Thursday, November 30, 2006
Medicare Bulk Billing Spells Ill Health For The Health System
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is not in favor of the rise in Medicare bulk billing, which is not a good prognosis for the health system. Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott released some alarming statistics that show the extent of bulk billing, having risen to 75% nationally.
According to Dr Kim Bulwinkel, from AMA Queensland, when doctors get poorly compensated, they would resort to seeing more patients, in order to make it a feasible option. In his words, Bulk billing is a way of institutionalizing the undervaluing of medical service.
You can't provide a good caring service, you can't provide the time to care when you have to push through a patient every six to ten minutes for eight to nine hours a day to maintain enough cash flow to support the business of a medical centre.
According to Dr Kim Bulwinkel, from AMA Queensland, when doctors get poorly compensated, they would resort to seeing more patients, in order to make it a feasible option. In his words, Bulk billing is a way of institutionalizing the undervaluing of medical service.
You can't provide a good caring service, you can't provide the time to care when you have to push through a patient every six to ten minutes for eight to nine hours a day to maintain enough cash flow to support the business of a medical centre.
# posted by Medical Information : 12:57 AM
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
