Medicare's 2% rise will be swallowed: adviser

THE 2 per cent rise in Medicare payments for doctors performing long consultations was a token and would soon be swallowed by increased staff costs generated by the Government's industrial changes, says a medical management adviser, David Dahm.''I don't think it will create any incentive for doctors to do long consultations,'' said Mr Dahm who advises doctors on how to manage their practices.It was possible, he said, that other industrial changes covering medical receptionists which begin next year would have a greater impact on practice, causing doctors to opt for shorter hours and pushing more patients towards public hospital emergency departments.The looming problem for doctors, particularly those with small practices, was how to cope with the changes under the Fair Work Act which would require extra costs for staff working overtime and Saturdays.Mr Dahm was commenting on changes to Medicare payments announced by the Health Minister, Nicola Roxon, which were aimed at reducing red tape and encouraging longer consultations. Payments will rise by up to $1.85 to $97.80 per consultation for GPs spending at least 40 minutes with a patient.The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners said the changes were ''a first step'' to simplifying Medicare benefits. It urged the Government to look at other changes, including higher rebates for high-quality general practice care.The college president, Chris Mitchell, said a recent report had confirmed that the complexity of work performed by GPs had ''dramatically increased'' in the past 10 years.''However, the 2 per cent increase in rebates for long consultations … while welcome, still does not provide sufficient incentives for longer and more comprehensive consultations and will do little to assist GPs to direct bill the most disadvantaged in our community,'' he said.