Paul Smith DOCTORS are making more than four |
The target is an average of 30 seconds or less, but the target— at |
topic referred to one doctor who had counted an average of 80 clicks and |
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million phone calls a year to the PBS |
least since August 2022— has never |
keystrokes to log in and enter Medi- |
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authority script line, despite the vast |
been met. |
care details, drug name and script |
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majority of requests being ticked off. |
In fact, response time peaked |
number before pressing send. |
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A recent Australian National Audit |
at two minutes and 40 seconds in |
The audit office has, however, |
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Office report examining the man- |
November 2023 before the depart- |
documented the rejection rates for |
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agement of the PBS goes into some |
ment increased the call-centre |
the authority approval system. |
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detail about the authority script sys- |
workforce. |
When it comes to the phone, it |
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tem, which has long been seen as |
says a rejection is issued for one in |
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a bureaucratic nonsense that consumes time for no reason.
The report reveals that, in 2023- 24, prescribers made 4.3 million
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Rejection occurs every one in 43 calls. |
every 43 calls— or 278,900 rejections across the 12 million phone calls made between August 2019 and August 2024. |
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calls to seek approval to prescribe a medicine on the PBS.
On top of this were a further 360,000 written requests and some
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The other question is how much time it takes to secure the approval( or not) once the call is answered. |
When done online through HPOS, this increases to one in 18.
The audit office, which describes the rejection rates as low, says it
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180 |
Average call response time in seconds |
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2.4 million requests made through the user-unfriendly Health Professional |
The general view among doctors is between two and five minutes |
is surprised by the differences, stressing that the“ same process- |
150 |
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Online Services( HPOS) system. There are always a few questions |
when you do it by phone— an estimate that may or may not include the |
ing engine” is being used to assess requests regardless of the medium. |
120 |
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raised by the brute numbers. How long does it take to get through to a |
hold music. But there are no figures in the |
Its message is that Services Australia should undertake further |
90 |
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human being? The report includes a box looking |
report, despite their importance in capturing the bureaucratic impact of |
investigation to find out what is happening. |
60 |
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at the average response time in sec- |
the system on doctors. |
The main GP groups are still |
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onds for someone in Services Australia to pick up the phone: this is one |
Nor does the audit office calculate the time involved in using the HPOS |
suggesting the phone line system be scrapped, with the online system |
30 |
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of the key performance metrics to which its staff are subjected. |
system to make requests. A recent RACGP article on the |
integrated into GP software— one call that is still on hold. |
Oct 22 Jan 23 Apr 23 Jul 23 Oct 23 Jan 24 Apr 24 |