ACCC to assist review of impact of Trade Practices Act on rural doctors

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is ready to assist the review into the impact of the Trade Practices Act on rural doctors and expects the review will help in ending misunderstandings about the implications of the Act for country practices.

"The ACCC's primary concern in all its activities in the professions, including the medical profession, is to ensure consumers are protected from any anti-competitive behaviour which can lead to higher prices and poorer services", ACCC Chairman, Professor Allan Fels, said today.

"The ACCC has already consulted widely with rural doctors as part of its moves to inform them about their rights and responsibilities under the Act.

"The ACCC hopes that the inquiry will clear up the myths that have been circulated, for example the claim that the Act prohibits country doctors rostering their after-hours services.

"The ACCC has never had an issue with country doctors forming rosters – not since 1974, when the Act applied to doctors in the ACT and Northern Territory and to those practising through companies, nor since the mid-1990s when the Act applied nationally to all doctors.

"The ACCC will, however, investigate any claims of independent doctors getting together and collectively agreeing to boycott bulk-billing or 'No-Gap' arrangements, or independent doctors agreeing amongst themselves not to bulk-bill and charge a collectively-fixed fee to patients. Such investigations would clearly be in the interests of rural and regional Australians.

"The ACCC will fully assist the review. While the ACCC maintains the view that the medical profession should not be above the law, if the review identifies any significant problem affecting rural doctors the ACCC stands ready to assist in resolving the issue.

"The ACCC believes that the framework of the Act is sufficiently flexible to protect consumers from detrimental behaviour whilst supporting legitimate practices to ensure delivery of important medical services".