Government Must Act to Curb Big Business Buy Out of Family Medicine
Big business is rapidly buying out the traditional family medical practice and a long legacy of lousy Medicare rebates is to blame, according to a research paper released today by the Australian Medical Association.
The paper, recently endorsed by the AMA's Federal Council, examines the threats and challenges presented by the sudden upsurge in corporate acquisition of general practices traditionally owned and run by GPs.
"While not all models of corporatisation are undesirable, there is potential for the standards and performance of general practice to be seriously damaged by corporatised medical centres," the paper finds.
"In particular, the ethical standards, developed and championed for over 2,000 years, of the absolute independence of the doctor in making judgements for his or her patients and total dissociation from any of the referrals that he or she makes."
Vertically integrated business structures are also of concern as companies might seek to pressure GPs into ordering unnecessary tests from their own radiology or pathology practices in order to boost profits.
AMA Federal President, Dr Kerryn Phelps, said the Federal Government needed to take action.
"The AMA has a number of serious concerns about the trend to corporatisation, including:
potential loss of capacity of GP's ability to maintain clinical independence; potential for corporate priorities to influence the ethical standards of doctors; potential for corporate interests to influence the volume and direction of referrals and tension between the role of the medical profession to meet the needs of patients and the objectives of the corporation - meeting the needs of shareholders.
"New laws are needed to ensure that no doctor is able to benefit, in either a financial or non-financial sense, from a referral or recommendation to another health-care provider.
"We also need to see the Government address the Medicare rebate. Rebates have not kept up with the cost of providing a medical service, forcing GPs to sell out their practice to corporate entities.
"In 1996, the Federal Government promised to reward quality general practice. All it has done is drive the rebate down and sell general practice out to big business.
"Failure to act will almost certainly see the dramatic transformation of family medicine from a patient-focus to a profit-focus. This is not good medicine," Dr Phelps said.
Copies of the paper are available on the AMA website or by calling Jean Reed on 02 6270 5493.