GPs could be forced to refer patients with unhealed wounds to specially trained pharmacists and nurses for management, under a scheme proposed by an MBS review committee.

When the MBS Review Taskforce’s wound management working group published its draft report last year, the headline recommendation was to end the ban on charging for bandages in bulk-billed consultations.

The idea was welcomed by the AMA and RACGP, which both argued practices lost money whenever they provided bulk-billed wound care because of the cost of dressings.

But the college has baulked at a more ambitious plan buried in the report’s 29 recommendations, involving the funding and recognition of a network of specialist wound care clinics.