Kirsten Livermore (Capricornia, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to join the member for Blair and other colleagues in supporting the Health Insurance Amendment (Pathology Requests) Bill 2010. This bill removes the requirement that a request for a Medicare eligible pathology service be made to a particular pathology provider.

Currently, when a doctor sends a patient off for a diagnostic test, the patient will be handed a request form including the name of a particular pathology provider. This has been a feature of the existing Medicare arrangements according to which a Medicare benefit is only payable if a designated pathology provider is named in the referral request. The patient is, therefore, required to go to the pathology provider specified by his or her doctor. This means that the choice of pathology provider is one for the doctor to make. Usually the doctor hands the patient a form produced by a pathology provider headed up with that provider’s logo and brand, and that is the provider the patient goes to. The referral request must nominate a specific pathology provider for the service to be eligible for a Medicare rebate.

This bill seeks to amend the Health Insurance Act to remove that requirement. Our proposal is for patients to be free to take the pathology request to any approved and accredited pathology provider. The act will still require a pathology provider to be in receipt of a referral from a medical practitioner. There will, however, no longer be a requirement for that referral request to specify a particular pathology provider in order for the service to be Medicare rebatable.

Under this new system the patient will be free to go to any accredited pathology provider and a rebate will be payable for that service. There is nothing in the bill to stop doctors from advising their patients on their choice of pathology provider, and providers are still allowed to produce branded request forms and to provide these to medical practitioners. Changes to current regulations will, however, mean that the forms will now also include an obvious statement to make patients aware that requests can be taken to any approved pathology provider of their choice.

This is a change, but it is important to note that the proposal in this bill is similar to the system that has operated in the diagnostic imaging sector for some time. In contrast to the pathology sector, when a patient is referred to a diagnostic imaging provider, there has been no corresponding requirement for a particular provider to be nominated in the request. Patients with a referral to a diagnostic imaging service can take their request for service to any provider. This change simply brings the pathology sector into line with the existing practice in the diagnostic imaging sector.

On the face of it this measure is a very simple one. It is, however, part of the government’s broader response to the challenge of preparing our health system for the future. We know that we face rising health costs due to our growing population, the ageing of the population and the increase in chronic disease. These are all big challenges that will put huge demands on our health system. We came to government knowing that we had to undertake reform of our health system to make sure it is ready to meet those demands. To do that we have to remove the duplication and inefficiencies from the current system. We have to make sure that our health spending dollar is spent as efficiently and effectively as possible. This measure to increase patient choice and encourage competition in the pathology sector is consistent with those goals.

In debating this bill the last time it was before the House, I used my time to talk about my support for the Labor government’s health reform measures generally and to talk specifically about how our investment in my electorate has made and is making a big difference to capacity for health services within Central Queensland. We had a huge investment of $75 million for the expansion of the Rockhampton Base Hospital in the 2008-09 budget and, more recently, $67 million was committed to a cancer centre for the Rockhampton Base Hospital. I was delighted with the support that the Minister for Health and Ageing gave to my electorate in making that decision. It will make a huge difference to the way in which people are treated; they can be treated for many more forms of cancer and be looked after in their home town without having to travel away from their families.

I would like to quickly mention another very exciting thing that is happening in the health sector in my electorate. The minister will find out more about this tomorrow when the Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Central Queensland University visits Canberra to speak to her about what is going on at both the Rockhampton and the Mackay campuses of the university. Commencing in 2011, in Rockhampton the university will commence a new course in paramedic science and the Mackay campus will offer a medical stenography program.

I visited the Mackay campus a couple of weeks ago, and the head of the campus showed me around the work being done to prepare the facilities for that medical stenography course to start. I was told today that the university has already received 200 first preference applications for the paramedic science degree and, similarly, 200 first preference applications for the stenography and medical imaging program at the Mackay campus. It is great to see that all sections of the health sector, whether it is facilities at our major hospitals or these investments in producing our very own local, fully trained and qualified health workforce, are moving in the right direction. With the continued support of our Labor government I am very confident that we will continue to see this improvement in health services in Central Queensland.

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