A GP says patients will die rather than pay to see their doctor when changes to Medicare payments come into effect next week.
Dr Tass James, who has bulk-billed every patient at his Maroubra clinic in Sydney’s eastern suburbs for the past 30 years, said changes to the fee structure for 10-minute consultations are ill-conceived and will leave doctors and their patients worse off.
Medicare currently pays $37.05 for patients who see their doctor for 10 minutes or less, but under the new “10 minute rule” will pay just $16.95 for “level A” patients from January 19.
This means doctors will receive $20.10 less for consultations lasting between 6-10 minutes, a cost that could then be passed on to patients.
The change was made two days before Christmas and two weeks after the Federal Government announced it would abandon its original budget plan for a $7 co-payment fee.
Some GPs, such as Dr James, will stop bulk-billing.
“I’ll get patients that will die because of this,” Dr James said.
“In the days before bulk billing I saw it all the time. A lot of patients can’t afford to go to hospital instead so they ignore bleeding or don’t get papsmears.”
He said his only other option would be to extend patient visits to meet the 10-20 minute threshold for a rebate of $37.05, which would in turn mean he could see fewer patients each day and wait times would significantly increase.
~~“When swine flu broke out I saw 90 patients in a single day,” Dr James said.
“If I see every patient for 10 minutes then I can only see five patients an hour. That’s not enough when it costs me $2 a minute to run my surgery.”
Dr James wrote a letter to his patients on Tuesday morning explaining the difficult decision he was faced with.
“I have bulk billed every patient for 30 years and I would have been pleased to continue to do so for the rest of my working career,” he wrote.
“Many people’s lives have been saved because they came early to have concerns checked. Some people will die because they will now not get symptoms checked — I have seen it many times before.
~~Dr James criticised Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
“One is entitled to ask is he erratic and stupid? Or is he clever, deceitful, uncaring and malicious?”
He said he will now only bulk bill children and pensioners.
Australian Medical Association vice president Dr Stephen Parnis said GP practices “will go bankrupt” if they choose not to pass on the costs to patients.
“Our members are despairing over the changes,” Dr Parnis said.
“These are not well considered measures and there will be doctors who say our government is grossly undervaluing what I do.”
Dr Parnis said the changes are likely to dissuade young people from becoming GPs.
“We need new GPs to move into the field but the government is treating the professions with contempt.”
A spokesman for Health Minister Sussan Ley told news.com.au the changes aim to steer doctors away from “six minute medicine”.
“The majority of GP consultations in Australia already last over 10 minutes and will therefore be unaffected.”
He said the department met with the AMA ahead of the changes to discuss the impact on GPs but Dr Parnis said they had not been consulted.
REBATES FROM JANUARY 19
Consultation costs will reflect time with the GP from next week
Level A consultation rebate (less than 10 minutes) will be $16.95
Level B consultation rebate (10-20 minutes) will be $37.05
Level C consultation rebate (20-40 minutes) will be $71.70
Level D consultation rebate (more than 40 minutes) will be $105.55
Source: News.com.au