Ged Kearney (Cooper, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Health Insurance Legislation Amendment (Assignment of Medicare Benefits) Bill 2024 represents more progress on the government's commitment to strengthen Medicare for the needs of modern Australia.

This bill will make critically needed improvements to make it easier for GPs and health professionals to bulk-bill their patients, by updating the assignment-of-benefit process which underpins bulk-billed Medicare services and simplified billing.

This will modernise the assignment-of-benefits process, bring it into the 21st century and help to further safeguard Medicare from fraud. This upgrade has been sorely needed for many years now. GPs have long complained of an overly complex and onerous paperwork process that is inefficient and holds back productivity.

Since coming into government, we've invested in measures to help GPs and health professionals deliver the care Australians need. Stopping the slide in the bulk-billing rate has been front of mind, and our record investment into bulk-billing in last year's budget has succeeded in that effort, leading to increased bulk-billing in every state and territory across the country.

We want to do everything we can to make it easier for patients to be bulk-billed and support Australians' access to timely and affordable health care.

This bill will also address simplified billing, which relates to assignments by patients who are privately insured, for hospital or hospital-substitute treatment that is covered by their policy.

In both cases the assignment of benefit enables the right to payment of a Medicare benefit, which is payable for eligible patients, to be transferred to healthcare providers in exchange for zero or low out-of-pocket expenses for the patient.

These amendments are required to protect the integrity of Medicare payments and to reduce the administrative burden of regulatory compliance. The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO), in its 2022-23 expansion of telehealth report, also identified the potential incompatibility of 'verbal assignment' for bulk-billed telehealth services with current legislation.

The bill will support the government's ongoing commitment to bulk-billing, complementing the $3.5 billion measure to triple bulk-billing incentives in the 2023-24 budget, and maintain simplified billing to reduce or eliminate out-of-pocket costs for privately insured patients.

Modernising and making assignment of benefit easier for patients and providers will preserve goodwill toward and trust of the Medicare program in its 40th year and beyond.

In response to industry feedback, amendments under this bill streamline bulk billing and simplified billing processes. The bill goes further than telehealth, as the amendments reform assignment of benefit broadly.

One aspect of the bill is to support more efficient and effective claiming processes (including use of digital technologies) and provide for appropriate protections to ensure the integrity of Medicare for future generations.

The current requirement for an 'approved form' would be replaced with requirements prescribed in regulations, enabling digital solutions that give government and stakeholders the flexibility to leverage existing interactions with patients, such as appointment booking, patient registration, hospital admission processes and informed financial consent discussions.

For simplified billing, where health insurers and approved billing agents manage claims for patients receiving hospital and hospital-substitute treatment, the bill will make use of health insurance coverage including insurer agreements with hospitals and 'no gap' or 'known gap' arrangements with practitioners.

Specifying requirements in regulations proposed to be made under the bill, subject to consideration by the Governor-General in Council, will have the benefit of futureproofing the processes and ensuring they are adaptable as technology advances.

The bill will enable a patient to assign a Medicare benefit before or after a professional service is rendered. This is a change advocated by key stakeholders, along with capability for enduring assignment agreements in some scenarios.

Amendments are also required to protect and reinforce the integrity of Medicare without introducing unnecessary administrative burden for stakeholders.

Medicare payment integrity will be supported through improving the provision of information relevant to patients' understanding of their treatment and the associated costs including notifying the patient of claims for benefits.

The bill will also improve recordkeeping requirements, supporting auditability. The focus will be on flexibly using information already collected by the sector.

Medical industry, hospital and private health insurance stakeholders have voiced support for the legislative changes to simplify and modernise the Health Insurance Act 1973; to improve transparency for patients while ensuring minimal administrative burden for healthcare providers and insurers.

To conclude, this bill supports the Medicare Benefits Schedule and modernises and simplifies the assignment of benefits process to provide patients' continued access to timely and subsidised care. Amendments will improve Medicare payment integrity and benefits both patients and providers, ultimately resulting in better healthcare outcomes for Australians.

The Albanese government is determined to make it easier and cheaper for people to access high quality care where and when they need it.

This bill will help to deliver this and further strengthen Medicare for the needs of modern Australia.

Debate adjourned.

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