Why has it taken a decade for Medicare to embrace GP point-of-care tests?
The CEO of Pathology Technology Australia says it makes little financial sense for practices to adopt point-of-care tests for HbA1c alone
A revolution of sorts occurred in general practice last week when Federal Minister for Health Greg Hunt announced a Medicare item for point-of-care HbA1c tests will be available to GPs from November.
Recommended by the Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC), the rebate will be worth $11.80 per test and fund 190,000 tests for patients with existing diabetes.
The expansion of point-of-care tests has been a largely forgotten reform.
How significant is the government’s move? And what about troponin, INRs and C-reactive protein point-of-care tests?
