Double billing or appropriate billing?
In the latest issue of Australian Medicine, AMA Council of General Practice Chair, Dr Brian Morton, discusses the Government’s intention, from 1 November 2014, to stop MBS claiming for a standard consultation and chronic disease management (CDM) item for the same patient on the same day.
He argues that, although providing a consultation with a CDM item is not a common or routine practice for the majority of GPs, there are sometimes situations that provide good reason for doing so.
To further progress AMA advocacy on this issue, Dr Morton wrote this week to the Department of Health expressing concern that the blanket ban is poorly targeted and will impact on quite legitimate billing practices. As a solution, he recommended the Department replicate the same provisions that apply to MBS items for Health Assessments so that consultation items may be billed with CDM items if clinically necessary.
