A plan to boost the number of fully bulk-billing general practice clinics is likely to fall dramatically short of forecasts, a healthcare directory operator warns.
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See subscription optionsLabor's $7.9 billion plan to expand the Bulk Billing Incentive Program to include non-concession patients projected the number of fully bulk-billing GP clinics to rise to 4800.
But healthcare directory operator Cleanbill estimates the number of entirely bulk-billing clinics will rise by just 740 to 2081 because incentive payments will not cover consultation costs for certain clinics.
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler slammed the report as inaccurate and fundamentally flawed.
"This is a headline-grabbing phone poll conducted by a private company whose own website says their data is not 'reliable, accurate, complete or suitable'," Mr Butler said in a statement.
"For the first time, Labor will expand bulk-billing incentives to all Australians and create an additional new incentive payment for practices that bulk bill every patient."
From November 1, clinics that bulk bill every patient will receive a 12.5 per cent payment for each consultation, along with a conditional, variable payment depending on the clinic's remoteness.
The report found it would only make sense for clinics to accept the Bulk Billing Incentive if their out-of-pocket costs were lower than the national average, or if they were more remote and attracted a higher incentive contribution.
"The vast majority (72 per cent) of GP clinics are located in metro areas, where the New Total Medicare Payment is still $16 below the current average total cost of a non-bulk-billed standard consultation," the Cleanbill report said.
It estimated the economic effect of the Bulk Billing Incentive expansion would need to be between 20 per cent and 30 per cent greater than the actual amount of the incentive payment for 4800 clinics to become fully bulk-billing as a result of the change.
Patients whose clinics did not switch to fully bulk billing would face higher out-of-pocket costs in future, Cleanbill said.
The federal health department said the report was based on a false assumption that if a GP did not bulk bill every patient, they bulk billed none.
Australian Associated Press
