Rural patients owed thousands in transfer cost reimbursements

Rural Victorians travelling hours for critical healthcare are waiting weeks to be reimbursed for their travel costs as a government scheme falls behind on repayments.

Rural Victorians travelling hours from home to access critical treatment have been left out of pocket for travel costs as the state government falls behind on reimbursing patients via its own access scheme.

And a number of voluntary organisations working to alleviate stress for sick Victorians – such as cancer patients – are also waiting for repayment, to the tune of more than $400,000.

The Victorian Patient Transport Assistance Scheme subsidises travel costs for eligible Victorians living in a designated rural area required to travel 100km or 500km per week to see a medical specialist.

VPTAS, according to the state government website, aims to reimburse claims between six to eight weeks.

But a number of health services in Victoria’s north west are waiting more than 15 weeks for reimbursement, including more than $189,000 owing to Sunraysia Cancer Resources.

Sunraysia Information and Referral Service secretary Joan Hill said the voluntary-run organisation was owed shy of $260,000, and said wait times were “the worst its been” since the service began in the 1990s.

The service, which has helped send more than 240 patients from Mildura to Melbourne for care since September 2024,

“At the moment it’s about 15 weeks we’re out of our money. They’re only processing forms from September last year,” Ms Hill said.

“If it gets any worse we’ll have to say sorry, we can’t help you. We don’t have a bottomless bucket. I’m sending forms away every week and we’re not getting back the same amount.”

Ms Hill said patients in need of travel assistance often were required to fly to Melbourne for cancer treatment, and other major services.

“We deal with anyone with an appointment for a specialist. It could be endocrinology, cardiology, gynaecology … we don’t have those specialists here in Mildura,” Ms Hill said.

Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas. Picture: Brooke Grebert-Craig

The Weekly Times approached health minister Mary-Ann Thomas for comment.

A government spokesperson said the Department of Health is in the process of hiring and training more staff “to speed up the claims process”.

“Our priority is ensuring rural Victorians have access to healthcare as close to home as possible, and the VPTAS is there to help those who do need to travel long distances to receive specialist medical care,” the spokesperson said.

“Reimbursement applications for VPTAS are reviewed as they come in chronologically – users of the service can submit a reimbursement application at any point in the 12 months following their transport.”