Home care chiefs also major investors

THE president and chief medical director of the peak industry body that advises on the standards for the $250 million taxpayer-funded bulk-billing GP house-call service hold personal investments in the lucrative industry.

THE president and chief medical director of the peak industry body that advises on the standards for the $250 million taxpayer-funded bulk-billing GP house-call service hold personal investments in the lucrative industry.

National Association for Medical Deputising Service (NAMDS) president Dr Spiro Doukakis and director Dr Umberto Russo each legally hold 450,788 shares in the National Home Doctor Service, according to ASIC records.

Both Dr Doukakis and Dr Russo also sit on the clinical advisory committee for the National Home Doctor Service.

READ MORE: Home GP services using ‘unqualified’ doctors

Dr Doukakis said there were no governance issues with the ­arrangement.

“Like most peak bodies, our ­directors come from our industry and there is a standard governance clause for disclosure where the association makes a contractual arrangement,” Dr Doukakis said.

National Association for Medical Deputising Services Australia President Dr Spiro Doukakis

“There have been no issues of governance whatsoever requiring such disclosure.”

The NAMDS website states that it develops and negotiates “the definitions and standards for medical deputising in Australia” with government, the Royal Australian College of GPs and accreditation bodies, “to the betterment of patients, subscribing GPs and members”.

It says that as the peak body representing after-hours medical services, it “seeks to facilitate and encourage high standards of after-hours primary medical care”.

National Home Doctor Service is majority owned by the Sydney-based private equity firm Crescent Capital Partners, which invests in companies with enterprise values of between $50 million and $300 million.

This month Crescent Capital announced it had bought a similar home call company in Canada, in a stark indication of just how ­successful their Australian business has been.

Minister must take action to ensure the right help is being given

AT-HOME, after-hours medical care is a wonderful and vital service that absolutely should be funded by the federal government.

It is particularly helpful for parents when their baby is sick, or for the elderly­ who cannot drive themselves to a GP.

It is a health service that warrants taxpayer-funding, and should con­tinue­ to receive it.

But, currently, this demand is being exploited by private equity firms that are making millions and millions of dollars.

Since private equity entered the market, the service, which has been there since Medicare’s inception, has exploded and now costs the government­ a quarter of a billion dollars­ a year.

Dr Umberto Russo, Chief Medical Director of the National Association for Medical Deputising.

In our reports today, we reveal unpublished, confidential Medicare data that shows a massive 70 per cent of the doctors who attended night-time visits were less qualified than GPs. They are either GP trainees or are not vocationally-registered as GPs.

They have a medical degree but in many instances they have not completed the post-graduate training. When your baby is sick and covered in a rash in the middle of the night, you want to be able to trust that the person who turns up on your doorstep to treat them knows what they are talking about.

That they have experience.

Frighteningly, this may not be the case.

The Medicare Benefits Schedule Taskforce did a major review of urgent­ after-hours home-care GP visits­ and found that often the care was “inappropriate” and given by those with “less experience”.

Health Minister Greg Hunt needs to take action to clean up this industry.

We want quality healthcare, not just a service that lines the pockets of private equity firms.