Help for chronically ill with fee- free GPs

PEOPLE with chronic illnesses such as diabetes, arthritis and cancer could have GP fees abolished and get an annual treatment budget under health reforms to be announced today.

Three months after dumping its unpopular $ 5 GP fee, the Government will announce new reforms to primary care to help Medicare afford the challenge of an ageing population.

Health Minister Sussan Ley will unveil a major review of the Medicare Benefit Schedule that sets the fee Medicare pays doctors for consultations, tests and operations to move outdated items.

The Government hopes to save money by cutting fees for medical services that have become cheaper as a result of technological advances.

Low- value items such as certain blood tests and knee arthroscopies could have new limits placed on them as a result of the review.

“Doctors and patients alike have raised various issues from over- testing and outdated or unproven treatments to unnecessary referrals, duplication, inefficiencies and systemic waste,” Ms Ley said.

Currently, the MBS has more than 5500 services listed, not all of which reflect contemporary best clinical practice.

A new Primary Health Care Advisory Group headed by former Australian Medical Association president Dr Steve Hambleton will advise on how doctors should manage the chronically ill.

The group will look at options such as removing the fee for service payment method for these patients.

Instead, the committee will examine whether doctors should be given a patient budget to care for these people or be paid by the outcomes they achieve rather than the number of services they deliver.

The review will also consider better recognition and treatment of mental health conditions, and greater connection between primary healthcare and hospital care.

There will also be a crack down on medifraud and overservicing by doctors.

The Government wants to develop clearer Medicare compliance rules and benchmarks.

“The vast majority of medical practitioners provide quality healthcare, but a small number do not do the right thing in their use of Medicare. Their activities have a significant impact on Medicare and may adversely affect the quality of care for patients,” Ms Ley says.

Last year an audit report found the Government had struggled to catch doctors cheating on Medicare, with a $ 128.3 million shortfall in savings from a program meant to stop overservicing by doctors.

In February, Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced his unpopular $ 5 GP fee was “dead and buried”.

Ms Lee has told doctors she plans to continue with a four year freeze on the indexation of GP fees but will review it if other savings emerge.

The freeze is expected to save the Government about $ 1 billion over the next four years.