No evidence that Trade Practices Act hinders rural doctors: ACCC

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission still has not seen any evidence that the Trade Practices Act 1974 hinders the recruitment or retention of doctors in the bush, ACCC Chairman, Professor Allan Fels, said today.

Issuing the ACCC's second submission to the Review of the impact of the Act on the recruitment and retention of doctors in rural and regional Australia, Professor Fels said that the shortages in rural health could be attributed to a multitude of reasons.

"These include lifestyle considerations, remuneration, family issues and indemnity insurance", he said.

"There is no evidence that the Act, or the way the ACCC applies the Act, hinders the recruitment and retention of doctors in the bush".

The Australian Medical Association has provided incorrect information about the Act and the ACCC to the medical community.

"In particular, the AMA continues to assert that genuine rosters are a breach of the Act. As the ACCC has repeatedly and publicly said, the Act does not prevent country doctors taking a much-needed break from work while reaching an agreement with their colleagues to ensure that medical services continue to be available. Genuine rosters are not a breach of the Act.

"The AMA and other interest groups have called for an exemption for rural doctors from the Act because they assert the medical profession is different to any other sector in the community.

"However, groups such as the AMA and the Rural Doctors Association have failed to provide a credible case for giving rural doctors special treatment.

"Essentially, they are asking for rural and regional doctors to be able to engage in anti-competitive conduct such as price-fixing and boycotts without restraint. For example, with a blanket exemption, they could collectively agree to boycott bulk-billing, or new no-gap arrangements introduced by private health insurers. Similarly, all medical practices in a town could agree on the fee to be charged by rural doctors in that town. Any conduct of this type has the potential to harm regional and rural patients who already have restricted access to medical practitioners".

The ACCC considers that if it is necessary for rural and regional doctors to engage in conduct that is at risk of breaching the Act, then they should apply for authorisation* in the same way as any other provider of goods or services (for example pharmacists, dentists, physiotherapists, lawyers or accountants).

The authorisation process is necessarily a thorough and rigorous one. If there are demonstrated net public benefits from such conduct, the Act enables the ACCC to 'authorise' such conduct. In the past three years, the ACCC has considered 39 applications for authorisation, granting 35 (89 per cent) and denying only four".

The ACCC reiterates that it is willing to work with medical practitioners and their representative associations in developing further open lines of communication to facilitate ongoing information flows.

In order to accommodate the increasing need for information to reach rural and regional areas, the ACCC has established a Rural and Regional Program whose primary purpose is the development of communication and education outreach in rural and regional areas throughout Australia.

*Authorisation provides immunity from legal action for conduct that might otherwise breach the Trade Practices Act. The ACCC can grant immunity when it is satisfied that the public benefit from the anti-competitive conduct outweighs any associated public detriment. The ACCC conducts an open and transparent process, including consultation with interested parties, to determine