Medicare

I’d like to open a discussion on Medicare.
First a little background! As of 1 November 2006 allied mental health Medicare items became available on the Medicare Benefits Schedule. Medicare rebates are available, on referral for up to 12 individual allied mental health services per patient per calendar year, generally provided in up to two groups of up to 6 services with the referring practitioner considering the need for further sessions after a course of treatment (which may comprise up to 6 services).
Allied mental health services that can be provided under this initiative include Psychological Therapy services provided by eligible clinical psychologists and Focussed Psychological Strategies services provided by eligible psychologists, social workers and occupational therapists. This program is called “Better Access to Mental Health”.
At Richardson Support House we have a psychologist and a social worker. When we started Richardson Support House, we were keen to offer affordable and accessible counselling services to those in need. As such, we have become Medicare providers (Allied Health), providing services as described above.
Now all of this is not without controversy (both Nationally and at our local level).
First, the Better Access to Mental Health program has been far more popular than the Federal Government anticipated. This year the figures have increased even further (The Australian reported it might be due to current financial stress, May 2009). You can view the figures at www.health.gov.au/internet/mental health/publishing.nsf/Content/mental-ba-fig
Various concerns have been raised: Although collaboration between GP and Allied Health providers is encouraged, there is no monitoring or accountability to ensure this happens. There are no incentives for “co-location of services, effective geographical distribution of services, provision of early interventions for young people, or treatment of patients in greatest need at low cost” (The Australian, 19 May 2009). Some experts are concerned that people benefiting from the program are those already receiving treatment and who can afford large gap payments.
At our local level, Richardson Support House bulk bills patients with Health Care Cards or under 16 years. For other patients the payment gap varies depending on the type of service, but it is never more than $5. It has been said that we are setting our prices too low, that services will be undervalued to the detriment of both the service and other providers.
Well, we are pretty gung ho about our desire to have an “accessible and affordable” service. We accept various people’s concerns, and to some degree we can address those issues. We do want to ensure that we are open to collaboration with the referring Doctors and other mental health providers. We do wish to encourage those most in need to access our services. (Partly I think the onus is on us to promote the service locally). I realise that we can’t satisfy everyone’s concerns, nor can we have “all the people happy all the time”! But if we can just reach some people in need, then we’ll have achieved all we hoped for.

We've been operating for about 10 months now. Some of the patients are those "already accessing services". But some patients have had long term issues they have never before sought treatment for.

I’d really like to hear from others about their opinions on the new Medicare program?