NEWS 3
ausdoc . com . au 6 DECEMBER 2024
NEWS 3
GPs paid less to do more ?
The AMA says there are big headaches with the $ 300 aged care incentive .
Rachel Carter FEWER than a third of eligible patients are registered for the new aged care incentive , with GPs blaming the admin burden for undermining enrolment .
The incentive generates yearly payments of $ 300 to the GP and $ 130 to the practice for each patient .
But Services Australia figures show that GPs enrolled 62,329 aged care residents during the incentive ’ s first quarter , which ended on 30 September .
The Federal Government had indicated that almost 200,000 patients were eligible .
AMA president Dr Danielle McMullen said GP practices had struggled to enrol their aged care patients in MyMedicare — one of the requirements to access the new incentive .
‘ We are still hearing mixed feedback that signing people up is difficult .’ |
NEWSPIX |
|
Dr Danielle McMullen . |
|
and sending an email saying it was |
could be registered automatically ?” |
probably not what the government |
“ We are still hearing mixed feedback |
coming . |
Under the former Aged Care Access |
wanted .” |
that signing people up is difficult ,” said |
“ But I think it fell on deaf ears . |
Incentive , total services , rather than |
Services Australia said more than |
Dr McMullen , a GP in Brisbane . |
“ We had to print off the forms , chase |
patient count , determined payments of |
2000 GP practices were registered for |
To trigger the payments , the GP must |
up people and ask them to sign it .” |
up to $ 10,000 a year . |
the incentive . |
also see the patient twice per quarter |
Two weeks before the end of the first |
Dr Profitt said the new incentive was |
But it was unclear how this compared |
over a 12-month period , with each visit |
quarter , the GPs realised that only four |
“ more onerous ” and that GPs were paid |
with the former Aged Care Access Incen- |
in a different month . |
of the 100 aged care patients had been |
less to do more because of the extra |
tive , with no comparable data available , |
GP Dr Cameron Profitt , based near |
registered . |
paperwork . |
according to the department . |
Geelong , Victoria , has been caring for |
Despite rushing to register more , Dr |
“ If all you do is nursing home work , |
Dr McMullen said the AMA remained |
patients in a 120-bed nursing home |
Profitt said they faced significant loss |
then the new system would probably |
concerned that some GPs were worse off . |
alongside other GPs at his 10-doctor |
of income from patients not being regis- |
work for you ,” he said . |
“ We still hold concerns about the |
practice . |
tered in time . |
“ But if you are doing it part-time , I do |
overall financing , particularly for prac- |
“ For cognitive reasons , maybe |
He added that the paperwork felt like |
not think it is as generous as it perhaps |
titioners who see a small number of |
dementia , a lot of the patients need a |
another administrative burden on |
should be .” |
patients in aged care ,” she said . |
next of kin to sign the form on their |
general practice . |
He said some younger GPs at his prac- |
“ We need to see the data when |
behalf ,” he said . |
“ Surely Medicare would know if a |
tice wanted to exit the aged care roster . |
they start flowing through so we can |
“ The nursing home was helpful in |
patient had only seen the same GP in the |
“ This is disincentivising lots of GPs |
strengthen our case to the government |
trying to get patients to sign the form |
past 12 months , so that regular doctor |
from doing aged care work , which is |
to make changes .” |
Pharmacists to be called ‘ doctor ’
Heather Saxena PHARMACISTS who complete a new extended master ’ s degree will have the right to call themselves ‘ doctor ’, Mark Butler has announced .
The federal Minister for Health and Aged Care was speaking at the Pharmacy Guild of Australia ’ s recent annual dinner at Parliament House in Canberra .
It follows the formal recognition of a Doctor of Pharmacy qualification , which recognises the pharmacist ’ s extended scope of clinical practice , including prescribing and chronic disease management .
It has been described by the guild as the profession ’ s “ highest possible qualification ”, but it also means that pharmacists awarded the degree can introduce themselves to patients as ‘ doctor ’.
Unlike ‘ medical practitioner ’, ‘ doctor ’ is not a protected title .
AHPRA : Complaints up by 13 %
Ciara Seccombe COMPLAINTS about doctors reached an alltime high of 11,207 over the last financial year , a 12.8 % increase from the year before , AHPRA ’ s annual report has revealed .
Almost 6 % of doctors , some 8418 , faced a complaint in 2023 / 24 — either to AHPRA or its co-regulators in NSW and Queensland .
However , across all health professions , complaints were up 14.2 %.
AHPRA did not offer an overarching reason for the increase . But it stressed that two-thirds of complaints across all health professions ended without further regulatory action , including cases where practitioners had taken steps to address the issues .
Only 1.4 % of complaints led to suspension or deregistration .
AHPRA said it had worked on processing complaints faster and that almost 80 % of cases in 2023 / 24 were closed within three months .
About 1047 investigations were still open more than a year after the complaint was lodged , but this was an improvement
AHPRA CEO Martin Fletcher .
compared with 1249 in 2022 / 23 . “ Compared with last year , there were 22.7 % more notifications closed within three months and 67.8 % more notifications closed in 3-6 months ,” AHPRA said .
It continued to point out that , when cases went to a tribunal , the time frames were out of AHPRA ’ s control — a key reason some complaints dragged on for years .
‘ Compared with last year , more notifications were closed within three months .’
The average time between referring a case to a tribunal and it being finalised was 683 days , according to AHPRA .
Finally , it said it had 299 complaints related to cosmetic surgery currently on its books , including 174 complaints about just 14 practitioners .
“ These 14 practitioners are no longer practising or have restrictions on their registration while we investigate .”