Medicare Locals - get them right the first time
AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, today urged the Government to rethink its poorly thought out plans for Medicare Locals and work with the medical profession to develop a model of care with a greater chance of success.
Dr Hambleton said that the announcement that the first 15 Medicare Locals will commence in less than a month is proof that the policy is being rushed through. AMA surveys show that the majority of doctors are sceptical about the effectiveness of proposed Medicare Locals funding.
“There is little detail available on what Medicare Locals will look like and what they will do to improve patient care,” Dr Hambleton said.
“So far, the only thing we know is that funding is being diverted from general practice, and Medicare patient rebates are being reduced to help pay for the new structure. There has been no meaningful consultation with the wider profession on the design of Medicare Locals or the types of services that they need to provide to support GPs in caring for patients.
“We have called on the Government to get Medicare Locals 100 per cent right before they commence and before they run the risk of disrupting general practice in Australia. The Australian community cannot afford this to be an experiment.
“The AMA has put forward a model for a GP-led Medicare Locals structure that would deliver better outcomes for patients, and we urge the Government to work with the AMA and the medical profession to build the best possible system from the beginning.”
Dr Hambleton said that the AMA noted that the Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, made the following commitments at the recent AMA National Conference, namely:
- Medicare Locals will support and assist GPs to provide better care for their patients;
- Medicare Locals are not intended to and will not displace the central role of the GP in the primary care system. They will need to include local GPs in their governance and board structures – we are crystal clear on this. And we have absolutely no plans to cash out Medicare benefits and have these funds held by Medicare Locals; and
- We don’t want to usurp the role of the GP.
“The Government should stall the Medicare Locals rollout until a consultation process is in place and these commitments are fully locked in,” Dr Hambleton said.
Dr Hambleton said the Government should learn from the New Zealand experience.
“New Zealand’s initial experience with their Primary Health Care Organisations, which were supposedly to be run by ‘skills based’ boards, was heading for disaster until they decided to put more doctors on those boards.
Let’s get it right here the first time around,” Dr Hambleton said.
8 June 2011
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