Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I want to thank all of the speakers to this bill. The Health Legislation Amendment (Improved Medicare Compliance and Other Measures) Bill 2018 amends the Health Insurance Act 1973, the Dental Benefits Act 2008 and the National Health Act 1953 to implement measures announced in the 2017 budget. These measures will support the integrity of Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, and will strengthen Medicare as part of a broader package that includes record funding for Medicare, each year, every year; record funding for hospitals, each year, every year; and record bulk-billing levels, up 3.8 per cent since we came to government.

The amendments are supported by our historic compacts with the Australian Medical Association and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. These compacts reflect shared principles that support a stronger, sustainable health system, including improved compliance processes to ensure Medicare overpayments are detected and recovered.

While the majority of health practitioners claim Medicare benefits appropriately, a very small number of practitioners do not. Where inappropriate claims are made—again, I emphasise that it is a rare and infrequent occurrence, not reflective of the extraordinary general practitioner population—some practitioners refuse to agree to repayment arrangements, yet they are still able to claim benefits through Medicare. In these cases, the amendments will allow future bulk-billed claims to be reduced or offset by up to 20 per cent until the debt is recovered. For those practitioners who do not bulk-bill, the amendments will allow garnisheeing of other funds owed to them if they do not enter into a repayment plan within 90 days. No patients will be affected by these arrangements.

I note there has been an increase in the role of practices, corporate entities and hospitals in the billing of MBS services on behalf of the individual practitioner. The amendments ensure that where these arrangements exist both the practitioner and their employer, or other related party, are responsible for the repayment of the debt. This change represents a significant shift, moving to a fairer distribution of the liability for debt, and is supported by key stakeholders, including the AMA and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.

The Health Legislation Amendment (Improved Medicare Compliance and Other Measures) Bill 2018 provides additional safeguards to protect doctors. Through further consultation, the AMA identified that proposed changes to the Professional Services Review Scheme may have had the unintended consequence of subjecting a practitioner to both disqualification from billing Medicare and a possible criminal prosecution for failing to attend in accordance with summons. This is not the intent. We have listened and we will therefore amend the bill accordingly. The amendment bill will also ensure that existing debts owed to the Commonwealth can be recovered.

I thank the members for their contributions to the debate on this bill and in particular the AMA and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and other proponents within the health sector for their support and assistance with this bill. I also want to thank the opposition for their support. I commend the bill to the House.

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