Doctor education, not ‘nudge’ letters, the key to MBS compliance, says AMA
Too many innocent practitioners are being subjected to emotional and financial distress, lobby group claims
A lack of education on the MBS means some GPs only learn their billing is considered inappropriate after receiving a threatening letter from health officials, the AMA says.
The specialty reacted with outrage last week, after the Department of Health’s compliance unit wrote to 341 GPs demanding an explanation for why they were co-claiming high volumes of attendances with mental health treatment items.
The department said the letters were only sent to GPs who claimed the items together at least 50% of the time and more frequently than 98% of their peers.
But GPs labelled the campaign a “trial by statistics”, with some insisting they were unaware there was any restriction on co-claiming the items.
