Friday 23 December 2016
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geelongindy.com.au
Visiting GPs ‘set to slash service’ The loss of the Medicare rebate for in-home doctors could leave about 15,000 people in the Geelong region worse off, according to a national provider. National Home Doctor Service chief medical officer, Doctor Umberto Russo, said potential cuts would affect the elderly and children most severely. “Doctor home visits are an essential Medicare service vital for the most vulnerable people in our community.” In the last financial year 15,226 people used the service in the electorates of Corio (9419) and Corangamite (5807). One third of these were under 15 years old, while almost another third of these were over 65. “In the federal electorate of Corangamite, one in four home visit patients were children under 15, and almost half of patients were adults aged over 64 years,” Dr Russo said. “Children and elderly family members can fall sick at any time of the day or night - not just in business hours when GP clinics are open.”
A decade ago then Prime Minister John Howard introduced afterhours doctor home visits to Medicare. But according Dr Russo, the service has come under threat with calls for the Medicare rebate to be removed in the government’s Medicare Benefit Schedule (MBS) review. “If home visits weren’t available more families would go to emergency departments for health problems that are not emergencies but cannot wait for treatment until business hours,” he said. “For regional communities ... getting health services when you need it is hard enough, but any cuts to this service will make things even harder.“ Dr Russo said an average home visit cost the government $128. He compared this to $368 on average for an emergency department visit. A report by Deloitte Access Economics found a lack access to after-hours doctor home would cost the health system $724m over four years, he said. Continued page 5
IT’S A WRAP: Geelong netball star Maddi Robinson wraps gifts at Market Square Shopping Centre yesterday in a fundraiser for Queenscliff’s Cottage by the Sea. (Lindsay Kelley)
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