New laws target medical diagnostic service kickbacks
General practitioners (GPs) could face fines of up to $66,000 and five years in jail for receiving inappropriate payments and other benefits from pathology or diagnostic providers under new legislation.
The new laws tabled in the Federal Parliament aim to ensure pathologists and doctors do not perform unnecessary diagnostic tests or strike up referral deals in return for kickbacks.
Corporations or state and territory authorities could be fined up to $660,000 and face five-year jail terms. This new legislation follows a January 2005 review into pathology by law firm DLA Phillips Fox, for the federal government. The review recommended making it illegal for GPs to enter into financial deals with pathologists.
The Bill replaces existing prohibitions on the payment of benefits between providers and requesters of pathology and diagnostic imaging services with new and strengthened provisions aimed at: prohibiting certain practices in relation to the rendering of pathology and diagnostic imaging services, including prohibiting inducements and other relationships between requesters and providers of pathology services/diagnostic imaging.
