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Medical Republic article – Let’s bill the why, not just the what

15 Jun 2022

In the 7 June 2022 article for the Medical Republic, Margaret Faux reflects on the introduction of Medicare’s predecessor, Medibank and the evolvement of that into the Medicare system in place today.

“The ways we pay for health will continue to evolve, but the Australian hea…

Article by Dana Daniel on the AHPRA inquiry into allegations on misconduct into the cosmetic surgery industry

8 Jun 2022

Read Margaret Faux’s comments on lifting the ban on testimonials for medical advertising, in the June 7th Sydney Morning Herald article by Dana Daniel, Scrapping ban on patient testimonials would give free rein to cosmetic ‘cowboys’, experts warn.

“I’m really worried a…

Medical Republic article – ECG changes amount to gibberish

25 May 2022

In the May 24th, 2022 issue of The Medical Republic’s Money & Medicine newsletter, Dr Margaret Faux discusses the five basic rules of good legal drafting in context to some MBS items and the importance of aligning clinical vocabulary when describing clinical services.

“The…

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

16 May 2022

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…

Medical Republic article – PSR law is written so the PSR wins

11 May 2022

In the May 10th, 2022 issue of The Medical Republic’s Money & Medicine newsletter, Dr Margaret Faux discusses the litigation-plagued PSR and the need for reform.

“The PSR has been plagued by litigation since it began, particularly in the area of procedural fairness. My res…

Medical Republic article – Paid or not to be paid, that is the question

29 Apr 2022

In the April 26th, 2022 issue of The Medical Republic’s Money & Medicine newsletter, Dr Margaret Faux discusses the questions of whether a submitted claim will be paid or not, and if paid, whether the doctor was entitled to that payment. The doctors in Margaret’s research c…

Medical Republic article – the reforms we really need

14 Apr 2022

In the April 12th, 2022 issue of The Medical Republic’s Money & Medicine newsletter, Dr Margaret Faux discusses the Grattan report, bulk billing proposals for Medicare and the structural reforms that are really needed.

“There just is no point in continuing to fiddle with M…

Telehealth a target in recent primary healthcare reforms

6 Apr 2022

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…

PSR-strengthening bill sails through committee – Medical Republic article

6 Apr 2022

Penny Durham author of the article, PSR-strengthening bill sails through committee, published on the Medical Republic website April 4th, informs us of the key changes to the PSR strengthening bill that looks to pass the Senate. The article includes quotes from Dr Margaret Faux o…

New reforms will restrict access and equitability to healthcare

6 Apr 2022

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…

Medical Republic article – Unpacking the Government’s Medicare ‘fair fee’ definition

31 Mar 2022

In the March 29th, 2022 issue of The Medical Republic’s Money & Medicine newsletter, Dr Margaret Faux discusses the Government’s Medicare ‘fair fee’ definition and discovers it’s neither of those things.

“Medical fee and rebate setting is a complex business, and everyone w…

Medical Republic article – We’re all doing it, so it must be legal … right?

16 Mar 2022

In the March 15th, 2022 issue of The Medical Republic’s Money & Medicine newsletter, Dr Margaret Faux discusses the illegality of bulk-billing and charging a gap and the ignorance around the correct use of Medicare bulk-billing system.

“We know that Medicare billing is pro…

Article by Melissa Davey on Medicare findings

15 Mar 2022

Melissa Davey, Medical Editor of The Guardian, discusses Dr Margaret Faux’s review findings on Medicare. The results are quite shocking.

“We all know we’re paying for health everywhere. But we’re being told we’re not.” Dr Margaret Faux

Read the full article by M…

Medical Republic article – how to bill, when to bill, and whether to bill

3 Mar 2022

In the March 1st, 2022 issue of The Medical Republic’s Money & Medicine newsletter, Dr Margaret Faux discusses how MBS descriptions can border on the absurd, making Doctor’s sitting ducks for policing authorities.

“Think on this. If a senior general legal counsel, with d…

Medical Republic article – Show me the double dip

17 Feb 2022

In the February 15, 2022 issue of The Medical Republic’s Money & Medicine newsletter, Dr Margaret Faux discusses the common misconception that Medicare bulk-billing for public hospital outpatient services leads to double dipping. Margaret discovers however, on close inspectio…

COVID MBS items Explainer and FAQs, No. 60, 10 February 2022

10 Feb 2022

Dear Doctors and Health Care Workers

We have received a handful of good questions over the past few weeks.

Here are the answers.

1. I have some patients where I do home visits in residential care. However, two facilities have COVID cases, and I want to convert to telehea…

IMEXHS and Synapse deliver integrated medical billing

10 Feb 2022

Synapse Medical, the company with Australia’s only rules based, enterprise, medical billing system which currently has over 65,000 embedded Medicare billing rules, and IMEXHS, the leading innovator in cloud-based medical imaging solutions, are delighted to announce a partnershi…

Medical Republic article – Medicare payments: expensive, old-fashioned, unnecessarily punitive, and ineffective

3 Feb 2022

In the February 1, 2022 issue of The Medical Republic’s Money & Medicine newsletter, Dr Margaret Faux discusses the Professional Services Review (PSR) approach to penalising doctors found to have inappropriately billed. When first introduced was described as ‘draconian’ and t…

Indo-Australian Chamber of Commerce Annual Report 2020-21

28 Jan 2022

The Indo-Australian Chamber of Commerce online version of their Annual Report 2020-’21 is now available to view from their website.

 Synapse is a sponsor for the not-for-profit company, and supports The Chamber’s integral ability to serve the Indo-Australian business commu…

COVID MBS items Explainer and FAQs, No. 59, 25 January 2022

25 Jan 2022

Dear Doctors and Health Care Workers

Before we answer the few questions received in recent days, I thought I would take a moment to say that there has been quite a lot of misinformation spread about the Covid telehealth changes. I saw incorrect information that the 12-month pr…

COVID MBS items Newsflash! No.58, 20 January 2021

20 Jan 2022

Dear Doctors and Health Care Workers

The government giveth and the government taketh away and then the government giveth back again!

I’m sure you are all as exhausted as we are trying to keep up with this ever-changing billing landscape, so I’ll keep this short and shar…

Medical Republic article – Ins, outs, and in-outs! 

20 Jan 2022

In the January 18 2022 issue of The Medical Republic’s Money & Medicine newsletter, Dr Margaret Faux explains why the latest update to Medicare rebates is no more than a breathtakingly amateur cost-cutting exercise and is completely devoid of any understanding of the law, or …

COVID MBS items Explainer and FAQs, No. 57, 4 January 2022

4 Jan 2022

Dear Doctors and Health Care Workers

Lots of updates with the new laws now in force.

We received some excellent questions, as expected, and with the legislation now on the register we have the following answers and updates.

Before we start, some legal definitions that ar…

COVID MBS items Newsflash! No.56, 30 December 2021

30 Dec 2021

Dear Doctors and Health Care Workers

Firstly, we hope you are enjoying the festive season, spending time with loved ones and staying Covid safe.

There are major changes happening to Covid telehealth item numbers from 1 January 2022. The changes have not yet hit the Federal …

Synapse Connect December 2021 – So here it is, Merry Christmas!

22 Dec 2021

So here it is, Merry Christmas!
Welcome to our final update for 2021, which was another difficult year with the world still battling a pandemic.
At Synapse, we continued to make the best of it, by firstly keeping everybody safe (we continued to work from home, and supported our…

Medical Republic article – To name or not to name a referral…

16 Dec 2021

In the December 14 issue of  The Medical Republic’s Money & Medicine newsletter, Dr Margaret Faux discusses some entrenched billing myths around referrals.
 

“Neither GPs nor public hospitals are deliberately rorting anything in this context. Both are just strugglin…

Medical Republic article – Get SMART, or get pinged

2 Dec 2021

In the November 30 issue of  The Medical Republic’s Money & Medicine newsletter, Dr Margaret Faux and Heather Grain discuss the PSR’s latest expectation  – that Doctors adopt the SMART goals in context to management plans for chronic disease.
 

“The inability of …

Medical Republic article – Too many standards to bear

18 Nov 2021

In the November 16 issue of The Medical Republic’s Money & Medicine newsletter, Solicitor and CEO of Synapse Medical, Dr Margaret Faux, discusses the poorly understood standard of clinical relevance as Doctors try to navigate a spaghetti junction of standards for Medicare b…

Medical Republic article – Medicare365: punting on compliance

4 Nov 2021

In the November 2 issue of The Medical Republic’s Money & Medicine newsletter, Solicitor and CEO of Synapse Medical, Dr Margaret Faux, discusses Doctor’s compliance and assessing reliable advice and support from Medicare.

 
When Margaret asked doctors who participa…

Medical Republic article – When it comes to billing, doctors eat their young

21 Oct 2021

In the recent article for The Medical Republic, Solicitor and CEO of Synapse Medical, Margaret Faux, discusses Medicare billing in a GP practice and the lack of education for registrars.

“…my research found some commendable attempts to teach correct use of Medicare, the ov…