Thinus van Rensburg wrote:
Bloody ridiculous - I shred mine after backups have been verified - why should there be different rules regarding recordkeeping between specialists and GPs?
Because the specialist is issuing accounts with Medicare item numbers that entitle the patient to claim a higher Medicare benefit for the specialist's services, on the basis that the patient has been referred to the specialist. The federal government has rules about what constitutes a valid referral for Medicare benefit purposes.
The onus therefore is on the specialist to keep and be able to show evidence that the patient was referred in accordance with the government's requirements for Medicare benefit purposes. A valid referral for Medicare benefits purposes has to be 'signed', either by hand on paper,or electronically with the referring doctor's individual digital certificate.
As I understand it, is is up to the medical specialist to decide whether he or she believes that a referral is valid for Medicare benefits purposes. If he or she believes that it is not valid, he or she can still see the patient and charge whatever fee he or she feels is appropriate, but can't use the 'referred rate' Medicare item numbers on the account.
We innocent GPs ;-) don't need to worry about all this unless and until our specialist colleagues start refusing to accept our referrals on the grounds that they are not valid for Medicare benefits purposes. For some services, such as some cosmetic treatments or surgery, no Medicare benefit is payable in any case and the question of validity of referral under Medicare is irrelevant.
Alles klar? -- Oliver Frank, general practitioner 255 North East Road, Hampstead Gardens, South Australia 5086 Phone 08 8261 1355 Fax 08 8266 5149 Mobile 0407 181 683 _______________________________________________ Gpcg_talk mailing list [email protected] http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk
