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AIHW report highlights importance of quality general practice consultations

EMBARGO:  1.00AM, WEDNESDAY 3 DECEMBER 2003

Chair of the AMA Council of General Practice, Dr David Rivett, said today that the Australian Institute of Health (AIHW) report, General Practice Activity in Australia 2002-03, sends a clear message that Medicare policy and the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) must provide incentives for longer quality general practice consultations for patients.

Dr Rivett said the MBS should encourage more 15-minute consultations for patients.

"The current inadequate MBS promotes so-called 'six-minute' medicine," Dr Rivett said.

"This is a failing of the Government's Medicare Plus package, too - the emphasis is on quicker consults instead of more comprehensive consults that deliver greater patient satisfaction which in turn deliver better health outcomes.

"The AIHW report shows longer consults over the last five years.  This is the way that GPs prefer to work.  But patients are not getting an appropriate Medicare rebate for these quality consultations.  If the MBS is not updated, patient gaps will increase.

"The increase in the number of longer consultations is a reflection of Australia's ageing population, the greater emphasis on preventative care, the availability of new effective therapies, and medical indemnity concerns.

"It is time to restore meaning to the term 'general practice'.  It is the AMA's view that programs - such as PIP and EPC - that reward GPs for treating a few specific diseases should be either scrapped or scaled down.  The current system of rewarding one disease entity over another with hidden payments is not in the best interests of patients and undermines the universality of Medicare.

"The Government should adopt the recommendations of the Attendance Item Restructure Working Group (AIRWG) to rejig the MBS rebate structure.  This would permit greater access by all patients to adequate time with their GP to ensure best possible health outcomes.

"Australian research shows that patients who have access to longer consultations with their GP will use other areas of the health system less often, saving the health system and the community money.

"GPs want to provide longer consultations as evidenced by the AIHW report.  It is now up to Government to fund the MBS appropriately to encourage quality general practice consultations," Dr Rivett said.

CONTACT:     John Flannery   (02) 6270 5477 / (0419) 494 761

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