Just in time for the ‘rorts’ turbulence, one advocacy group has recruited a new chair to lobby for changes to the PSR system.
Former AMA Queensland president, Adjunct Professor Gino Pecoraro, yesterday joined advocacy and support group Australian Health Practitioners Advisory Solutions (AHPAS) as its new chair, vowing to redouble the group’s efforts to support and unite healthcare professionals.
Professor Pecoraro joins AHPAS – which was founded by Dr Anchita Karmakar, who took her battle with the Professional Services Review to Federal Court – as the health community reels from assertions in mainstream media that medical professionals were rorting billions from Medicare each year.
AHPAS is also on the hunt for a new CEO to take over from Dr Karmakar, who will become director of a medical legal board of peers.
Professor Pecoraro welcomed Health Minister Mark Butler’s ordering a review of the department’s compliance and audit programs on Monday, but said it was crucial to ensure practitioners under investigation were properly looked after.
“I think it’s a good step forward that the review is happening,” he said, “but I’d like to see that if all of a sudden someone is being investigated, then it’s mandated they have a known healthcare provider they make contact with and stay in contact with during the investigation process.
“These practitioner reviews can take two or three years, and during that time the person is usually expected to continue working under enormous stress and strain. If you’re under stress and strain, you may not be performing at your best.”
One of Professor Pecoraro’s first tasks will be to lobby the Health Minister for changes to the compliance mechanism, said Dr Karmakar.
AHPAS plans to ask for the removal of section 106ZR of the Health Insurance Act 1973 (which prohibits disclosure of PSR committee deliberations); for legal representation to be allowed at committee meetings, not just legal support; for clarity in expectations when it comes to Medicare billing; and for statistical profiling, which would consider the circumstances in which practitioners bill Medicare, not simply the number of times they bill.
“Those are the four things we’re putting at the top of our agenda,” Dr Karmakar said.
“We’ve got contacts with two ministers in each state and territory who will be helping us put the agenda together. We’re also trying to get all health professionals together, so we’ve been in conversation with the Pharmacy Guild, we’re in conversation with other professional organisations, offering them free AHPAS membership for their members so we can all come under one banner and lobby together for these sorts of changes.
“That needs to happen now,” she added.
Professor Pecoraro said this week had made it clear that Medicare is in crisis.
“I think what we’re seeing is the [Medicare] system straining at the seams – it’s no longer doing what it was meant to do,” he said. “Everybody who works in the healthcare system is trying to do the best they can with a flawed system.
“Doctors are now under-reporting what they’re doing to Medicare. What that means is that they’re not using the Medicare numbers and that means they’re going to charge patients more out of pocket simply because they don’t want to be seen in an unfavourable light by Medicare. That’s not right.”
