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| Medicare Easyclaim criticised for complexity |
1-Feb-2008 |
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B
y Sophie McNamara
ONLY a tiny proportion of patient reimbursement claims have been lodged using the controversial Medicare Easyclaim system in its first six months of operation, with critics saying it is too complex and still not integrated with practice management software.
But Medicare has described the take up of Easyclaim as positive and expects a considerable increase in coming months as more banks offer the system.
Of the 29 million patient claims received by Medicare Australia from July to December 2007 only 88,000 — or 0.3% — were through Easyclaim. A further 2.67 million claims — or 9% of all claims — were received through Medicare Online.
About 7100 medical practices currently use Medicare Online, while 890 practices use Easyclaim.
Medicare has received feedback that patients find Easyclaim financially beneficial because they receive their rebate immediately (see box).
However, the Australian Association of Practice Managers said Easyclaim was only a partial solution, was slow to use and was not currently integrated with any practice management software.
The association said the slow take up of Easyclaim was not surprising.
Ms Jan Chaffey, AAPM immediate past-president, said: “It was touted as a cure-all, but it isn’t.”
New president Ms Marina Fulcher said: “It would have been preferable for Easyclaim to have been an extension of Medicare Online, rather than an entirely separate system.”
In its federal budget submission last week, the AMA described Easyclaim as “needlessly complex” and renewed its calls to allow patients to assign their Medicare benefit directly to the doctor.
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