The way is now cleared for the government to publish the fees of individual specialist doctors, including GPs.
The Medical Costs Finder website is one step closer to living up to its original promise, with health minister Mark Butler announcing today that legislation to allow the government to publish the fees of individual specialists has passed.
While discussion around the legislation had focussed squarely on non-GP specialist doctor fees, the bill’s explanatory memorandum specifically noted that GP fees would also be captured under the new rules.
“While the focus is on the charging practices of specialists, the department may also publish information about GPs and other medical practitioners and their charging practices,” it said.
“GPs would be particularly relevant to publish as they are often the first step of a patient journey for specialist treatment.”
The text of the bill itself was general in nature; it allowed the government to publish information about professional services rendered by or on behalf of medical practitioners in respect of which Medicare benefits were payable, including information about amounts of medical expenses incurred and the names and practice locations of specific doctors.
It would effectively automate the currently voluntary process of displaying fees on the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing’s Medical Costs Finder website.
Launched in 2022 at a cost of $24 million, there were currently just 106 doctors who had willingly uploaded their fees to the site.
“This legislation amendment delivers on our election commitment to Australians,” Mr Butler said.
“It addresses long-standing information gaps that contribute to cost uncertainty, and it gives Australians better transparency and choice with their health care.
“We know an increasing number of Australians have not been taking up referrals from their GP to see a specialist due to concern about cost, but this legislation will deliver clarity about costs and more choice in their health care.”
Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges chair Associate Professor Kerin Fielding said the improved Medical Costs Finder site would be “a genuinely useful tool” – but would not, on its own, solve the medical accessibility issues across Australia.
“Knowing the cost of something you have no real alternative to isn’t the same as having choice,” she said.
“Fee transparency doesn’t create choice on its own – it needs to go hand-in-hand with a stronger public specialist outpatient system, and with information about wait times as well as cost.”
Speaking in the senate on Tuesday, Labor senator Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah said Australians were “fearful of bill shock, burnt by highly variable out-of-pocket fees that are declared too late in the patient journey”.
“Instead of waiting for specialists to volunteer, the government will now publish the Medicare hospital and insurer billing data it already collects, backed by a $7 million investment in the technical capability to do that,” she said.
“There is no new paperwork for doctors. The data already exists. We are simply going to show it to the people who are paying those bills.”
The updated Medical Costs Finder website would display the typical specialist fee, the Medicare benefit amount, the insurer rebate if applicable and a “low”, “typical” and “high” patient out-of-pocket payment estimate.
There would also be a free-text box where doctors could write in context about their published fees.
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“If you see more complex patients, you say so, and the provider portal already exists,” Dr Ananda-Rajah said.
“It will have information like fellowships, meaning the qualifications, teaching practices, participation in clinical quality registries—all fields built off feedback from the profession itself.
“I think this context is actually important. All specialists are not equal. Specialists tend to then subspecialise into very niche areas in medicine.”
Opposition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston told the senate that the coalition would not oppose the bill, even though she felt the proposed legislation did not get it “entirely right”.
“Transparency is welcome, but transparency about a rising bill does not make the bill any smaller,” Ms Ruston said.
“Australians do not just want to see the costs. They want a government that actually does something about it.”
Several amendments were made by the senate, mostly relating to the use of information and how doctors could request the department to correct, update, alter or remove information.
Track the bill’s progress here.
