The college of nursing wants more than another MBS item.
The Australian College of Nursing is calling for a dedicated nurse payment administrator, a move it says would not necessarily take away from GP funding.
While GP practice nurses are often the ones administering vaccines, much of that work is currently unfunded by the government.
“There isn’t any direct funding sources for nurses to be providing vaccinations,” ACN chief nursing officer Frances Rice told The Medical Republic.
“The predominant funding for [nurse-led] vaccinations in primary care settings is the workforce incentive payment, which is a maximum of about $137,500 [per annum] and that includes rural loading.
“… And that’s the incentive to employ a nurse to work in your setting. There’s no MBS items for nurses to deliver vaccines. There’s no additional payments available.”
The broader MBS items that do exist for nurse-led services generally require the nurse to be working on behalf of and under supervision of a doctor.
Allowing direct payments for nurse immunisers in general practice is not as simple as adding a new MBS item; for a start, all nurses would have to be set up with an MBS provider number.
“[That] would be an incredibly expensive exercise, and lengthy in terms of all of the systems that sit behind that process,” Ms Rice said.
“We know that pharmacists are paid outside of the MBS for how they provide vaccinations, so we’re seeking a similar solution that would enable nurses to provide the vaccinations and be funded for it, regardless of where they’re working.
“If they’re employed in a general practice, the payment could still go to the practice. If they’re employed in a pharmacy, it could go to the pharmacy. If they’re self employed, then they would be able to set up a business model around that.”
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The ACN proposal is for a nursing payments administrator, similar to the pharmacy programs administrator, which would function similarly to the workforce incentive payment from the GP end.
“The way we propose the system would be is that the payment would go to the employer, or if the nurse is self-employed, then it goes into the business,” Ms Rice said.
“If a nurse is working in a general practice … then the payment would go to the practice.
“We don’t think it’s a new investment in terms of budget dollars – it’s a shifting of funds – but it enables more flexibility in the system.”
