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Cut the red tape

The AMA has sent a very clear message to the Federal Government’s recently-convened National Commission of Audit to cut the red tape in medical practice. The AMA submission focuses on simplifying the excessive regulatory and administrative burden placed on medical practitioners and puts forward a number of proposals for cutting red tape.

AMA research shows that a large number of GPs spend up to nine hours or more each week meeting their red tape obligations. Every hour a GP spends doing paperwork equates to around four patients who are denied access to their doctor.

Among a range of initiatives, the AMA is recommending the abolition of the PBS authority system and the streamlining of Medicare arrangements that target chronic and complex disease.

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