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NSW town’s pop-up Covid vaccine clinic almost called off because of ‘ridiculous’ Medicare rule
Rule that nurses must be supervised for clinics to be reimbursed nearly caused ‘health disaster’ when rural GP had to isolate, expert says
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A rural New South Wales town with one GP almost lost its vaccination clinic at the height of the pandemic because of what has been described as a “ridiculous” and “unjustifiable” Medicare billing rule that needlessly limits access to care.
Under the Medicare Benefits Schedule, doctors can’t claim payment from the government for a Covid-19 vaccination provided in their clinic by a nurse, unless a GP is on the premises to supervise. This is despite nurses being trained to administer vaccines and doing so in other settings without doctor supervision.
Read the original article at The Guardian