Health Minister Tanya Plibersek announced on Wednesday that GPs will be able to receive Medicare payments for preparing shared health summaries and event summaries as part of a consultation.
"In deciding which item to bill, GPs will only have to consider the reasonable time it would take - not the complexity of the consultation," Ms Plibersek said in a statement.
Everyone who opts to use the new e-health system will have a summary record containing information such as current medications, allergies and major conditions.
Hospitals will be able to access it in emergencies.
Doctors had wanted a separate fee for setting up patient summaries but on Wednesday night the Australian Medical Association (AMA) welcomed Ms Plibersek's announcement they would receive up to $100 for working on e-health records under existing Medicare items.
"The government has clarified that additional time spent by a GP on a shared health summary or an event summary during a consultation will count towards the total consultation time," president Steve Hambleton said in a statement.
Ms Plibersek and Dr Hambleton both attended the AMA's annual parliamentary dinner in Canberra on Wednesday night.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard used the event to declare that last week's High Court decision in favour of Labor's plain packaging laws for tobacco was a "shining day" for Australia.
"We won," she told the dinner.
"Big tobacco threw everything at stopping this and they failed."
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Quelle/Source: Perth Now, 22.08.2012
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