The Strengthening Medicare taskforce report is due some time in the next 48 hours, but insiders say not to expect any immediate fixes.
Major Medicare news is coming from all directions this week.
The incoming Strengthening Medicare taskforce report set to drop on Friday, at the same national cabinet meeting where NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet is expected to champion pharmacy prescribing programs nationwide.
Amid all this, the independent report on Medicare fraud and wastage will also allegedly be released.
What to expect from … state premiers
The NSW and Victorian premiers have been vocal over the need to reform Medicare over the last month, vowing to bring the issue to the first national cabinet meeting of 2023.
That meeting is on Friday.
Mr Perrottet announced a NSW-wide pharmacist prescribing trial late last year, which would enable pharmacists to diagnose, prescribe and dispense medicine for urinary tract infections, minor skin conditions and ear infections, as well as hormonal contraception.
Despite the fact that the trial hasn’t actually started yet, let alone been evaluated, Mr Perrottet will allegedly push for a deal to replicate the trial nationally at the Friday meeting.
He even went so far as to tell Nine newspapers that he believes the doctors’ groups are wrong to oppose the move to allow pharmacist-led prescribing.
“Change is always difficult, and there will always be different opinions and I completely respect that,” Mr Perrottet said.
This Friday’s National Cabinet meeting is an historic opportunity to reform Medicare and secure the future sustainability of general practice care nation-wide. Without greater support, some patients will be left out in the cold and our entire health system will suffer. #Medicare
— Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP) President (@RACGPPresident) January 31, 2023
The main item on his agenda, though, seems to be a mutually agreed-upon state and federal “roadmap” for Medicare reform to outline structural changes before any funding was committed.
“Let’s lead with the new way of doing things and what should be the best healthcare possible, and then let’s have the discussion around funding,” Mr Perrottet said. “If we lead with funding we’re not going to have a discussion on the right policy.”
His Victorian counterpart, Daniel Andrews, told Nine that he would be pushing for the federal government to recommit to the 50-50 hospital funding split.
Mr Andrews also said he wanted to see a fix for primary care but did not take the same line as Mr Perrottet.
“We know how to fix Medicare – better pay for GPs, more university places for young people studying medicine and more incentives for international GPs to make Australia home,” Mr Andrews said.
What to expect from … the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce
While Health Minister Mark Butler has foreshadowed that the taskforce report will recommend a large-scale Medicare shakeup, sources have warned The Medical Republic not to expect granular detail.
During press appearances over the last few weeks, Mr Butler has hinted that a reformed Medicare will need to be more accessible by allied health staff working in a team context.
It seems likely that a system of voluntary patient enrolment will be proposed, but details about funding will probably be revealed closer to the May budget.
AMA vice president Dr Danielle McMullen, who represented the association on the taskforce, told The Medical Republic that Mr Butler had taken a genuine interest in reforming Medicare and that the process itself had been useful.
“We’re supportive of the taskforce activities and long-term reform, but the government also needs to be looking at some short term support to make sure that GPs keep their doors open and patients have access to care,” she said.
“Because we’re seeing out of pocket costs grow, we’re seeing Doctor burnout increase … and we’re seeing practices close.”
What to expect from … the Medicare fraud probe
Back in November, the government appointed Deloitte health economist Dr Pradeep Philip to investigate media claims that $8 billion is rorted out of Medicare each year.
Dr Philip’s review is set to assess the amount of Medicare funding that gets lost to fraudulent, non-compliant and low-value care.
He was due to hand in an interim report by the end of January, with the full report to be made public at the end of February.
It’s unclear whether or not the report will be discussed at Friday’s national cabinet.
