Rip-off fears over after-hours calls

THE number of Queenslanders claiming “urgent” afterhours doctor services has tripled in five years, amid fears the system is being abused and taxpayers ripped off.

Gold Coasters are the biggest users of the service, while there has been an almost 1000 per cent increase in people using it in Townsville in three years.

A Federal Government interim report into Medicare Benefits Scheme after-hours services found there had been a dramatic rise in people claiming for urgent care since businesses targeting the system, often owned by private equity firms, started setting up.

According to the report, there have been instances of medical practitioners claiming “urgent” call-outs for standard services, which allows them to claim a significant higher bulkbilled Medicare rebate courtesy of the taxpayer.

It also stated there was little evidence of the spike in people claiming after-hours services having any impact on hospital emergency waiting times.

In 2010-11, there were about 40 “urgent” after-hours claims per 1000 people in Queensland, but that number skyrocketed to more than 120 claims per 1000 people by 2015-16.

Nationally, the cost of afterhours services to taxpayers from Medicare payments rose from $90.8 million in 2010-11 to $245.9 million in 2015-16.