Medicare rebates for longer GP consultations should be increased to reduce the financial advantage of shorter appointments, according to a major review of time-tiered MBS items.

The interim report by the MBS Review Advisory Committee’s time-tiered primary care working group is wide-ranging.

It suggests scrapping the MBS acupuncture items, ditching the separate items for GPs with and without additional mental health training, and increasing rebates for after hours urgent care (see box below).

However, the report does not suggest either a dollar amount or percentage increase for level C, D and E consults because it is beyond its terms of reference.