PATIENTS will have to pay up to $1000 upfront to get medical imaging such as CAT scans, MRIs and X-rays as a result of a budget nasty that doctors fear could delay diagnosis.

And even after they get a Medicare rebate back the out of pocket costs patients face for scans could be more than $160, not the $7 implied in the budget.

Diagnostic Imaging Association CEO Pattie Beerens says radiologists fear “patients may be put off imaging if the costs are too high”.

Australian Medical Association president Dr Brian Owler says if a woman with a breast lump delays a scan because of the cost and the lump turns out to be malignant “that could be the difference between life and death”.

And the woman’s treatment would cost the health system a great deal more because her cancer would be more advanced, he said.

The Australian Diagnostic Imaging Association says as a result of the budget the 10 per cent bulk billing incentive imaging practices Medicare pays for all the patients they bulk bill will be axed.

From July next year this incentive will be replaced with a low gap incentive that will only apply to pensioners and children under the age of 16 who are charged a $7 fee.

The rebate Medicare provides for a scan for a general patient will be slashed from 95 to 85 per cent and then by a further $5 as a result of the government’s new policy that free medical care should end.

Radiologists will only be able to bulk bill patients if they charge a $7 fee but this will not recoup the losses they make from a 10 per cent cut it the rebate and they say they will have to charge more than $7.

media_camera Hidden budget nasty ... patient medical scans could cost much more than we currently pay for now.

Therefore, under Medicare rules, when a patient is not bulk billed they must be charged the full fee upfront and then claim a rebate back from Medicare.

Australian Diagnostic Imaging Association CEO Pattie Beerens says this means general patients should have to pay $90 upfront for an x-ray, $380 for a CAT scan, up to $160 for a mammogram and up to $190 for an ultrasound.

A PET scan will cost over $1000 upfront.

Patients who need to pay more than $7 will have to get the rebate from Medicare which will not cover the full cost of the scan leaving them with an out of pocket expense of up to $160 for a scan.

Radiologist Dr Padnya Dugal says the out of pocket cost for a CAT scan could be $130, a bone scan $95.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said diagnostic imaging was a highly competitive area and “we expect that providers will continue to find ways to adapt to this relatively small change”.

“If a doctor charges the patient $7 (whether or not they are eligible for low gap or bulk billing incentives), the patient can still ‘assign their benefit’ to the provider. This means that the patient pays only the $7, and the practice claims the Medicare rebate directly from the Government,” the spokeswoman said.

Ms Beerens says the radiology industry is working with Health Minister Peter Dutton to see if changes can be made.

Adelaide Imaging is one of the few radiology services in South Australia which bulk bills but Associate Professor Roger Davies said the changes would now make that financially unviable.

The group offers bulk billed diagnostic imaging services for all eligible imaging services.

“In the last nine years, there has been no increase in real dollar terms in the medical imaging schedule while at the same time rent, electricity, wages etc have increased substantially - it will would render most if not all bulk billing practices unviable,” Prof Davies said. “It certainly won’t make it easier for patients.”

- with Brad Crouch

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Originally published as Medical scans set to soar to $1000