Govt cuts GP payments for bowel screening paperwork
It says incentives are no longer needed because reports can be automatically generated by GP practice software
The decision to axe GP payments for filling out bowel cancer screening paperwork has been attacked by the AMA and the RACGP.
Until this year, the Federal Government paid $7.70 for completing the ‘GP Assessment Form’ notifying the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program of follow-up for patients returning positive faecal occult blood tests after screening.
GPs submitted about 60,000 assessment forms last year, with information on patients’ symptoms at the time of assessment and whether they were referred for colonoscopy or another examination.
But the paper-based questionnaires, along with the payments for sending them in, were phased out in December following an IT upgrade to the National Cancer Screening Register.
