It's about protecting the healthcare of all Australians and making sure the Government knows that we know what they are doing and are not happy about it! - If you don't know what's happening, please join us as we explain what's been going on for more than 10 years, has been part of a Senate enquiry, where; despite being obliged to instigate the senate recommendations, the Govt swept them under the
carpet and passed new retrospective and unconstitutional bills to cover their tracks! Why are we doing this? - Because Government is prosecuting our Allied Healthcare workers, when there are NO AGREED Clinical standards on which to base prosecution
ILLEGAL GOVT PROSECUTION OF ALLIED HEALTH WORKERS
Medicare is not bound by the rules of evidence, so they don't have to provide evidence of their accusations - So, doctors are ending up in court, with no knowledge of why until they get there - Then they can be fined and even deregistered on the basis that Medicare thinks that they ordered too many (in a month) Pap Smears, Vitamin D estimations, X-rays or any number of other services that we might need - Think on this! - and it's a true story...
TRUE STORY
As a Healthcare Adviser for more than 20 years, One Moment Foundation, Director, David Dahm was consulting at a clinic. In an effort to find out what patients wanted, he conducted a survey. From the 90%+ female patients in the clinic, the survey identified that one of the male doctors was 'doing a lot more' than just checking patients' blood pressure, ears and skin conditions. That's not the point we're making here though ... What is the point, is that the patients wanted a FEMALE DOCTOR. In response to the survey and what the patients wanted, David recruited and placed a female doctor in the clinic and the patients were happy. BUT - Six months later, the female doctor received a call from Medicare and was accused of rorting the system for ordering too many Pap Smears! - Well of course she was, it was a predominately WOMENS CLINIC! - The way that Medicare sees it though, is that the female doctor was prescribing more than the 'average clinic', such that she must be committing fraud! Medicare's system is based on statistics. It does not take into account the demographics of a clinic or patient needs. If you imagine a clinic that has been servicing a client base for many years without being flagged, suddenly has a retirement village built right next door. The likelihood is that the clinic will now begin to service a greater number of aged patients, who have complex conditions and may require a greater number of treatments such as pain medication, x-rays and order less Pap-smear tests and the like. The Clinic with the aged patient demographic will obviously order many more than a clinic that perhaps services a younger demographic, who in turn, may order more treatments of a different kind - Yet medicare does not take into account the differences in clinics or patient demographics - so what does this mean? Not only does it mean that the system does not encourage the development of specialist services, such as mens or womens clinics, pain clinics and so on (stifling innovation) but many of our 520,000 Allied Health workers and clinics are now either reducing, or closing services and not providing specialist clinics, for fear of being prosecuted illegally, unconstitutionally and without evidence or any basis on agreed clinical standards! How does this impact our healthcare? - In some circumstances, it can protract treatment, it protracts waiting times and puts more pressure on our hospitals and specialists - It creates a bottle-nose for patients who could otherwise be treated by GP's and other allied health service workers who are too frightened to go over their monthly limits, just in case they are flagged by Medicare, dragged into court, prosecuted (without evidence) and face the prospect of deregistration and the clinic being crippled by large sums of money they are ordered to pay back to Medicare, when, in most cases; they have simply provided the care and treatment that their patient's need. The CHOICE, FREEDOM and SAFETY of us as patients and our friends and family are not being considered - Medicare is only interested in the numbers - Dr #1 prescribed more Vitamin D estimations than Dr #2 last month, so they must be rorting the system! PSR and NATURAL JUSTICE
The Professional Services Review Scheme was set up in 1994, to stop doctors rorting the medicare system - FAIR ENOUGH! - The idea is that the PSR has a Director, however; the PSR Director does not have any CLINICAL TRAINING or EXPERIENCE - so a Peer Review system is in place; the PSR Board. The PSR Board is a board of clinicians who are appointed to advise the PSR Director as to whether, or not the treatment that a doctor has ordered is in fact appropriate for the patients' treatment and care. SOUND LIKE A GREAT SYSTEM? - YES, but that is NOT how it works in practice. Since it's inception, the PSR have been ignoring the peer review system and advise of clinicians in favour of prosecuting doctors and allied healthcare workers even though there are NO AGREED CLINICAL STANDARDS on which to base the prosecutions. Not only does the PSR Director lack the CLINICAL EXPERTISE to pass judgement on our clinical care, Doctors and Allied Healthcare Workers do not even have the basic right to Natural Justice like you and I. The law says that while the PSR should take into account the principles of natural justice, they are not bound by the rules of evidence, which means that Doctors and Allied Healthcare workers can be prosecuted without evidence! - This is not Natural Justice - even Bikkie gangs and illegal immigrants have more rights than this! These concerns have been taken to the Senate resulting in a Senate enquiry into the PSR - Recommendations were handed down, which the Government is required to follow - Did they? - NO! _ Instead, they passed retrospective Laws to cover their tracks. acting illegally, thumbing their nose at the Federal High Court and the Australian Constitution, it's practices appear to be blatant and subversive revenue raising - SO WHAT? - Well, it's is causing wide-spread fear throughout the Healthcare system - Doctors are being advised by lawyers not to take on complex issues like Mental Health, Pain and Addiction; instead, they are being advised to refer patients to other specialists and hospitals. Perhaps that seems fair enough? - Consider this; hospitals, specialists and other services that have supposedly been set up to do what doctors, dentists and others in the healthcare Professions, do are over-whelmed - As one of the Australia's leading neurosurgeons said to us "It's ridiculous, specialists are supposed to be dedicating their time to specialist treatment, not the routine Xrays that a doctor could do, just because their frightened that Medicare and the PSR will red-flag them if they order too many treatments under the same item number"
MEDICARE
This is just one of the problems - The Medicare system is statistically based - Medicare does NOT profile practices, they don't know the demographics of a practice or its patients' conditions, they don't know if the clinic is a specialised clinic (as in the case of a womens clinic, or an addiction clinic), so when a doctor, dentist or any other Allied Health worker prescribes over a certain number of treatments, under a certain item number per month, it is flagged by Medicare and the proceedings begin! Let's not forget that there are no agreed clinical standards - so who says that the treatment is not appropriate? The PSR Director who does not have any clinical experience? WHAT WE WANT TO SEE HAPPEN
We want the Govt. to enter into a transparent discussion with the Australian people, to stop the sleigh of hands and stealthy introduction of new laws that serve the government, not the people of Australia - This is NOT A BLAME CAMPAIGN - we are simply raising issues that are causing serious problems in the healthcare system and are causing doctors to withdraw or limit services that we need. PCEHR and YOUR PRIVACY
It might sound like an OK solution to complex system, but the Illegal and unconstitutional prosecution of our Allied Health workers is stifling innovation and creating fear in the system, as are the apparent use of new services like eHealth Records that allow Govt. to gain access to our private health records under the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records (PCEHR) scheme. Yep! - That's right! - The Govt. has contracted an external software company to put our medical records on a national database - sounds good until you think about the risks and impacts - Centrelink has one privacy breech (HACK) per day, all over the world where this system has been implemented, practices and data-lots are being hacked and used for the purposes of extortion. The Tax Department has not been able to resolve their privacy breeches, so why should we trust the Govt. with our private healthcare records? How would you feel if your records ended up in the wrong hands? - What about your boss? - Your insurer? - Your husband or wife? - Funny thing is that the Act stipulates that doctors must now NOT MASK records - What does that mean? - Well in the past; to protect patient privacy, doctors have masked certain conditions, prescriptions and treatments by using codes, so that if your records fell into the wrong hands, your privacy was still assured - NOT NOW - it's now against the law for doctors to mask - except for politicians and celebrities, that is! Why does the Govt. want access to your private medical records? - We don't know - but they can use them without you even knowing it! - Did you know that every person in Australia now has a Healthcare Identifier number? Probably not - well you do - That's OK right? - Yep, to a degree - but why don't we know about it? - Why weren't we asked to vote on it? - How are these numbers being used? Since July 1st 2012, Doctors have been 'encouraged' to get us to sign up for the PCEHR and load our private medical records onto the national database - they say it's voluntary, but doctors are reporting the heavy hand of Govt. threat to comply ...and they still can't offer any GUARANTEES that our records will be safe! One last thing (of many more issues) - The Australian Constitution stipulates that the Govt. is NOT PERMITTED to interfere with the doctor/patient relationship - Now that you know about what's going on with respect to Medicare, the PSR and eHealth Records being available to Govt. and possibly hackers, will you still feel free to share what's really going on with your doctor? - Will you feel like there is a Govt. ghost in the room ? - Would you feel as safe to disclose what's really going on for you, knowing that its either being or might be uploaded to a Govt. database about you, that they have access to and could be hacked or used for extortion by others? HOW YOU GET TO CHOOSE
Are you sick of being referred rather than treated? - Are you sick of not being able to get in to see the same doctor? Are you sick of finding it hard to get in to see a female doctor? Does it concern you that the Govt. is acting illegally? Does it concern you that Govt. want access to our private medical records? - Does it concern you that Govt. are effectively 'in the room' when you see a healthcare professional? By BACKING THIS CAMPAIGN, GETTING INVOLVED AND ASKING YOUR DOCTOR AND POLITICIANS TO 'PLEASE EXPLAIN', We get to choose - to put pressure on Govt. to have the discussions and be more accountable and transparent. We choose by talking about and sharing this campaign with our friends and family, so they too can get behind the campaign ask for more control and get answers from the Govt. - We can open up dialogue and ask for answers - but we can't do it alone! The only way to effect change is to be united in asking for what we want and need and put a stop to Govt. thumbing their nose out our constitution, our high courts, our rights and what we need. We must stand together to have the conversations that we need to have! WHY SHOULD YOU CARE? Because it concerns all of us and our healthcare, be it Pap Smears, Xrays, Dental, Blood Tests or any service, prescription, or referral with a Medicare item number. The more we share our experiences and create awareness around the issues that are impacting our care, the more we are able to do something about it and hold those responsible, accountable. Many of our high-profile doctors across the nation are on board with the campaign and have given their voice to a video that is currently in production and due for release soon. This Page is where you can stay up-to-date on developments in the campaign, share your experiences in the medical system and learn about the decision-making that is impacting our healthcare.
