GP red tape must be eliminated - AMA
AMA Vice-President, Dr Trevor Mudge, said today that the Productivity Commission has sent a simple message to the Government - Eliminate GP Red Tape.
Dr Mudge said the Commission's report - General Practice Administrative and Compliance Costs - confirms what the AMA has been saying for years: bureaucratic intervention is keeping GPs away from their patients.
"The Government must urgently review all its GP incentive payments schemes, especially the Practice Incentives Program (PIP) and Enhanced Primary Care (EPC).
"The AMA has been opposed to the these programs for two reasons - they compel GPs to practise specific disease/ailment medicine and they involve time-consuming red tape that robs doctors of vital patient time.
"With the Prime Minister due to release the Government's GP reform package after Easter, the red tape reduction plan must be put in place immediately.
"We don't want the Prime Minister's GP package wrapped in more red tape," Dr Mudge said.
Following the release of the Productivity Commission's interim report in February this year, the AMA estimated that 1000 GP positions could be created if the cost burden of red tape was halved.
Dr Mudge said the Commission's final report has increased its estimate of the red tape cost for an individual GP from around $10,000 to more than $13,000, meaning greater savings could be made to fund even more new GP positions.
"The Government has a wonderful opportunity before it," Dr Mudge said.
"It can remove the bureaucratic burden from the existing GP workforce and it can significantly increase the number of GPs to ease Australia's medical workforce shortage.
"Doctors and patients await the Government's post-Easter announcements with great interest - the last thing they want is another egg," Dr Mudge said.
CONTACT: John Flannery (02) 6270 5477 / (0419) 494 761
Judith Tokley (02) 6270 5472 / (0408) 824 306