AMA submission on Medicare Locals Discussion Paper

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that the AMA believes that Medicare Locals may be able to add value to the primary health system, but they would never become the foundation.

Dr Pesce said that General Practitioners are the foundation of the Australian health system.

“We see Medicare Locals supporting GPs in the performance of their task of providing care and advice to patients,” Dr Pesce said.

“Medicare Locals will be useful and successful if they fully engage GPs in their management structures and committees and provide GPs with additional resources to treat patients with chronic and complex conditions or mental health issues.

“They could also have a key role in better linking General Practice to acute care and aged care and identifying service gaps that need to be filled.

“If they provided this type of support, Medicare Locals may enhance the already substantial contribution that GPs make to health care in Australia.

“However, this support must be provided without interference in the clinical relationship between doctors and their patients.

“It is vital that Medicare Locals do not become bureaucratic bodies that impose red tape on an already burdened and under-resourced system.  They must not do to General Practice what unwieldy administrations have done to our public hospitals.

“They must not be allowed to encourage the removal of GPs or the substitution of GPs with lesser skilled and lesser trained health workers, and they must not become fundholding bodies that put budgets ahead of patient care.”

Dr Pesce said that, while the AMA is pleased that the Government issued the Medicare Locals Discussion Paper and invited responses, there are concerns about gaps in the information provided and the short period in which to properly discuss and respond to such a major reform.

“We are disappointed in aspects of the Discussion Paper such as the section on what Medicare Locals would look like, and we have called for further discussion on this and other issues that have been raised in the first round of consultation,” Dr Pesce said.

“We are also concerned that the Government might be progressing things too quickly. It is important that all stakeholders are given plenty of time to make informed comment to ensure that any new arrangements are in the best interests of health professionals, patients and communities,” Dr Pesce said.

The AMA submission is on the AMA website at http://ama.com.au/node/6214

19 November 2010

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