Simon James wrote:
Just got off the phone with Medicare. The following are my interpretations,
not gospel...
1. There are actually three banks signed on: NAB, CBA and "MoneySwitch"
2. Online Patient Claiming is used by 7%-10% of transactions. The lady I
spoke to conceded that if this was significantly higher, EasyClaim would
probably not be about to exist.
If you're talking about 'direct billing', only 30% of transactions
aren't bulk-billed, the rest being bulk-billed, so presumably that's
nearly 1/3 non bulk-billing transactions, or are their figures
meaningless? They certainly are in Southern Sydney where electorates'
bulk-billing rates hover near or exceed 90%, and hold up the average in
the rest of the country, along with parts of Melbourne.
I guess this boils down to the fact that patients are more likely to carry
around their EFTPOS card than their BSB & Account Number. Further, some
practices are reluctant to store patient bank details which compounds the
problem. The vast majority of online patient claims, therefore, result in a
cheque being sent to the patient.
The government's policies about Medicare are schizophrenic. Do they want
high rates of bulk-billing? Do they want automated bulk-billing? Do they
want hight rates of private billing? Do they want automated private
billing? They act as if their answer is "all of the above.", which it
can't logically be.
3. Promotion will commence circa late May.
Oh, good, won't the Labor Party love this.
4. Medicare's justification for not launching it with practice software
integration is as I assumed - it would inevitably slow deployment. From the
discussion, my understanding now is that there won't be a "Medicare API",
but rather "Bank EFTPOS Terminal" interfaces that practice software vendors
will need to deal with. Discussions are already underway, but I don't know
between who.
Are you saying the Online claiming private billing Medicare API is going
to be withdrawn?
5. As most have assumed, the information that needs to be keyed per
consultation is the item number/s. Other information needs to be keyed
including the provider number and cost. Potentially a lot of numbers, but
"keypad shortcuts" are possible and will streamline this process somewhat. I
presume integration with practice software may eliminate this.
All the good software contains prompts and look-up lists, which won't be
a feature, as will paper MBS books, so you'll need a PC at the front
desk for look-ups of anything unusual.
6. The AMA have been involved in the process for a long time, as have the
banks (January 05 for the banks apparently).
Wow, these taken to it with gusto!
7. Practices won't be financially incentivised to adopt the solution.
They always say that, until no-one uses it. See 2003 when they had to
climb-down on both practice and developer incentives.
8. I didn't catch any reference to "real world trials".
Funny that. This might have burst the bubble for them. Most practices
hate changing technology. Healthpoint, Medclaims, Online Claiming are
still all out there.
9. The person I spoke to had an accounting background, and conceded Oliver's
point about the fact that the cash flow improvement EasyClaim would deliver
won't significantly alter the amount of cash entering a practice per week.
Surprise.
10. All banks are paid per transaction at the same rate. Medicare determines
this rate.
Surprise.
--
Greg Twyford
Information Management & Technology Program Officer
Canterbury Division of General Practice
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Ph.: 02 9787 9033
Fax: 02 9787 9200
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