Wendy Burton, a GP from Brisbane told me that the letter just hit a raw nerve and referred to it as bureaucratic bullying.
This is a clear move that neglects the right of the GP over the proper treatment of the patients. Dr. Burton added that the timing of the release of the letter is just wrong as it coincided with a series of calamities and problems to the country.
She added that the attention towards patients with the serious illness must be prioritised because if the letter is to be followed, it will put the patients at risk.
The Doh was asked for a response to such an issue.
