| Patients will need to pay up for service |
| By Nicole Ferrie
Medical imaging now to incur cost
BENDIGO Radiology will charge a fee to patients requiring medical imaging from December.
After trying for five years to avoid such a move, increased costs, the installation of new technology and a low Medicare rebate have forced the decision on the service provider.
Chief operations manager Steve Butler said in most cases the Medicare rebate for radiology services was less than that offered 10 years ago.
“When inflation is factored in, the government is paying up to 36 per cent less whilst operating costs have kept pace with or exceeded CPI,” he said.
“The introduction of a patient fee is a decision Bendigo Radiology has not taken lightly and has indeed done everything possible over the past five years to mitigate rising expenses to prevent this for as long as possible.” Bendigo Radiology has recently invested more than $4.6 million to improve facilities and recruit staff.
The organisation has installed a state-of-the-art 64 slice CT scanner at the St John of God Hospital site, upgraded its nuclear medicine facilities at Bendigo Hospital including a Gamma Camera/CT System, introduced digital computed radiography across the organisation’s network and installed a leading picture archive communication system.
Bendigo Radiology has also upgraded ultrasound facilities and employed new staff to reduce waiting lists.
“It is vital the local imaging services embrace the new technology to keep pace with best practice and to offer services in Bendigo comparable to Melbourne and thus often obviate the need to travel,” Mr Butler said.
Bendigo Radiology has advised GPs and specialists of the new fee structure, many of whom will provide indicative gap fees upon referral.
“The gap is modest compared to the gap fees in Melbourne,” Mr Butler said.
Limited bulk-billing appointments will be available to pensioners on a daily basis.
Bendigo Radiology will also offer the government Medicare Easyclaim service which will allow patients to register with the Medicare Safety Net and receive 80 per cent of their out of pocket expense.
However, a Bendigo woman who regularly requires ultrasounds, has raised concerns about the move.
Shaye, who has routine scans of her ovaries, believes people will delay having tests because they cannot afford the gap fee.
She also fears more people will visit the hospital site and create longer waiting times, or clog the emergency department after hours.
“I find it totally abhorrent in this current climate that we can be literally held over a barrel and expect to find money for a service that is most times at the request of a doctor because something is wrong,” she said.
“It will only compound the problems that the health system in
Bendigo already has.”
However, Mr Butler said the Bendigo Healthcare Group already provided more than one third of radiology services to the Bendigo region and would continue to bulk bill.
He said Ballarat, Echuca, Heathcote, Maryborough and
Kyneton hospitals also provided radiology services to this region.
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