This popped up today.
AMA proposes PCEHR consult items and fees
10th Apr 2012
GPs have been advised to charge each patient up to $210 when preparing a shared health summary for the government’s personally controlled e-health record (PCEHR) system, which will be rolled out from 1 July.
AMA president Dr Steve Hambleton said government had not created any new MBS items, and had not set aside any new funding, to remunerate GPs for the work they would put into creating shared health summaries.
“The public announcements from the government suggest that patients will only get a Medicare rebate if the shared health summary is prepared as part of an existing MBS consultation,” Dr Hambleton said.
“GPs are being asked to do more work in their consultations for no reward.
“We have sought more information and clarification but no formal public response has been forthcoming.”
More here:
The triggering release is here:
AMA sets its own items for managing a shared health summary for the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR)
10 April 2012 - 9:50am
The AMA has introduced its own items for preparing and managing a shared health summary for the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR).
AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said today that the Government had not created new items for doctors’ time and work with patients on the PCEHR and had not allocated any new funding in the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) to cover this new clinical service to be provided by doctors.
“The public announcements from the Government suggest that patients will only get a Medicare rebate if the shared health summary is prepared as part of an existing MBS consultation,” Dr Hambleton said.
“GPs are being asked to do more work in their consultations for no reward. We have sought more information and clarification but no formal public response has been forthcoming.
“So the AMA has taken the initiative to give doctors and their patients some certainty by setting items that realistically reflect the time, the work and the expertise required to ensure that shared health summaries are thorough, up-to-date, and useful across health care settings.
“The items provide guidance to AMA members on medical fees for this important clinical service for their patients. It is not a recommended fee. The AMA encourages its members to set their own fees based on their practice cost experience.
Full details here:
The recommended fees are between $53 and $210 depending on the time taken to set up and then maintain the patient’s NEHR.
At a minimum if we have a set up and then one maintenance consult for the cheapest rate over a year and the adoption reaches about 10% of the population the annual cost is $233.2 Million.
Of course of the 50% figure was reached in 5-10 years we are over the Billion p.a. figure.
I wonder did the geniuses who designed this parallel system show at that level there was value for money to be had. I suspect not.
They will be praying for zero adoption!
Nutty world we live in.
David.
