The federal government wants feedback from rural patients and doctors on the type of tests and procedures they want retained under the Medicare Benefits Schedule.
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It has flagged cuts to overused procedures like knee arthroscopies and surgery for lower back pain where physiotherapy might have been a better alternative.
Doctors argue that the government should consider more inclusions, not less, particularly for rural areas where patient health is generally below that of city people.
“We have people all the time who threaten us with legal action,” Greta Medical Centre GP Maninder Deep said.
“They might be asking for further blood work or more regular PSA tests but we have to abide by the schedule.”
Greta Medical Centre, like all general practices is audited regularly to make sure they don’t authorise more government-subsidised tests and procedures than allowed under the schedule.
“I agree with the Minister [for Health, Sussan Ley] that the schedule can’t go on forever without a review,” Dr Deep said.
“But to say there’s a 30 per cent overuse [of some inclusions] is a bit of stretch.”
The Rural Doctors’ Association of Australia will argue that patients outside city areas tend to suffer poorer health and require more extensive care for their chronic diseases.
Further, the association said the schedule should support the delivery of high-quality, longer-term, co-ordinated health care, in particular generalist care, in rural areas.
Ms Ley said the review was a plank in the Turnbull government’s plan to build a healthier Medicare.
“As a rural and regional MP, I know that what works in inner Sydney doesn’t necessarily work in Broken Hill and that’s why I want to hear from health professionals and patients in regional Australia about their experiences with Medicare and how we can build a better system for all Australians.”
Hunter MP Joel Fitzgibbon said cuts to MBS inclusions threatened the care of rural patients that the last government had worked hard to treat.
Mr Fitzgibbon helped open the Greta Medical Centre that was built with a $300,000 primary care infrastructure grant.
“The review shouldn’t just focus on cost cutting, it should review the standards of patient care and the challenges GPs face,” he said.
“GP access has improved markedly in the past six years or so, including at Greta and Denman, but this review threatens to erode the care those doctors are able to provide.”
To take part visit the website www.health.gov.au/internet/main/ publishing.nsf/Content/MBSReviewTaskforce.
