Stop hospitals using named referrals to exploit Medicare: RACGP
General practice funding suffers when hospitals require named referrals, the RACGP says.
The RACGP has used a review of national hospital funding deals to demand an end to hospitals requiring GPs to write named referrals to get their patients onto waitlists.
The latest five-year National Health Reform Agreement (NHRA) — which controls how federal, state and territory governments carve up $135 billion in health funding — is undergoing a mid-term review.
As the RACGP’s review submission points out, demands for named referrals distort the agreement because they give public hospitals a way of billing Medicare to fund outpatient clinics.
“Ultimately, the practice of named referrals uses money that has been allocated for primary health to pay for the hospital sector,” the RACGP says.
