GPs say vulnerable people are being priced out of important heart health checks. A departmental advisory committee is reviewing the impact of the decision.
GPs say vulnerable people are being priced out of important heart health checks to detect potentially fatal cardiac problems, as a result of losing their ability to bill Medicare for the tests four years ago.
A draft report, published by the Medicare Benefits Schedule Review Advisory Committee in April, concluded it was difficult to say whether the changes to rebates led to the decline in tests performed, as there were significant disruptions to health services in the two-year period for which data has been finalised, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The working group considered that the reduction in services performed in rural and remote areas may mean patients are travelling elsewhere to have their ECGs, or that there are less opportunistic ECGs being performed,” according to the April report. However, it was unable to say this for certain, due to the aforementioned data issues.Dr Ken McCroary, a GP in Campbelltown, said it was clear to him that the change meant fewer people were being tested.
“If I send them to the specialist in the same building, they will get turned away because they don’t have $500 for an appointment.”
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