Beat Medical Blog

Are GPs turning patients away with high consultation fees?

Posted by Beat Medical

The Sydney Morning Herald reported recently that out of patients surveyed, 9% responded that they would put off seeing their GP due to the fees.

The central question we might ask is- how responsible is the individual for their own healthcare costs?

Of course, one must also consider the commercial viability of being a GP, which can be an expensive endeavour. With business on-costs like rent, utilities, insurance, as well as paying staff and employed GPs, margins for owners of GP practices are slim. As a recruitment company, we often deal with GP practices who are very price sensitive, for whom it is less expensive to shut down for a break rather than employ a locum.

If we assume is expensive to run a GP practice, who then is responsible to making sure GPs are able to effectively service their patients, as well as making an acceptable living? Should the government increase the MBS items to close the gap between the private fee and the bulk billing fee? Or, should it simply operate as a free market economy, with the price and access being determined by market forces and the buying power of the consumer?

From a medical recruitment perspective, we find that the practices that are at least mixed billing are generally more able to meet market rates for staffing costs (with the exception of government-funded Superclinics). This means greater access to GPs for the patients of those practices. However, for those practices who believe in government funded healthcare, and offer a no-gap, bulk billing service to their patients, is it fair that their financial margins often prohibit engaging professional help with recruitment?

Read the original SMH article here.

What are your thoughts? Leave a comment below...