One of the doctors who will review nearly 6,000 medical tests and services that receive Medicare and health insurance rebates fears that expert advice will be drowned out by politics.
Dr Bastian Seidel has been nominated by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners to be a part of a Government audit of the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS).
He told The Drum that it would be disappointing if discussion around the long-awaited review were dominated by politics.
“We have to stop politicising health care.”
“We need to have a more pragmatic approach because that’s what our patients expect us to do and that’s what the taxpayer expects.”
He says that there are obvious savings to be made by re-evaluating which procedures and services are covered by the MBS.
An investigation by Four Corners found that nearly a third of Australia’s $155 billion annual health budget is being wasted.
Dr Seidel says the current model undermines the Medicare system by encouraging unnecessary tests and the doubling up of procedures across general practice and hospitals.
“All doctors try to do the right thing by their patients but sometimes it’s just not the most efficient way to do it and sometimes it’s just too expensive.”
“Those savings need to be re-directed into the area where we can achieve better patient outcomes and that is general practice.”
He says that better communication between general practice and hospitals would help stamp out inefficiencies.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has proposed a new funding model for the MBS which Dr Seidel will likely put forward as part of the review.
Amy Sherden is a producer at ABC News 24.