AMA (NSW) supports greater transparency for doctors’ pay
The Auditor-General’s report highlights the need for more transparency in Visiting Medical Officer (VMO) pay claims, something AMA (NSW) has been working towards for some time.
AMA (NSW) Councillor, A/Prof Brian Owler, said, “The current system for managing the way VMOs are paid is broken and it’s no surprise that it’s resulted in delays, underpayments and overpayments.”
“Submitting claims manually is time consuming and recent changes to the way it is done have only made the situation worse.”
“AMA (NSW) is currently working with NSW Health on an advisory group to improve transparency and efficiency for managing the way VMOs are paid.
“Media reports have implied that doctors are rorting the system. In fact, the current system does not provide enough information to allow VMOs to make accurate claims.
“The improvements we’re working on will see duplicate claims rejected just like if someone accidentally tries to claim something twice on Medicare,” A/Prof Owler said.
“Hospitals run because of the good will of the VMOs and staff specialists and the significant amounts of unpaid overtime we do.
“We are on call, we teach and supervise the increasing numbers of junior doctors and we help with hospital administration.
“We know the problem exists and this report has invited attacks on the people whose good will is helping prop up the NSW health system.
“We need to support the doctors who support NSW hospitals and one way we can do that is to introduce a transparent, fair system for them to claim their pay,” A/Prof Owler said.
Media contact: Lachlan Jones (02) 9902 8113 / 0419 402 955
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