Medicare bewilderment making GPs ‘hesitant’ to bill chronic disease items to treat long COVID
The lack of clarity on whether MBS items for chronic disease management can be claimed for treating long COVID has become another GP headache, the RACGP says.
College president Adjunct Professor Karen Price said “the fiendishly complex Medicare system” was interfering with GP care for patients with long COVID — an estimated 500,000 patients over the course of the pandemic so far.
This was because the descriptors for GP management plans and team care arrangements required the condition to be present for at least six months.
“Due to the presentation of patients with long COVID earlier than six months from initial illness and the unknown sequalae of long COVID and likely recovery time, there is some hesitancy in utilising these item numbers,” the RACGP said.
