Australians will be spared costly trips to specialist doctors and benefit from more telehealth appointments under a series of sweeping changes to Medicare.
Some GPs have started asking their patients to sign up to a new free government service called ‘MyMedicare’, launched on 1 October.
Under MyMedicare, Australians can officially register their preferred doctor’s clinic and GP with the government – if the clinic is registered with the program.
A number of benefits will then accrue to patients and doctors registered under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s plan.
The Federal Labor Government this month introduced MyMedicare, where Australians can formalize their relationship with their GP to access new services for the 21st century.
Medicare Change #1: Changes in Telehealth
One of the biggest changes — which has already taken effect — is that Medicare will cover longer telehealth medical appointments for patients registered with MyMedicare.
Telehealth appointments receiving a Medicare rebate have been limited to 20 minutes. Patients registered with MyMedicare will receive sessions longer than 20 or 40 minutes covered by Medicare discounts.
The government expects Medicare rebates to cover on average about half the cost of such a telehealth appointment.
Australians can now have a long Zoom call with their doctor and will not have to travel long distances to see separate specialist doctors if they register with MyMedicare (photo is a stock image)
Medicare Change #2: Specialist, GP shake-up
As part of other changes to MyMedicare, introduced over several years, GPs will be able to consult a specialist and provide advice directly to a patient.
This is instead of GPs still referring patients to separate specialists for a series of expensive in-person appointments.
This means that a GP will be able to seek and provide advice from a dermatologist, a gynecologist for women’s issues or a urologist specializing in men’s health – rather than having to refer patients to separate appointments for every part of the body.
Lump sums will be paid to specialists so that they can share their advice with doctors.
Ask GPs to do more
Dr Stephen Duckett, an honorary professor at the University of Melbourne and director of the Federal Department of Health and Aging in the mid-1990s, said the specialist plan was aimed at incentivizing GPs to do more.
“You want the primary care system to do more to ensure that the person looking after your urology also understands your heart,” Dr Duckett told Daily Mail Australia.
“You want to reverse some of that separation of the body into body parts and look at the person as a whole.
“If you can try to get the GP to do more, then that’s a good thing.
“There is a continuity of care and especially in a system where more and more people suffer from multiple and chronic illnesses, the more you can have a person who actually takes care of them, supported by these other specialists without you have to address the other.” specialists.
Medicare Change #3: Encourage bulk billing
From November 1, doctors will also receive triple incentive payments for appointments with children under 16 and patients with Commonwealth concession cards.
Incentives will be even greater for doctors who serve patients living in regional, rural and remote communities.
This will support Australians who are “feeling cost of living pressures hardest”, the government said.
What experts think about the plans
Dr Duckett said changes to telehealth would bring the country’s healthcare system into the 21st century.
“The Covid pandemic has radically changed our view of telehealth and our propensity to use it, both by telephone and video, and when you think about it, it is now 2023 and we should not have a healthcare system stuck in the 1950s. with face-to-face care for everything,” he said.
Dr Duckett said MyMedicare addressed medical honesty issues by requiring Australians to register their long-standing connection with a particular GP practice to allow telehealth to be covered by taxpayers.
“What MyMedicare does is say, ‘Look, because you registered with the practice, that means you intend to have an ongoing relationship with this practice and you may already have a ongoing relationship with this firm, and we will therefore trust you. the practice of using telehealth appropriately,” he said.
Tony Sara, president of the Australian Federation of Employed Doctors, said longer telehealth consultations would be particularly helpful for patients who lived in regional areas, away from their doctor.
“It can’t completely replace face-to-face care, which is why it has a role to play, particularly in the bush,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
“It increases the scope of services, but it doesn’t completely replace them.”
Bill Bowtell, assistant professor of health at the University of New South Wales, was a little more skeptical. He was a senior policy adviser to former Labor health minister Neil Blewett, who was in charge in 1984 when Bob Hawke’s government introduced Medicare.
Bill Bowtell, assistant professor of health at the University of New South Wales, was a little more skeptical.
He served as senior policy advisor to former Labor Health Minister Neil Blewett, who was in charge in 1984 when Bob Hawke’s government introduced Medicare, reviving Australia’s system of universal health care that briefly existed in the mid from the 1970s.
“Telehealth is great, but it cannot be used to replace in-person visits to the doctor without co-payments and other costs,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
This means that MyMedicare may not solve the Medicare gap problem and that patients end up not paying because Medicare does not cover the doctor’s entire bill, as many GPs refuse to bill in full. fat.
The Australian Medical Association, which represents doctors, is concerned about the model of making lump sum payments to doctors to encourage them to bill in bulk and provide specialist advice after making contact with specialists.
Chairman Professor Stephen Robson said WADA was concerned Australia could emulate the mistakes of the British approach, known as the capitation payment system.
“The AMA will continue to work with the federal government to ensure that MyMedicare-related programs improve access to care for patients and that these expand over time, while also ensuring that this does not lead to not to a flawed poll tax model used in the UK,” he said. Daily Mail Australia.
Nonetheless, changes to MyMedicare could also help address Australia’s doctor shortage, which has seen medical students opting to become specialists, who are typically paid more than double or even triple what a doctor earns suburban general practitioner.
Neurosurgeons had an average taxable income of $604,582 in 2020-21.
Dermatologists typically earned $333,099, compared to $398,888 for gynecologists and $458,794 for gastroenterologists specializing in intestinal problems.
But GPs typically received $187,408, after work and investment property expenses were deducted for tax purposes.
Dr Stephen Duckett, an honorary professor at the University of Melbourne and director of the Federal Department of Health and Aging in the mid-1990s, said the specialist plan was aimed at incentivizing GPs to do more.
Dr Duckett argued this aspect of MyMedicare could solve Australia’s GP shortage crisis by making medicine more attractive to suburban doctors and encouraging more medical students to consider the field.
“It will make the GP’s job more interesting and, secondly, it will reduce the demand for specialists and people who would otherwise want to become specialists might say: ‘The GP’s job is more interesting and there will be less work for specialists “.”
Since October 1, Australians can register with MyMedicare by nominating a GP or Indigenous health specialist.
As of early October, 2,600 GP practices had registered with MyMedicare, representing almost 40 per cent of the 6,500 practices in Australia.
