HI All
You may have read the Medical Observer article on the EFPOS Swipe card. The AMA did not like it and said it was grossly incorrect. The hansard seems to prove other wise http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/senate/commttee/S10037.pdf Please take the time to discuss this with your local Division and politicians asking if they support giving $50,000,000 to the bank each year- or allow gap billing and use either the money saved or the money not give to the banks to pay for other government services. Regards James Bishop Longevity Medical Ph 03 98482009 Fax 03 98407064 Mb 0413582615 _____ From: James [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, 27 February 2007 11:07 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'Julia Nesbitt' Cc: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: FW: electronic Medicare claiming HI Andrew, Julia CC Dr Haikerwal Andrew, your M.O. article has been proven as almost 100% correct. The AMA response does not appear to make any sense at all? In the Hansard (link below) Ms Argall states "174,000,000" gross transactions and price of "$0.23" per transaction being the agreed contract price with the Commonwealth bank. Then "Ms Argall-The transaction fees were $37.147 million in 2008-09 and $43.437 million in 2009-10" If the take up is as strong as most people predict the cost of $40,020,000.00 (being 174000000 by .23c) will happen sooner rather than later. On a side note they will sack 683 staff- presumably mostly on country areas where private billing is more common. Gap billing archives the same cost saving with $0 costs- The infrastructure required for GAP billing exists in the infrastructure for Bulk Billing. Why does the Government want to give the banks 40 -50 million per year. Julia, why the AMA is supporting this is beyond me. Haggling if it is the health budget or the FINANCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION Budget is completely irrelevant- The money would pay for the rotor- virus vaccine. Could you ask Dr. Mukesh Haikerwal to consider if this is an appropriate policy for the AMA? Regards James Bishop Longevity Medical Ph 03 98482009 Fax 03 98407064 Mb 0413582615 _____ From: MedicareBeFair [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, 26 February 2007 8:59 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: electronic Medicare claiming http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/senate/commttee/S10037.pdf Page 60 Senator WONG-I am happy to do Medicare now. Has the Commonwealth Bank been awarded any contract in relation to electronic Medicare claiming? Ms Mellor-The Commonwealth Bank signed a contract to deliver Medicare electronic claiming on 21 December. It is the first bank of a number, we hope, that will sign up to deliver that service. Senator WONG-Did that go to tender? Ms Mellor-The process for procurement for this contract was to offer an open approach to members of the Consumer Electronic Clearing System under APCA, the Australian Payments Clearing Association. These are organisations that can provide EFTPOS services in Australia. There are a number of banks involved and some other organisations. Senator WONG-So there was a limited tender approach taken. Ms Mellor-Yes. It does involve a uniform contract, so every organisation that chooses to sign that contract signs the same contract under the same terms and conditions. Senator WONG-Fixed price? Ms Mellor-Yes. Senator WONG-What is the price? Ms Mellor-It is 23c per transaction. Ms Scott-It is like an accreditation process whereby you stipulate the quality and the quantity. Senator WONG-When did the government announce the Commonwealth Bank's signing up to this process? Ms Mellor-The government did not announce that it signed up; the Commonwealth Bank did. I think it was interviewed over the Christmas period. Ms Scott-The Prime Minister announced the initiative on 13 August last year. Senator WONG-What services are they providing? Ms Mellor-Basically they are providing a messaging service and a crediting service through the EFTPOS network. So a patient who pays to go to the doctor will be able to pay in whatever manner they normally do now and then will be able to claim their Medicare rebate through the EFTPOS network at the point of service. A doctor will be able to make a bulk-bill claim through the EFTPOS network from the EFTPOS terminal in their surgery. This would be subject, of course, to the terminal being provided by a bank providing this service under a contract. Senator WONG-And for that the bank is paid 23c per transaction. Ms Mellor-That is right. Senator WONG-Has the Commonwealth Bank been promised any minimum level of volume of transactions? Friday, 16 February 2007 Senate F&PA 57 FINANCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION Ms Mellor-No. The number of transactions that is open to the market is about 174 million. Senator WONG-Is there any indication of volume of transactions in any of the contracts? Ms Mellor-No. Information has been provided to all the CECS members-all the members that are entitled to participate in this agreement-about the volume. The volume that a bank will carry depends on which doctors use that bank as their EFTPOS provider. Senator WONG-So there is no minimum volume level or any guaranteed service payment in the contract. It is a straight fee for service. Ms Mellor-Yes. Senator WONG-What is the budget for the electronic rebate payment? Ms Mellor-Do you mean for the transaction fees? Senator WONG-Yes. Ms Mellor-In the first year there is a budget of around $15 million. That is for the next financial year. Senator WONG-That is 2007-08. Ms Mellor-That is right. Senator WONG-So where is the money for the Commonwealth Bank being paid from now? Ms Mellor-There are no transactions at the moment. In the contracting process, as the secretary indicated, the bank needs to know go through an accreditation process with Medicare Australia to ensure that the service that they are going to offer through doctors meets all of our requirements. In that case that will take some time, and they have indicated that they will be ready to issue the service subject to accreditation from the middle of this year. Senator WONG-What are the outer year indications for this contract? Is the $15 million the totality of the program? Ms Mellor-No, that is the transaction fees expected, based on the volumes. Senator WONG-For all providers? Ms Mellor-Yes, that is right. Senator WONG-Not just the Commonwealth Bank? Ms Mellor-No, not at all. Senator WONG-So it was $15 million for 2007-08? Ms Argall-The transaction fees were $37.147 million in 2008-09 and $43.437 million in 2009-10. Senator WONG-What are the other costs associated with this initiative? Ms Argall-In terms of the internal costs? Senator WONG-Yes. Ms Mellor-This year total operational expenses are $3.349 million. There are transaction fees of zero this year, obviously, because of the process that we are going through. There are savings this year of about $290,000 and there are capital appropriations of $1.66 million. The impact for this year is $4.7 million. Senator WONG-Net? Ms Mellor-Yes. In future years it becomes a savings measure. Senator WONG-What is the operational cost component of the savings over the three out years? Ms Mellor-As I said, the savings are $290,000 this year, then $23 million in 2007-08, $52 million in 2008-09 and $60 million in 2009-10. F&PA 58 Senate Friday, 16 February 2007 FINANCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION Senator WONG-Do I assume that operational costs would include reduction in staffing levels? Ms Argall-Yes. Ms Mellor-FTE savings, anticipated, are about 683 staff over four years. Senator WONG-What else is that $23 million, $52 million and $60 million saving made up of, in operational costs? Ms Argall-The major part of the savings are staff savings because of the activity that is currently conducted in Medicare offices. Senator WONG-The full-time equivalent saving is only 683 staff; that does not equate to $52 million. Ms Mellor-There will be other savings as we move through the period of those years looking at the different channels that are offered. We will not have as much cash handling or as many cheques. Different channels will reap savings as well. Senator WONG-Can you provide details of those savings? Ms Argall-We can provide those on notice.
_______________________________________________ Gpcg_talk mailing list [email protected] http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk
