The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) is extremely disappointed that the Government’s plan to prohibit GPs billing Chronic Disease Management (CDM) and general consult items on the same day will go ahead as planned on 1 November 2014.
Despite firm opposition from the RACGP, patients will no longer be able to claim a Medicare benefit for a general consultation a CDM service on the same day.
RACGP President, Dr Frank R Jones said this Government ‘cost-saving measure’ is yet another inequitable hit to GPs and their patients, particularly for those who legitimately require care which is unrelated to their chronic condition.
“The impact on all CDM patient groups will be high but those in rural and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities will be particularly hard hit,” said Dr Jones.
“This change will impede patients’ access to health services and will increase the administrative burden on GPs.
“The Government is likely to see a negative impact on patient health outcomes and more broadly, national productivity, by implementing these changes.”
The Government has acknowledged there may be clinically legitimate reasons for same day billing of these item numbers, but that the measure is being implemented to prevent inappropriate billing by a small number of providers.
“The RACGP wholeheartedly supports initiatives aimed at preventing inappropriate billing in general practice, but not at the cost of delivering quality patient services,” said Dr Jones.
In an effort to prevent the legislation from coming into effect, the RACGP participated in a series of meetings and provided a fair and equitable compromise in its two submissions in December 2013 and July 2014.
“This blunt response from the Government will seriously impact GPs ability to provide holistic, comprehensive, quality care and has the potential to disrupt practice efficiency and patient flow,” said Dr Jones.
“GPs will experience difficulty documenting care plans and effectively managing chronic disease in patients because acute conditions will take priority.
“As all GPs know and well-understand, our patients’ agendas cannot be compartmentalised.”
The RACGP has prepared resources to support GPs and their patients as this new measure comes into effect. A patient flyer and a visual guide to the rebate changes are available from the RACGP website.