GP launches petition to save Medicare phone items from chopping block
It it wrong to deny patients access to Medicare funding based on their choice of technology, says Dr Todd Cameron
A GP has launched an online petition to pressure the Federal Government to abandon its decision to cull more than a dozen Medicare items for phone consults.
From 1 July, virtually all the MBS items for phone-based GP consults will disappear including those for level C and level D consults – claimed more than three million times over the last 12 months.
In their place will be two items for phone consults under six minutes and over six minutes as well as four items covering mental health consults (see box).
But Dr Todd Cameron says it’s wrong for Medicare to dictate access to remote care based on a patient’s choice of technology.
