Media Statement - 9th December 2008
Prevention will be given a boost, and red tape for doctors will be
slashed in a review of Medicare items due to be finalised by March
2009. 
Complex red tape that has stood in the way of longer GP consultations will be removed as part of the review.
This will help more Australians gain access to vital prevention advice in areas like diabetes prevention, quitting smoking and avoiding obesity.
In the last decade of the Liberal Government, the number of primary care Medicare items more than tripled from 66 to a massive 247 .And yet just the top 10 of these items make up 92 per cent of all Medicare claims for primary care services.
The Medicare schedule is now as thick as a phonebook.
This has left GPs battling a crippling red tape burden, taking valuable time away from treating patients.
The review has identified a number of areas for action. The Rudd Government will now conduct consultations with the profession on the details of the changes.
The new simplified schedule will come into force on 1 July 2009. The changes will be Budget-neutral.
This review is being undertaken alongside development of the National Primary Health Care Strategy, which includes a focus on how to use our health workforce more effectively, and how to better encourage prevention.
Any more significant changes to the Medicare schedule that are necessary will be examined in light of this strategy, a draft of which is to be delivered to the Minister in mid-2009.
This review will focus on removing red tape, encouraging prevention and simplifying the schedule.
Immediate action to remove red tape
As a downpayment on future action, the Rudd Government will slash red tape from the chronic disease management allied health items.
Around 27,000 Medicare claims for allied health consultations were rejected last year because of a rule that insists on some items being claimed before the others are able to be.
By taking this step, we will immediately remove red tape for thousands of patients, GPs and allied health professionals.
This will be implemented on 1 January 2009.
Encouraging prevention
There is a lot of confusion surrounding the items relating to longer consultations. These longer consultations offer a real opportunity to provide valuable preventative care and advice.
These items have both a time and complexity element that must be fulfilled before they can be used. There is considerable uncertainty around their use, and concerns about this have been raised by the director of the Professional Services Review.
We will clarify and amend the item descriptors for level C and D items to enable GPs to provide better support for prevention, provide greater certainty to the profession, and reduce unintentional misuse of the items.
By making these changes, doctors will be able to spend the time they need with patients to provide important lifestyle advice.
Simplifying the schedule
The MBS currently has fifteen different item numbers for health checks - and 8 different fees. We will be simplifying the health checks currently on the schedule based on the complexity of the check.
The chronic disease management items are designed to improve the co-ordination and quality of care provided to those with chronic illness. There is duplication in these items and we will be moving to streamline these.
We will continue to reward GPs for visits to residential aged care facilities – but we would like to see the management of arrangements for all other out of surgery visits made simpler. These items are currently remunerated at the same level, so this will not have any financial impact.
The provisions for after hours care are complicated and confusing. The after hours items for GPs are remunerated at different values for different times, with no internal logic, and have confusing item descriptors around the urgency of the visits. We will simplify these arrangements to make them easier to use and rational in their value.
The Rudd Government strongly supports the co-ordination of care that can be achieved through multidisciplinary case conferencing - but we do believe that the current MBS structure, involving 18 separate item numbers, can be simplified.
The Rudd Government will now consult with the profession on the details of these arrangements. These will be finalised by March 2009 and implemented on 1 July 2009.
Providing a Medicare system that supports primary care as the frontline of Australia’s health system is a key priority of the Rudd Government. These actions to simplify Medicare will help make life easier for GPs, allied health professionals, and their patients.