Cutting red tape for doctors a further part of health reform
Nicola Roxon
posted Monday, 19 July 2010
GPs will be able to spend more time with their patients and less time on red tape through changes to Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) prescriptions being announced today.
The Gillard Labor Government will expand the criteria for streamlining ‘Authority required’ medicines, to include medicines used to treat short-term conditions, where patient safety will not be put at risk. This will mean that, when prescribing one of these PBS medicines, doctors and other prescribers will no longer have to obtain telephone or written approval from Medicare Australia before prescribing particular PBS medicines.
“This is a regular irritant for general practitioners who have persistently told me they don’t want to waste time that can be spent with patients" Ms Roxon, Minister for Health and Ageing said, "we have heard this complaint and acted on it."
This comes on top of others government investments in general practice following requests from local GP’s and their national organisations:
- Doubling the number of general practice registrar training places.
- Infrastructure grants of up to half a million dollars for around 425 existing practices.
- Increasing the general practice supervisor payments.
- Increasing the number of placements for new doctors to gain experience in general practice.
- Expanding rural infrastructure grants and regional training facilities.
- Investing in a personally controlled electronic health record.
In addition, from 1 December 2011, Medicare Australia will capture further data that will allow better monitoring of the usage of streamlined authority medicines.
I have asked the Chair of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC), Professor Lloyd Sansom, to recommend which medicines can have streamlined authorities under the revised criteria and under the improved monitoring arrangements.
The Gillard Labor Government’s changes are likely to increase the number of streamlined medicines from around 110 to around 160.
The change to the criteria for streamlining, and improved data capture, will be of particular benefit for doctors treating palliative care and cancer patients.
It will allow doctors to spend more of their time caring for their patients, and less time on the phone to Medicare Australia and filling out paperwork.
The Gillard Government is moving forward with a $2.2 billion investment in General Practice and primary care including lifting the Abbott freeze on General Practice training places.
As health minister Mr Abbott cut a billion dollars from the health budget and has already proposed further deep cuts to health including scrapping the GP Super Clinics, after hours GP hotline and e-health.
Tags: and, Gillard, GPs, Health, hospitals, Medicare, National, network, PBS, reform