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The following articles have the tag Steve Hambleton
SPECULATION of a potential freeze on MBS rebates has led to a call from doctors for the government to keep its “hands off Medicare” ahead of next week’s federal budget.
THE AMA has called for the Medical Board of Australia (MBA) to have a more active role in the way other health practitioner boards set standards for their registrants, warning the current approach risks siloing care and compromising clinical standards.
THE AMA has called for the Medical Board of Australia (MBA) to have a more active role in the way other health practitioner boards set standards for their registrants, warning the current approach risks siloing care and compromising clinical standards.
AS the Coalition heads towards likely election victory in September, Medicare Locals are trying to shore up bilateral support amid suggestions they are little more than Labor-induced layers of bureaucracy. But the diplomatic offensive looks like an uphill battle with Opposition health spokesman Peter Dutton accusing the government of creating new bureaucratic health positions with the establishment of MLs.
THE Medical Board of Australia (MBA) may target older doctors among groups deemed high risk as part of its proposed rolling revalidation scheme, MBA chair Dr Joanna Flynn said last week.
THE federal government’s Future Fund will offload $222 million worth of tobacco company investments because of the “damaging health effects” of tobacco products.
THE AMA has given its strongest endorsement of Medicare Locals (MLs), calling on both political parties to commit to a pre-election review to ensure the new primary healthcare bodies have “substance, purpose, meaning and direction”.
THE federal government's Future Fund will offload $222 million worth of tobacco company investments because of the "damaging health effects" of tobacco products.
THE impasse over the ability of GPs to collectively set fees within the same practice has finally been resolved, with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission formally giving the AMA authorisation to let practitioners agree on what they charge patients.
THE impasse over the ability of GPs to collectively set fees within the same practice has finally been resolved, with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission formally giving the AMA authorisation to let practitioners agree on what they charge patients.
AUSTRALIA has a role to play in exchange of information and ideas with China on health care, according to health leaders who attended an annual medical conference in Beijing late last month.
GP telehealth rebates will be restricted to people in designated areas of need and after hours video conferencing restricted to people in aged care facilities as the federal government clings to its forecast budget surplus.
PUBLIC health advocates have called for proposed changes in NSW laws broadening the scope of health complaints to be rolled out nationally, but doctors have warned that such a move could unfairly drive up the number of doctors being investigated.
GPs have finally been given clear permission to bill Medicare for the time they spend organising a patient’s e-health record, with new explanatory notes added to the MBS that doctors’ groups have hailed as a breakthrough.
GPs have finally been given clear permission to bill Medicare for the time they spend organising a patient’s e-health record, with new explanatory notes added to the MBS that doctors’ groups have hailed as a breakthrough.
A NEW “transparency taskforce” has been established by Medicines Australia following a rush of submissions to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) calling for full transparency of industry payments to healthcare professionals.
PUBLIC health leaders have called for tougher and more consistent regulation of unregistered alternative therapy providers but appeared split on whether more pre-emptive policing is needed to protect sometimes desperate and vulnerable consumers.
THE chief clinical expert advising the government on its e-health record system has claimed doctors involved were not properly informed about the final design, as efforts continue to overturn patients’ ability to delete documents from the record.
THE government has defended its investment in GP teaching in the face of AMA and RACGP demands to double the incentive payment for practices that teach medical students.
HEALTH experts have welcomed a new government sport sponsorship program designed to break the links between professional sport and alcohol.
THE long-awaited launch date for the government’s e-health records system passed by on the weekend, meaning patients can now register for a record, but doctors’ groups and MDOs have advised GPs to tread cautiously.
DOCTOR and consumer groups see no problem with aggressive discounting of generic atorvastatin, despite the Pharmacy Guild warning the tactics may threaten the viability of the industry.
A HEALTH department backdown has freed GPs of liability for “compromised or hacked” e-health records but the government is still demanding GPs obtain permission from the author of every document they upload to the system before doing so.
GPs will collect continuing professional development (CPD) points for completing training in the new-look children’s health checks, but will not be pressured to diagnose or meet arbitrary quotas, GP leaders have said.
PRESSURE is mounting on state and federal governments to find a solution to the developing shortage of intern positions for medical graduates, which will see an estimated 500 graduates miss out on further training this year.
PRIMARY care is winning the war of words for health funding at the expense of the hospital sector according to experts who argue the benefits of community based health care have been oversold.
THE AMA and VicHealth are calling for a ban on alcoholic energy drinks, following the death of a Melbourne schoolgirl.
SMOKING will be banned in playgrounds, public sports grounds, swimming pools, public transport stops and the entrances to public buildings in NSW under new laws introduced to parliament today.
THE AMA has thrown its support behind Human Services Minister Kim Carr after he unexpectedly ordered the re-auditing of hundreds of dentists who have claimed Medicare money under the controversial Chronic Disease Dental Scheme (CDDS).
AMA president Dr Steve Hambleton has vowed to maintain the fight against what he considers the federal government’s deliberate disempowering of doctors as he prepares to embark on his second year in the high profile role.
GPs have slammed a raft of budget cuts and changes to practice incentive payments announced last week, including the scrapping of the GP Immunisation Incentives Scheme, which experts say poses a serious public health risk.
EXPERTS have welcomed the government’s continued commitment to the personally controlled e-health records system but questioned the wisdom of forcing GPs to participate by threatening to withdraw practice incentive payments.
Dr Paul Mara, President, RDAA: “I’m not disappointed with this budget because, sadly, I wasn’t expecting much for rural health in the first place. The level to which the bureaucrats have listened to rural GPs is very poor and the government is really struggling to work out what its workforce strategy should be. More rural doctors will be leaving the bush for good.”
FORMER UK health minister Professor the Lord Darzi of Denham will be one of the keynote speakers to appear at the AMA National Conference, which will celebrate the association’s 50th anniversary in Melbourne next weekend.
A nurse-led clinic which opened in Brisbane’s Chermside Shopping Centre last year has replaced the nurse practitioners working there with GPs to “address the elephant in the room” - patients prefer to see GPs.
THE current pressures on vocational medical training places will grow into significant shortfalls over the coming decade unless action is taken now, according to the long-awaited Health Workforce 2025 report.
AUSTRALIA will face workforce shortages of 2700 doctors and 109,000 nurses by 2025 without “nationally coordinated reform”, according to the long-awaited Health Workforce 2025 report, released last week.
DOCTORS' groups have called for Health Workforce Australia’s long-awaited national training plan to be made public as soon as it is presented to the Australian Health Ministers’ Conference today.
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.
TWO weeks after Health Minister Tanya Plibersek announced MBS items would be available for doctors working with e-health records, there appears to be still no clear message from the minister or health department about how the new system will work.
TWO weeks after Health Minister Tanya Plibersek announced MBS items would be available for doctors working with e-health records, there appears to be still no clear message from the minister or health department about how the new system will work.
THE extent of the change to general practice to be brought by the government’s e-health records system has been outlined, with the release of a 26-page draft guide on use of the new system.
A REPORT discussing the potential decriminalisation of illicit drugs has drawn a mixed response from government and medical groups, despite being authored by some of Australia’s foremost experts.
THE federal government should combine the Medicare and PBS safety nets to ensure those who need help most get it, the AMA said today.
CONFUSION is lingering among GPs and doctor’s groups in the wake of Health Minister Tanya Plibersek’s announcement yesterday that MBS consultation items would be available for ‘nominated providers’ creating electronic shared health summaries.
CRITICS have heaped fresh scorn on the $650 million GP super clinics program after the latest facility opened with just two GPs and no evening or weekend service despite $25 million in government grants and earlier promises of after hours services.
INTERNATIONAL medical students are being used as a funding crutch according to experts who say the internship logjam could cripple medical schools around the country by scaring off students and drying up the revenue stream.
PHARMACISTS who are running down stock to manage PBS price reductions, due to take effect on 1 April, have come under fire from the government and doctors' groups who say the move will unnecessarily alarm patients.
THE NHMRC is expected to release a statement today in relation to fresh media reports the council may advise that treating patients with homeopathy is “unethical”.
DOCTOR and consumer groups have welcomed assurances that a Senate inquiry into the Community Pharmacy Agreement remains on the table.
MO asks experts for their opinions on the clinical or political issues making headlines.
GPs concerned about a major workload increase from managing the federal government's personally controlled electronic health record (PCEHR) are planning to confront the government with the initiative’s true cost to their business before it goes live.
REGISTRATION costs for GPs could rise by $25 to $695 a year in order to fund a national doctors’ health program under a new proposal by state and federal health ministers.
AUSTRALIA must close its remote immigration detention centres, which long-time detainees liken to funeral homes where they expect to die, Amnesty International says.
AUSTRALIAN GPs have featured prominently in the Australia Day honours list, including three GPs from the Barwon Division of General Practice in country NSW.
FORMER PSR director Dr Tony Webber has claimed he was gagged by the health department when he raised concerns that hospitals were “cost-shifting” by pressuring GPs to order preoperative tests through Medicare.
THE AMA has called for privacy laws to be permanently changed so doctors can record patient family medical histories without the threat of being prosecuted.
CLAIMS that GPs or doctors’ groups could pay a levy to help run the Professional Services Review (PSR) have been rejected by experts who say the suggestion is out of date and probably never intended to be made public.
AMA president Dr Steve Hambleton has urged GPs to join the fight against the Australian Nursing Federation’s push to impose enterprise agreements, which the AMA claims would drive up the cost of employing nursing staff.
DOCTOR and consumer groups have called on the government to crack down on junk food advertising, after an Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) report found no evidence that industry regulation had reduced the number of ads seen by kids.
EXPERTS have hailed a trial of in-home telemonitoring of veterans as the future of general practice, predicting the national broadband scheme and other new technology will “change the face of patient care”.
A TRIAL program delivering in-home telemonitoring technology connecting chronically ill veterans with their GPs and healthcare teams, set to begin next year, could signal the future of general practice.
GPs are leading the way in measures of patient satisfaction, according to an Australian Bureau of Statistics report detailing patient experiences of health professionals.
AUSTRALIA will lose more GPs, nurses and pharmacists to retirement than it trains between 2017 and 2026 unless major changes are made, according to a study of retirement trends in Australia’s skilled workforce.
THE AMA Ethics Committee will review GPs’ responsibility to inform patients of any ties with pharmaceutical companies, after the Pharmacy Guild of Australia was again forced to defend its extensive involvement with industry, this time over genetics-based weight loss programs. The guild came under fire last week for its endorsement of a weight loss program based on a genetic test offered by Melbourne company MyGene, reported by MO earlier this year ( MO online, 12 April). The controversy followed recent criticism of payments from Pfizer to pharmacists who enrolled patients in medication compliance support ...
A COALITION of health groups has renewed calls for the federal government to release vulnerable asylum seekers from immigration detention following reports of increasing self-harm and mental illness. The death of a refugee at Sydney's Villawood centre this week has sparked fresh debate about Australia's mandatory detention policy. Mental health groups on Friday demanded the Gillard government and the immigration department urgently establish an independent mental health review process to assess, treat and make community placement orders for vulnerable detainees. "[The government should] release all those with mental ...
HEALTH Minister Nicola Roxon has taken a swipe at the AMA following the association’s call for the auditor-general to investigate the federal government's GP super clinics program. The move by the AMA comes after Ms Roxon announced the scrapping of a planned clinic in Darwin on Wednesday and the axing of a Tasmanian super clinic last week. AMA president Dr Steve Hambleton has written to Auditor-General Ian McPhee "urging a thorough audit of the program by the Australian National Audit Office". Dr Hambleton accused the government of putting political needs ...
A DARWIN doctor has told a parliamentary inquiry that a nine-year-old child in immigration detention tried to commit suicide. Dr Peter Morris, from the Northern Territory branch of the AMA, told the inquiry into Australia's detention network he was aware of the case, which occurred in May. Dr Morris, who works at the Royal Darwin Hospital, later told AAP that it was not an isolated incident with other children from the centre having also been treated, some for self-harm. According to Dr Morris there were about two adults turning up ...
A NEW range of Pharmacy Guild-endorsed supplements from Blackmores will be “the gold cross pharmacists will have to bear”, according to doctors’ groups, who say the deal will destroy the trust of GPs and patients. A partnership between Blackmores and the guild, announced last week, will see the GuildCare software used by pharmacists to provide a prompt to recommend one of four ‘Blackmores Companions’ products when certain prescriptions are filled. Blackmores CEO Christine Holgate told Pharmacy News last week the deal would give pharmacists an opportunity to provide the ...
FEDERAL Health Minister Nicola Roxon has hit back at critics of the opt-in system for setting up individual electronic health records, saying people shouldn't have to make the switch before they are ready.
GPs swamped in paperwork have been urged to charge at their top hourly rate when responding to requests for patient information, after a Sydney GP described a life insurance information company as “parasites of the worst order”. Dr Jeffrey Watts was angered by his recent experience with UHG, a company providing “healthcare solutions for insurers, employers and individuals”, after the company requested medical information about a patient for an insurance matter. Dr Watts said he was astounded to have been asked to provide further details after submitting a report to the company, and it was time for ...
SMARTCLINICS founder Steven Dahl has hit back at claims from doctors’ groups that his nurse practitioner-led private clinics – set to begin in Brisbane later this month – could jeopardise patient safety. AMA Queensland president Dr Richard Kidd and AMA president Dr Steve Hambleton both told MO they had serious concerns about the clinics, but Mr Dahl said he was “surprised” by the comments. “We have had a number of conversations with the AMA and have taken their advice on board,” Mr Dahl said. “Each clinic will be ...
A NEW GP-led coordinated care program aims to reduce avoidable admissions to hospital of veterans with chronic and complex diseases. The program will allow GPs to provide comprehensive care to veterans with the support of a practice or community nurse contracted by the Department of Veterans Affairs. DVA minister Ian Campbell launched the program at the Australian Disease Management Association Conference in Canberra last night. AMA president Dr Steve Hambleton welcomed the program’s comprehensive approach to the management of chronic and complex diseases. “One of the greatest challenges in caring for older people is ensuring ...
The health effects of mandatory detention on asylum seekers will continue to be an issue for doctors, despite politicians from both major parties telling the AMA to butt out yesterday. Liberal MP Don Randall and Labor MP Graham Perrett both criticised comments made by president, Dr Steve Hambleton, during an AMA parliamentary dinner on Wednesday night. “The AMA believes that the system of mandatory detention of asylum seekers is inherently harmful to the physical and mental health of detainees,” Dr Hambleton told the dinner. “The harm is especially acute in the case of children. “Despite improvements ...
DOCTORS have welcomed the finalisation of the Federal Government’s health and hospital reforms but warned the deal is far from perfect and is more about financial, rather than system reform. WA Premier Colin Barnett ended a 15-month stand-off with the government when he announced yesterday the state would back the deal, clearing the way for Prime Minister Julia Gillard to sign off on the multi-billion dollar agreement today. Under the deal, the Federal Government will pay for up to 50% of public hospital costs from 2014–15, providing an extra $16.4 billion to the ...
GPs have been given a chance to describe how the administrative burden of government paperwork is affecting their practice, with the AMA claiming family doctors are spending up to nine hours a week dealing with red tape. AMA president Dr Steve Hambleton said the association had launched an online survey to find out exactly how administrative tasks were impacting on individual GPs, practices and patients. “Research shows that family doctors are required to spend up to nine hours a week on government red tape,” he said. “Filling ...
AUSTRALIAN patients could suffer under the Federal Government's changes to the PBS, the AMA has warned. The association is urging the government to reverse its decision to delay new listings to the PBS – a decision it made in February because of budget constraints. Under the old system, medicines costing the government less than $10 million to subsidise got the go-ahead automatically, if approved by an independent expert committee. But Cabinet now gets to delay consideration of all new drugs regardless of whether they've received the tick from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC). AMA ...
PROFESSIONAL Services Review (PSR) director Dr Tony Webber has backed down on a promise to publish the annual Report to the Professions this year and will instead add information on specific cases to its annual report. The news follows earlier calls from the AMA for the information in the report to be disseminated in a more constructive way. AMA president Dr Steve Hambleton previously argued that while information gathered by PSR committees could be valuable to practitioners, it could be better disseminated to doctors, possibly via the colleges and professional bodies to both members and non-members. ...
SENIOR GPs are being urged to make themselves available to serve on Professional Services Review (PSR) committees when applications open later this year. AMA president Dr Steve Hambleton said the input of senior doctors would help rebuild the profession’s confidence in the process following the forced resignations of all panellists late last year amid revelations that they had not been appointed in line with required protocols. The resignations subsequently led to all 39 cases before the PSR at the time being dropped. “We want to make sure we have the right people on the committees so ...
THE Federal Government has been handed a fresh warning against any move to tie doctors’ participation in the personally controlled e-health record (PCEHR) system to MBS rebates. A proposal to restrict MBS rebates to only those services carried out by doctors signed up to the Government’s PCEHR system had been recommended by the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC). But in its submission to ongoing consultation on the PCEHR blueprint – set to close this week – the AMA warned against any such move. “The AMA is strongly opposed to any measure that would directly ...
HEALTH Minister Nicola Roxon has urged incoming AMA president Dr Steve Hambleton to work with the Government on Medicare Locals and defended the “sensible recalibration” of rebates for GP mental health plans, in a speech to the association’s national conference in Brisbane today. Ms Roxon urged Dr Hambleton to “stay inside the tent” when it came to discussing Medicare Locals, following ongoing criticisms from the AMA of the rollout of the organisations. The AMA has called for the rollout to be put on hold until the exact functions Medicare Locals will have are made clearer and GP ...
PROFESSIONAL Services Review director Dr Tony Webber says he will issue a report to the professions this year despite criticism from the AMA that the reports have been used in the past by the media to unfairly ‘bash’ doctors. Writing in the latest issue of Australian Medicine , AMA vice president Dr Steve Hambleton said Dr Webber had put “a headline ahead of the facts” by citing “isolated examples of inappropriate practice and claiming that they were widespread”. Dr Webber’s comments had caused the profession to lose faith in the Professional Services Review (PSR) while ...
THE Federal Government has been urged to reconsider the structure of its practice nurse incentive, after an AMA survey revealed more than half of doctors considered they would be financially worse off under the measure. Announced as part of the May federal Budget, the $390 million scheme will see practices paid an incentive of $25,000 per GP to employ a practice nurse. However, the incentive will be capped at a maximum of $125,000 and GPs will forfeit income from the practice nurse MBS items. An AMA survey of 257 practices released last week showed that 56% believed ...
THE Federal Government should have given practice nurses greater freedom rather than granting MBS and PBS access to nurse practitioners, GP groups say. The AMA and RACGP have hit out at the Federal Government over its decision last month to give the go-ahead to nurse practitioners to claim benefits from the MBS and PBS. The GP groups say it should have instead given the green light to practice nurses to prescribe and order tests because their relationship with GPs is stronger. AMA vice-president and GP Dr Steve Hambleton said the association would have recommended that Australia ...
The ink is nearly dry on the latest five-year agreement between pharmacists and the Federal Government. So what’s the verdict? Elizabeth McIntosh finds out.
CONTROVERSIAL laws granting nurse practitioners MBS and PBS access have stalled in the Senate after the Bill was referred for review by a legislative committee for a second time. The most recent blockage of the Bill’s progress comes as laws to enact new powers allowing Medicare to access patient records for compliance audits were also held up while the Senate and House of Representatives negotiated fresh amendments. Both houses of Parliament are due to sit again next week, however as MO went to press neither Bill was listed for debate, meaning the Government may have ...
AS GP frustrations at proposed healthcare reform boiled over in western Sydney this week, the AMA announced a new taskforce to protect GP interests. The association is currently drawing together a new GP Campaign Taskforce, to be charged with assessing and tackling the threats and impacts of proposed health reform in the lead-up to next year’s federal election. The taskforce emerged as doctors attending the recent day of action voted to establish their own body - Doctors Action - to step up the fight against government policies, involving the role of nurse practitioners and the establishment ...
THE Federal Government has given itself an official tick of approval for its attempts to cut red tape, despite its ongoing failure to release a streamlined MBS promised nearly a year ago. In its annual report released last week, the Health Department claimed it had met its performance indicator on simplifying the MBS, however frustrated GPs are still waiting to see the end results. The news comes just days after the department released its annual update of the MBS, which contained none of the promised changes to Level C and D item descriptors, nor the consolidation of ...
AFTER months of intense lobbying, the Government has bowed to GP pressure and amended proposed legislation to ensure nurse practitioners must work in collaborative partnerships with doctors. In what is being heralded as a win for the profession, Health Minister Nicola Roxon (pictured) last week announced the new stipulation would be built into legislation that will grant nurse practitioners access to the MBS and PBS from November 2010. However, the victory has been tempered by the news that legislation effectively handing politicians’ control of medical education and training standards has been passed by the Queensland Parliament, and ...
APPROPRIATE collaborative frameworks that strengthen team care are the lynchpin to winning doctor support for an expanded nurse practitioner role, Australian GPs have revealed. A recent MO survey showed that nearly half of all GPs would employ or support the employment of a nurse practitioner in their practice, with the caveat that appropriate clinical frameworks would need to be in place. Of 152 GPs surveyed nationally by Cegedim Strategic Data, 48% indicated they would work with a nurse practitioner under an appropriate team-based model, while a further 28% said they would consider it. The ...
ANNUAL medical registration costs are set to rise under the controversial national registration and accreditation scheme set to begin next July. National Medical Board of Australia chair Dr Joanna Flynn has conceded doctors will face an increase under the national scheme. However, it was hard to quantify until the registration model was closer to being finalised, she added. Her comments follow a recent MJA article by Dr Kerry Breen, chair of the Victorian Doctors Health Program and former president of the Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria, indicating that a steep rise in the annual registration ...
A NEW study has called for pharmacists and nurses with advanced training to play a greater role and improve outcomes for older people with chronic disease. The Australian research follows a backlash against recent calls for community pharmacists to expand their role in primary care teams amid GPs’ fears patient care would be put at risk because pharmacists were not trained to diagnose ( MO , 18 September ). While critical of the study’s method of measuring effectiveness in disease management, AMA vice-president Dr Steve Hambleton supported its recommendation of team care funding reforms, which he ...
DOCTORS have condemned a study suggesting pharmacists should replace doctors for treatment of minor ailments, saying such a move would further fragment care and lead to unacceptable conflicts of interest for the pharmacy industry. The study, conducted by health economist David Gadiel for the Australian Self Medication Industry (ASMI), claims a shift to pharmacy as the first point of call for minor ailments could free up between 500 and 1000 full-time GPs to take on more complex patients. Under the model, pharmacists would treat conditions such as headache, joint pain, acute upper respiratory tract infection, viral infection ...