Medicare changes to benefit patients and doctors
Patients and doctors are set to benefit from the Rudd Government’s moves to streamline and simplify the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS), says Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon.
Fifteen measures to simplify the schedule, remove red tape and encourage preventative care will be in place by 1 May 2010.
“This is part of the Government’s work to put primary care at the frontline of our health system and ensure that we encourage GPs to deliver quality preventative health,” Ms Roxon said.
The Government’s action addresses doctor’s concerns that the current MBS is overly complex, encourages ‘six-minute medicine’ and fails to encourage preventative care, particularly for those with chronic illnesses.
Patients will benefit from longer consultations that will pay a higher fee of $66.45 and will be better supported to manage their chronic conditions or to stay healthy.
The extra costs associated with higher rebates will be offset by the savings in the simplification process, making the reforms cost neutral.
Clearer Medicare item descriptors will give GPs greater confidence and greater reward to spend more time with patients to deal with multiple health problems and provide valuable preventative care.
Item numbers will be reduced by merging similar items, with the number of items in the relevant parts of the schedule reduced from 85 to 33 – a total reduction of 52 items. The explanatory notes will be made clearer and cut in length by more than 40%. After hours items will be simpler and made more attractive for doctors to use.
The changes follow a review of Medicare items and follow extensive consultations with consumers, doctors and other health care providers to develop specific reforms that would deliver results for patients and benefit GPs.
