The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has warned at-home doctor visits could provide a sub par service for patients.
South Australian companies have started to offer at-home visits for patients who are unable to travel to their local surgeries during business hours.
Medvisit director and owner Asim Shehzad told 891 ABC Adelaide‘s Breakfast program the Medicare-covered at-home visits were providing a much needed service to patients.
“The service basically complements the normal, daytime GPs of the patient,” Mr Shehzad said.
Medvisit’s doctors can provide at-home visits between 6pm and 8am, Monday to Friday, and on weekends from noon Saturday.
Mr Shehzad said the hours would compliment and not compete with the standard opening hours of surgeries.
He said most patients would normally go to an emergency department for after-hours problems, which could cost the health department up to four times more than an on-call doctor.
The service will be bulk-billed, wholly covered by Medicare or Veterans Affairs, and doctors can also provide initial medication supplies.
People not covered by health services — such as overseas visitors — would be charged $180 for emergency appointments before 11pm and $200 after.
Mr Shehzad said no one had been charged a fee as yet, as all visits to date had been covered by the Medicare or Veterans Affairs systems.
Call-outs are triaged for patients, with urgent callouts attracting $129.80 bulk-billed fees, and non-urgent calls, if attended, incurring a lower $40 bulkbilled amount.
Mr Shehzad said doctors’ notes would be sent to the patient’s regular doctor the following day, and the service was not meant to replace regular doctor-patient relationships.
Home visits won’t match surgery appointments: AMA
AMA South Australia president Dr Janice Fletcher said the at-home service would not compare with regular surgery appointments.
“It is very different in a home,” Dr Fletcher said.
“The lighting may be good or not good, the environment may make it easy or not easy to examine a patient.”
Dr Fletcher also said support staff who would normally aid a doctor at a standard surgery visit would also not be available for at-home visits.
“Most accredited practices provide home visits for people who have mobility issues,” she said.
“After-hours and home visits are not new.”