Hospital in the Home (HITH) arrangements are "hindered" by red tape, a heavy administration burden, and billing "nightmares", the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has claimed in a letter to the Federal Health and Aged Care Minister Mark Butler.
The peak body for GPs is calling on the Federal Government to issue consistent national rules to State and Territory health departments and hospitals on GP involvement in patient admission, referrals, and billing practices following a HITH admission.
The RACGP wants GPs to be allowed to co-bill and co-manage their patients’ care, and for HITH programs to be required to contact a patient’s usual GP on admission and discharge.
"Let’s make it more straightforward for everyone by allowing patients to access Medicare rebates and GPs to co-manage their patients care," RACGP President Dr Nicole Higgins said in newsGP, the RACGPs news site.
"Let’s make sure [patients] are getting the best possible care from a GP they know and trust, it can make all the difference."
Associate Professor Michael Montalto, an international expert in HITH and executive member of the Australasian Hospital in the Home Society, commented on the article, stating "HITH patients are, in almost every jurisdiction in Australia, hospital inpatients. The hospital should be responsible for the entire episode of care: nursing, medical, pharmacy, on call, etc.
"Just as for all inpatients, the hospital medical service should be responsible for all the medical care during the HITH episode. Then, GPs should receive discharge information just as for any discharged hospital patient."
Other doctors commenting on the article agreed with Prof Montalto's views.
With more than 260,000 Australians receiving home care support as of 31 December 2023 and hospital wait times the longest in a decade, HITH, where patients can receive acute, hospital-level clinical care at home or in residential aged care, will be an increasingly important component of aged care services.
