Today’s editorial at The AustralianSent 22/3, not published.
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Let’s try a hypothetical application of the new Medicare rules that will let nurses claim for providing services (‘Paying nurses to play doctor will make system sick ‘, 22/3). The Health Minister said recently that pregnant women should be vaccinated against influenza. So, nurses could be paid fee-for-service by Medicare to give the injections. A private provider could then set up a mobile agency to reach out to those women and jab them wherever they were, without them having to undergo the tedium of booking into a GP practice.
However, the current scaremongering message about flu vaccination is pitched at individuals who care only about their own health. The fact is that vaccination for influenza is much more about the “herd” immunity, and that’s why it is imperative to vaccinate young children, if the campaign is to be successful. That is, success as measured by illness in the community, not by number of items billed to the MBS.
Many “items” of healthcare should be driven by their importance to the community, and not by the worries of individuals or the economic benefit to providers. Such items of care should not be subject to the whims and fancies of fee-for-service.
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