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‘Inadequate’ MBS indexation revealed
An indexation factor of 2.6% will be applied to most general medical services, prompting RACGP concerns that government funding alone will not keep practices viable.
According to a newsGP poll, 81% of respondents think an independent statutory authority should be responsible for setting Medicare rebates.
GPs have been left fuming following confirmation that the Medicare Benefits Schedule indexation factor for 1 July is 2.6%.
As announced late on Thursday, the change will be applied to most general medical services items and diagnostic imaging services.
The decision comes as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 4.2% in the past year, and 4% for health specifically.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has approved an average private health insurance premium increase of 4.41% – a move it says reflects the ‘rising costs of providing medical and hospital services’.
RACGP President Dr Michael Wright said while the indexation is ‘better than a freeze’, it will do little to ease financial pressure on GPs.
He said this poor indexation demonstrates why many GPs remain sceptical about relying on Federal Government funding alone to secure the future of their practices.
‘The combination of these CPI pressures, along with the highlighting of administrative compliance barriers, are all issues that potentially make it harder for practices who have been bulk billing to continue,’ Dr Wright told newsGP.
‘On one hand, GPs are getting more pressured to provide bulk billing, and then these changes, inadequate funding and compliance barriers are making it harder to do so.’
The indexation announcement comes as growth in bulk billing is slowing, despite the Federal Government investing billions of dollars to incentivise practices to switch to the model.
Further creating a lack of trust between GPs and government is upcoming changes to the assignment of benefit process.
The intention of the assignment of benefit reforms is to provide a range of digital options for patients to assign their rebate when they are bulk billed.
However, concerns are being raised about patients who are unable to assign their benefit, particularly those in residential aged care facilities, and whether they will miss out.
Dr Wright confirmed the RACGP has met with the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing to raise GPs’ concerns.
‘It really does risk that the most vulnerable patients won’t be able to access care,’ he said.
‘Many of us are really concerned about Medicare audits and Medicare compliance and so changing the way this assignment is delivered really has highlighted the concerns that we have.
‘This has definitely raised awareness among GPs about potential for non-compliance and certainly raised anxiety about being non-compliant or prone to Medicare compliance activities.’
The two changes come despite long-standing calls from the RACGP for an independent pricing authority to be established.
The college says this authority would determine pricing recommendations that are ‘reflective of the true cost of delivering care’ for different patient cohorts.
According to a 2023 newsGP poll, 81% of the more than 1300 respondents agreed that an independent statutory authority should be responsible for setting Medicare rebates.
From 1 July 2026, annual fee indexation will be applied to:
- most of the general medical services items, except certain attendance items by doctors without vocational training
- most diagnostic imaging services (excluding: positron emission tomography items and nuclear medicine modifier items), except positron emission tomography items in Group I4 (Subgroup 2) and nuclear medicine modifier items in Group I4 (Subgroup 3)
- pathology items in Group P1, Group P4, Group P5, Group P6, Group P8 and Group P12.
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