Co-claiming won’t get you in trouble, insists health department

The letters made 'absolutely no suggestion' that treating mental and physical health conditions in the same visit is inappropriate
Mental health

GPs should rest easy because there is no ban on co-claiming for attendance along with the MBS mental health treatment items, says the Federal Department of Health.

An angry storm has raged over the targeting of 341 GPs for high rates of co-claims for items 2700-2717, with many GPs saying they now fear being audited and sanctioned for treating patients’ mental health issues with any physical issues they face.

However, in a statement to Australian Doctor, the department has declared there is “absolutely no suggestion that it is not appropriate to treat mental and physical conditions in the same visit to the doctor, and this is clear in the Medicare legislation and notes”.

Referring to its decision to write to the 341 doctors, it said the letters did not “prevent or restrict doctors” from preparing a Mental Health Treatment Plan and providing an additional consultation if they made a clinical assessment that a separate health concern needed to be treated.