The Federal Government should force the AMA to reveal its list of recommended fees for doctors as one measure to bring down specialist costs for patients, a leading health economist says.

The fee guide is kept from public view and is only available to AMA members and is pitched as a way to “support informed fee setting, billing decisions and greater understanding of the true cost and value of medical services”.

But Monash University’s Professor Anthony Scott says any set benchmark for fees will generally mean the specialists ensure their fees “gravitate” towards it.

“It is not available publicly, so it is difficult to know how much this drives fee relativities and fee growth over time,” Professor Scott wrote. “Each year, fees are indexed, but the evidence on which this is based is unclear.”