Thousands of GPs around Australia received letters from Medicare. Medicare asked GPs to review compliance with the rules in relation to item 10997. Provision of monitoring and support for a person with a chronic disease by a practice nurse or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioner (item 10997) is Read more
Summary in point form: Unless a GP signed up for a formal ‘shared care’ arrangement, 16500 is the only item available for antenatal care. For formally recognised ‘shared care’ GPs, item 16590 OR item 16591 are available. Item 16500 can be billed as many times as needed during the pregnancy. Read more
This is a brief guide for GPs on Medicare item 4001. Non-directive Pregnancy Support Counselling Service – Medicare Item 4001 is worth $79.70. The Pregnancy Support Counselling item is for:· pregnant; or· who has been pregnant in the 12 months. Item 4001 can be billed three times per patient, per Read more
Question: Can a GP bill Medicare twice in one day for the same patient? Answer: Yes, a GP can bill the same patient twice on the same day if both attendances are reasonably spaced out in time and not being a continuation of the initial service. Attendancies must be reasonably Read more
Home Medication Review or Domiciliary Medication Management Review (DMMR) is one of the least used items by GPs. There are reasons for that. Firstly, DMMR is perceived as a cumbersome labour-intensive item. Secondly, there are some misconceptions about eligibility for DMMR. In fact, DMMR (HMR) is a very useful and Read more
Guide to General Practitioners. This post is not legal advice but rather a recollection of Medicare audits encountered by the author. My name is Paul Soloviev. I have had 20 years of consulting career in General Practice. Why GPs need to improve Medicare compliance and minimise the risk of Medicare Read more
Question from Dr M: Can I work from home and bill Medicare on the provider number registered at my home address? Answer: This question is asked again and again by some of our consulting clients. The simple answer is – yes. Billing Medicare from home is not a complicated process. Read more
Where to find help? Indemnity insurance, consultants. What to expect? There are various professionals that help with audits. However, none of them can be the only resource for getting through the audit. Advice by your indemnity insurance provider is useful. They engage lawyers to act in your interests. However, the Read more
You have reached an agreement with Medicare. What is next? How to reduce the impact of the ‘penalty’. Your accountant will assist you in recalculating the relevant tax returns. Repayments to Medicare are, essentially, refunds to customers and considered an expense. Ask for repayments to be arranged by instalments. BACK Read more
Medicare proposed the ‘punishment’. It is not the end of the game. Your options. You CAN negotiate with Medicare stating financial commitments, carer’s commitments, charity work etc. You will need statements and statutory declaration to justify that. BACK NEXT Share Tweet Share Share Follow