General Practice

Can we bill items 160-164 for voluntary assisted dying?

1 October 24

This question asked whether items 160 to 164 could be billed in the context of voluntary assisted dying (VAD).

Can GPs bill home visit item numbers for voluntary assisted dying patients admitted to a private hospital?

1 October 24

This GP has completed training for voluntary assisted dying (VAD) and has been receiving some referrals from nurses who run the VAD navigator service. The GP has been asked if they would be willing to see these patients when they are admitted in a private hospital if the GP is credentialled.

Can we charge facility fees to cover the cost of consumables when bulk billing?

30 September 24

A GP practice wanted to know how to “manage” facility fees for bulk billing patients. The question said that the practice needed to charge this fee to cover the cost of consumables, but the doctors also wanted to bulk bill and be able to claim the full bulk bill incentives. The practice is in a regional area where the bulk bill incentives are highest.

Can vocationally registered GPs claim any non-urgent after-hours attendances for admitted private patients?

26 September 24

Can vocationally registered (VR) GPs claim any non-urgent after-hour attendance item numbers for admitted inpatients? For example, the “in-consultation room” items 5020/5040. Or are we restricted to items 4/24/37/etc?

Can a podiatrist’s receptionist sign the acceptance of a GP referral?

24 September 24

When a podiatrist has received a referral from a GP to be involved in a coordinated care plan, can their receptionist sign the acceptance of the referral?

Do you have to withhold billing item 723 until a formal acceptance to participate is received from at least 2 care team members?

19 September 24

At our practice we do not hold the billing, and we charge item 723 on the same day as the GPMP (721). I have heard of other practices who withhold the 723 billing until signed faxes are exchanged with team care members so that it is all documented before charging.

Is there any way to charge only the gap and receive the Medicare rebate directly to our account rather than via a cheque sent to the patient?

20 January 21

The question asked was: Is there any way to do outpatient billings where the patient pays the gap only on the day, and then the clinic submits a claim for the unpaid Medicare rebate? Currently the patient pays us the gap only as cash on the day, and we need to then bill Medicare for the unpaid rebate. Medicare sends a cheque for the rebate amount to the patient, and they then have to send it to our practice. It takes a lot of time chasing the cheques. Is there was a way to get the cheques addressed to us rather than the patient such as by changing the billing address recorded at Medicare maybe? Also, can we get the 90-day cheque reimbursement from Medicare directed to us so we can follow up on rejected claims?

Can a GP with surgical training bill item 41764?

17 August 20

A general practitioner has asked whether they can claim item 41764 given they have appropriate surgical training to perform the procedure, which is a nasendoscopy/sinoscopy.

Are annual enrolment or membership fees legal in a bulk billing setting?

1 August 20

Annual enrolment or membership fees have become a controversial feature of bulk billing GP practices in recent years. One example was the now defunct National Health Co-op in the ACT, which publicly charged a $100 per year membership fee and a $30 sign up fee in return for bulk billed services. It was even awarded State based grants to support this business model. However, there is debate around the legalities of these arrangements with the Federal Government expressing the view that such arrangements breach the bulk billing law.

Can a group of specialists operating under a single brand, but with their own separate practices, agree to charge the same fees?

1 August 20

A group of haematologists in private practice, who operate across various locations under a single brand with a central point of contact, asked if they could agree to all charge the same fees. Behind the brand, they each operate their own private practices with separate legal entities, separate ABNs and so on. They also asked if anything changed if they all agreed to bulk bill everyone.

Can we co-claim a consultation every time we do a bone marrow biopsy?

3 July 20

A haematologist said that he and some colleagues were considering personally performing bone marrow aspirates and trephines (items 30084 and 30087) and explained that the MBS rebates for these procedures barely covered the cost of consumables, let alone the time taken, so they would have to charge gaps. However, he had heard that they could also claim an item 110 or 116 consultation item number at the same time as every aspirate procedure, because they review the patient’s appropriateness for the procedure, and obtain their consent.

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