Mark Butler’s plan to publish average fees of individual specialists risks misleading patients, Avant warns
The AMA is also alarmed that the bill would let the government publish other data including on patient outcomes.
Publishing the average fees charged by individual doctors could lead to more patients coming to appointments with false expectations about the costs, Avant warns.
Draft legislation introduced in February would let the Federal Government use Medicare data to populate its barely used $25 million Medical Costs Finder website with the average fees charged by specific non-GP specialists for common services.
The bill, currently before a Senate inquiry, would allow the government to publish GP data in the future.
However, publishing average fees for particular services would mask the “enormous variation” in costs related to patient complexity, anaesthetic needs, hospital differences and geography, indemnity provider Avant told the inquiry.
