Training doctors about Medicare may reduce health spending
For most of us, when we go to the doctor, we swipe our Medicare card, make sure we get the money back and move on.
But for the doctor or clinician on the other end of that transaction, there are thousands of combinations of rebates for them to wrap their head around.
They may rebate too much, too little, or for the wrong service entirely. Short changing themselves, the rest of us, or even the government.
While the government is talking cutting and co-payments to “make Medicare more sustainable”, Medicare’s complexity as well as the lack of training for doctors and their staff could be costing us hundreds of millions of dollars.
Margaret Faux is a PhD student in the Faculty of Health at the University of technology Sydney. She spoke to Josh Nicholas about the complexities of Medicare.
Image: 401(K) 2012 on Flickr.
