Following RANZCP elections for the bi–national PPN Committee, a new Committee has been formed including the following members.
- Dr Joel King – Chair
- Dr Gary Galambos – Deputy Chair
- Dr John Buchanan
- Prof Warwick Middleton
- Dr Renate Mundl
- Dr Michelle Atchison – newly elected member
- Dr Andrew Gleason – newly elected member
There are still vacancies on the Committee and anyone interested should feel free to step up!
Discontinuation of Telehealth Financial Incentives Program
The RANZCP Private Practitioners Network (PPN) Committee has been closely monitoring the Telehealth Financial Incentives Program, which will expire on 30 June, 2014. The PPN recently designed and conducted a survey of Australian Fellows who provide Telehealth consultations. After appropriate input from relevant stakeholders within the College, a letter was sent from the RANZCP President to Commonwealth Minister for Health, The Hon. Peter Dutton MP. The letter argued for a proposal to substantially retain current pricing levels of these consultation items by increasing the value of Item 288.
The AMA Psychiatrists Group has indicated it is willing to consider supporting an application to Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC) for an increase in the Telehealth loading for the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) Video Consultation Item 288, if private practising psychiatrists provide data that show that the service is currently a loss leader when compared to a practice that comprises only surgery consultations.
PPN would also like to consider an application to MSAC for the creation of a Telehealth Item number to extend Telehealth to patient groups who are likely to need a GP or allied health clinician to coordinate a specialist consultation with a psychiatrist. This would be a non–geographic item for patients who live anywhere, but are:
- homeless;
- suffer from a perinatal mental disorder (have a baby under 1 and have been diagnosed with a postnatal mental disorder);
- aged 15–18 (so are limited from being able to be treated within usual working hours by psychiatrists due to educational commitments);
- unable to easily travel due to physical or intellectual disability; or
- unable to leave their house due to severe agoraphobia or negative symptoms of schizophrenia.
There will need to be some discussion and debate about which groups to include in an initial submission but the idea is to provide psychiatric care using Telehealth to patients disadvantaged by illness or circumstances from access to care rather than location.
Professional Practice Guideline
The RANZCP Board has approved the Professional Practice Guideline: Best Practice Referral, Communication and Shared Care Arrangements between Psychiatrists, General Practitioners and Psychologists (Guideline), which are available to College members from the RANZCP website. The Guideline is complementary to the PMHA’s Principles for Collaboration, Communication and Cooperation between Private Mental Health Service Providers (Principles).
Other areas
In addition to those issues mentioned specifically above, the PPN continues to focus on the following areas.
- Developing ‘entering private practice’ resources.
- Examining MBS Items especially those with regard to Telehealth consults.
- The excessive use of subpoenas and FOI to access confidential psychiatric records.
- Area of need settings and viability of a rural private practice.
- Future directions for the PPN.