Paul Smith

Sydney

Editor at Australian Doctor

Editor of Australian Doctor writing about health, society, politics and their strange, irrational alchemy.

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Articles

Fears return over shake-up of MBS care plan rebates

1 week ago | ausdoc.com.au | Paul Smith

The RACGP is increasingly alarmed about the absence of concrete information on the looming rebate changes for chronic disease management items. The Federal Government says it wants to provide greater incentives for GPs to review the care plans. × If this is your first visit to the new AusDoc website, reset your password here.
Mark Butler: Policy froth and the Medicare promised land

1 week ago | ausdoc.com.au | Paul Smith

This is the second in our two-part federal election series. Last week we looked at the pledges made by Opposition health spokeswoman Senator Anne Ruston. When Mark Butler took over as health minister he had, like most of us, been witness to the way consultations on reforming Medicare — that stuff about making it fit for patients needing complex care — had ended up as Canberra landfill.
Budget Paper 2: The haunting of Anne Ruston?

2 weeks ago | ausdoc.com.au | Paul Smith

This is the first in a two-part federal election series. Next week we’ll look at what Mark Butler, the Minister for Health and Aged Care, and his government have delivered over the last three years. Senator Anne Rustonâ€™s appearance at a posh parliamentary lunch with health industry bigwigs last week carried some significance. × If this is your first visit to the new AusDoc website, reset your password here.
Doctor jailed for six years after 'entanglement' with Comanchero bikie gang

2 weeks ago | ausdoc.com.au | Paul Smith

A doctor who got “in over his head” after coming into contact with the Comancheros has been imprisoned for supplying garbage bags full of prescription medication to the bikie gang. Dr John Ullman, who made over $1.5 million from his prescription drug dealing, had been accused of using his Brisbane clinic as a front to illegally sell benzodiazepines and steroids.
Medical board hits back at specialist college over 'unprofessional' conduct accusation

1 month ago | ausdoc.com.au | Paul Smith

The Medical Board of Australia has hit back hard after being accused of unprofessional behaviour over its fast-track scheme for IMG specialists. This week, the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) took aim at the watchdog, alleging it had been kept in the dark over moves to bring in overseas anaesthetists to fill workforce holes in regional hospitals.
Do doctors lack insight into the realities of being a politician in control of the health budget?

1 month ago | ausdoc.com.au | Paul Smith |Rachel Carter

Judged by the complaints they generate, you suspect everyone thinks it’s easy being politician. So why the stupidity of the Medicare freeze, the experiments with pharmacy prescribing or plunging $8 billion into bulk-billing incentives that will leave most GPs worse off? × If this is your first visit to the new AusDoc website, reset your password here.
College accuses medical board of 'unprofessional conduct' over IMG fast track

1 month ago | ausdoc.com.au | Paul Smith

The Medical Board of Australia is being accused of unprofessional conduct over alleged silence on the fast-track specialist pathway for IMGs. The claims have been made by the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) which says it is still in the dark over the qualifications and experience of the doctors tasked with supervising the anaesthetists brought into the country on the new pathway.
'We are going to listen to you now': Dr Liz Marles on protecting patients from the harms of too much medicine

1 month ago | ausdoc.com.au | Paul Smith |Mohana Basu

Polypharmacy is a complex issue for doctors, particularly when it comes to older patients — the gradual functional decline, the increasing frailty, and cascading complications often mistaken for disease progression. Here Associate Professor Liz Marles, former RACGP president, talks about the warning signs, the medico-legal issues and dealing with the other specialists whose prescriptions you want to stop.
The unsolved mysteries within Tony Abbott’s 'sausage-machine medicine'

1 month ago | ausdoc.com.au | Paul Smith

What are the big unknowns in general practice? No, not the reasons for the existence of the authority script line or whether obesity is a chronic disease when it comes to claiming the 721 care plan item. × If this is your first visit to the new AusDoc website, reset your password here.
'There is this narrative around - it's just lazy doctors': The true story of ambulance ramping and ED deaths

1 month ago | ausdoc.com.au | Paul Smith

Dr Megan Brooks fronted a parliamentary select committee last week. Her testimony, which took about 45 minutes, was about ambulance ramping, the spectacle of patients in the midst of an acute health crisis stuck in the back of an ambulance a few metres from medical care. × If this is your first visit to the new AusDoc website, reset your password here.