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ABC interview with Dr Margaret Faux, discussing Medicare compliance and GPs

Watch Dr Margaret Faux on live TV ABC News channel, March 2023, discussing Medicare compliance and GPs.

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HL7 and openEHR, better together

In the article, HL7 and openEHR are friends, not foes (published by Wild Health 28th September 2022), Professor Heather Grain discusses data systems HL7 and openEHR and the key advantages of using them together for a more coordinated healthcare data delivery system.

“These two…

The Guardian article – Inflated bulk billing numbers and Medicare is haemorrhaging money

In the May 14th, 2022 issue of The Guardian, Dr Margaret Faux discusses Medicare bulk billing and non-compliant billing within Australian health regulation.

“Working in the underbelly of our health system has taught me that trumpeting artificially hyped statistics is a sign of…

Telehealth a target in recent primary healthcare reforms

Dr Margaret Faux and Dr Sylvia Pfeiffer are referenced in the article, Winners and Losers in New 10-Year Plan by Holly Payne, published on the Medical Republic website on 6th April, 2022. In this article you can find out more about the significant changes to healthcare in the ref…

New reforms will restrict access and equitability to healthcare

A recent article,  Misleading VPR reforms will restrict equitable access to health care, published by the Hospital and Health Care website and written by Dr Margaret Faux and Dr Silvia Pfeiffer, discusses the impact of delivery of healthcare services when the Government implemen…

Criminalising split medical bills? We are in la la land!

The latest article for Croakey Health Media by our CEO, Margaret Faux, discussing the Private Healthcare Australia proposal to criminalise surprise split medical bills. Arguing this is an ill-conceived, non-evidence-based overreach, that does not fit within the proper role of…

Anthony Albanese says the cost of visiting your doctor has increased by more than 30 per cent since the Coalition took office. Is he correct?

Margaret Faux featuring in #Medicare #GP #Doctor news in #Australian today.
The claim
In a prelude to what the next federal election campaign may look like, Labor says cutting Medicare is “in the Liberals’ DNA”.
On June 8, 2021, Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese attac…

Greg Hunt says nearly 90 per cent of people receive their GP services for free. Is he correct?

The claim

The federal government has come under fire from doctors for its decision to make changes to more than 900 items on the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS).

The impact of these changes, which came into effect on July 1 after a five-year MBS review, remains to be seen….

Telehealth is not quite the colt from old Regret but it sure as hell has got away

Published in Pulse + IT Magazine

Written by Margaret Faux and Heather Grain on 18 May 2020

Telehealth has bolted away as fast as the colt from old Regret as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The federal Health Minister, Greg Hunt, says he wants telehealth to continue post …

Is forcing GPs to bulk-bill the MBS Covid items legal?

There is a clause for GPs using the new telehealth items: patients defined as ‘susceptible’ to COVID-19 must be bulk-billed (no exceptions). 

Is this legal? Margaret Faux, an expert on Medicare and its mysteries, offers her view.

The roll out of new COVID-19 MBS te…

Frenetic law making during the COVID-19 pandemic: the impact on doctors, patients and the Medicare system

“The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken even Medicare’s pillars to their core and placed more than a virus under a microscope. Bulk billing is now the subject of experimentation in a petri dish of its own.”

Margaret Faux unpacks the constitutional barrier to mandated bulk billing …

Billing in Byzantium

Delighted to announce that our CEO & Founder, Margaret Faux appears on the latest episode of Pomegranate Health; the podcast from the The Royal Australasian College of Physicians about the culture of Medicine. Australia has one of the best value health systems in the world, b…

Published in the Journal of Law and Medicine (2019) 27 JLM 66

Medicare Billing, Law and Practice: Complex, Incomprehensible and Beginning to Unravel
Margaret Faux, Jonathan Wardle and Jon Adams*

Australia’s Medicare is still widely considered one of the world’s best health systems. However, continual political tinkering for 40 years h…

Medicare billing, law and practice: Complex, incomprehensible and beginning to unravel

Holding up a mirror to Medicare – do we like what we see?
 

“This article is one for the serious Medicare, medical billing and health insurance nerds. In it I have unpacked the Australian Medicare and medical billing legislation and demonstrated where the gaps are in p…

‘Unnecessary risk’: GPs dumped in Medicare muddle

The study referenced in the Australian Doctor article and published in BMJ Open 2018 was led by Synapse CEO Margaret Faux.

GPs are being exposed to the “unnecessary risk” of falling foul of Medicare rules because so few organisations are willing to provide guidance on ho…

Law trumps Medicare advice on bulk-bill vouchers

You’re likely guilty of this, so beware: the law trumps Medicare advice on bulk-bill vouchers
Having patients sign the vouchers – and then filing them in a place other than the bin – is more important than you might think.
Make one false move with Medicare and you’ll end up i…

Healthcare’s out-of-pocket crisis

Jennifer Dogget, Editor for Croakey, is writing a series of health columns for Inside Story. In this article she weighs in on out of pocket expenses with quotes from Synapse CEO Margaret Faux:
Fast-rising medical expenses are restricting access to healthcare and increasing long-…

Research investigates medical billing literacy in Australia

Of all the things a trainee medical practitioner must learn, how to bill their patients is one of the most problematic.
A single Medicare service can be the subject of more than 30 different payment rates, myriad rules and strict penalties, including custodial sentences, for no…

Synapse serves as successful example for DFAT’s India Economic Strategy

The following is an excerpt from the DFAT India Economic Strategy by Mr Peter N Varghese AO
 
CASE STUDY:

Synapse: A successful model of integrated service delivery for Australia and India

Australian company Synapse Medical Services has found an opportunity to …

Who teaches medical billing? A national cross-sectional survey of Australian medical education stakeholders

Everyone involved in the practice of healthcare is expected to know how to bill correctly yet it’s not being taught in any systematic or organised fashion by anyone.

Synapse Principal and CEO Margaret Faux has been studying this issue in her PhD thesis, this article published …

Synapse hopes to restore trust between patients, providers and payers

Pulse+IT article – Synapps MBS launch
Written by Kate McDonald
First published by Pulse+IT on 9/7/2018

Sydney medical billing, clinical coding and medical transcription specialist Synapse has launched a new rules engine-based app called Synapps MBS, aimed at ensuring Medic…

Shining some light on bulk billing and #OutOfPocket costs

Fourth in series – Articles on out of pocket medical expenses.

The legalities and practicalities behind bulk billing generally are not well understood, but in her latest contribution to Croakey’s ongoing #OutOfPocket series, Margaret Faux, aims to throw some illuminating l…

It’s enough to make you swear: the complexities of medical billing and out of pocket costs

Third in series – Articles on out of pocket medical expenses.

It is quite possible that reading this article about the complexities of medical fees will furrow your brow and possibly even give you a headache. The issues it canvasses left at least one hospital executive sighi…

‘No-gap’ does not guarantee there will be no gap

Second in series – Articles on out of pocket medical expenses

In her previous post in Croakey’s #OutOfPocket series, Margaret Faux acquainted us with Section 51 (xxiiiA) of the Australian Constitution, which enshrines doctors’ right to set their own fees, regardless of gov…

Out of pocket costs: a critical health issue to watch in 2018 – but first, some history

First in series – Articles on out of pocket medical expenses

Out of pocket healthcare costs are set to be one of the health politics/policy issues for 2018. In this recent Croakey post author Margaret Faux provides some history on the topic along with an outline of the issue…

Private Health Insurance: A look under the bonnet

Australian private health insurers (PHI) have an image problem. They are never out of the headlines for long, are criticised for inappropriately profiteering from a $6 billion government handout and still their products seem to offer poor value and satisfy no one. Margaret Faux d…

Behind the headlines on hospital waiting times lies a murky story about lack of structural accountability

Recent Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report reveals that patients in public hospitals with private health insurance have short waiting times for elective surgery than those without private health insurance. Margaret explores behind the headlines in this article.

h…

Increasing Medicare rebates in the bush will not decrease patient out of pocket costs. Here’s why.

A Ministerial Advisory Committee on private health reform has proposed an increase in Medicare rebates as a way of reducing out-of-pocket costs when rural patients require inpatient services. It seems logical but will it really achieve its objective? In this article Margaret expl…

Lies, damned lies and Medicare bulk-billing rates

In this article recently published in The Medical Republic, Margaret Faux discusses the myth that 85% of GP services are bulk billed. Please click on the below link to read this fascinating article.

http://www.medicalrepublic.com.au/lies-damned-lies-medicare-bulk-billing-rate…

Privatising the Medicare payment system: What are the risks?

In this podcast recorded live on ABC overnights Margaret Faux discusses the federal government’s plans to privatise Medicare in the context of the 2016 Federal Election….