20th Jun 2011 - Medical Observer
THE AGPN has warned GP divisions that failing to present a tender in the next round of bids for Medicare Locals could see contracts go to an outside entity.
While the Federal Government kept the first round of ML applications exclusive to divisions, it has said it will consider non-division entities in the next two rounds.
With some divisions yet to form unified consortium bids, and others refusing because they oppose MLs, AGPN chair Dr Emil Djakic warned that those taking a “no-compromise position” did so “at their own peril”.
“If another organisation that can create an argument for eligibility for the criteria in that patch chooses to, with or without the participants of those [divisions], then the [Health] Department has clearly said it will fund them,” he told MO.
With the first 19 of the confirmed 62 MLs chosen, the countdown is on for the next round of tendering, which closes at year’s end.
The move to an open contest has fuelled speculation that entities such as private health insurer Medibank Private, which recently won the tender for the after-hours GP telephone service, would bid. However, Medibank told MO in a statement that it had no plans to tender for an ML “at this point in time”.
AMA president Dr Steve Hambleton said division or not, any outfit that applied must be focused on general practice.
“It’s hard to say who may apply,” he said.
“[However] any entity that was looking in this area should have a majority of GPs to provide the clinical input that is required.”
Dr Djakic’s warning may have been heeded by two neighbouring divisions, previously contesting to be the South West Sydney ML. Bankstown GP Division chair Dr Susan Harnett, whose division is one of three involved in the disputed ML, told MO last week that while a “difference in ideologies” remained, a unified bid was being negotiated.
The long-term future of the AGPN, meanwhile, remains unclear.
Dr Djakic last week conceded that greater consultation and dialogue with divisions and the state-based organisations (SBOs) was needed over the issue of whether the AGPN should eventually become a go-between for Government and MLs as it is for divisions.
A pivotal vote on the issue at a national meeting of all 111 divisions last week was postponed until November due to flight disruptions from the Chilean ash cloud.
The motion, which required 75% of division support to pass, faces serious opposition. The largest SBO, GP NSW, wrote to all 33 NSW divisions recommending they oppose the change until the AGPN provided further evidence of its worth.
General Practice SA, with 14 divisions, did not take a formal position but told MO there was “not unilateral support”.
General Practice Victoria was the only SBO to publicly back the change.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has finally named the first four winning Victorian ML bids, which had been kept under wraps while the geographic boundaries for the state’s MLs were redrawn.
They are in Inner East Melbourne, Barwon (near Geelong), Inner North West Melbourne and Northern Melbourne.
The Government also confirmed the number of Victorian MLs will be 17, making a total of 62 nationwide.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon said the new Victorian boundaries were chosen because of “a number of factors, including the views of state governments, how MLs would align with Local Hospital Networks, local population numbers, existing local health services and patient referral patterns”.
Tags: Medicare Locals; AGPN; Medibank; AMA
