Four medical centres in Queensland have offered to provide refunds and will apologise to any patients who were charged GST in relation to hepatitis B vaccinations of children when they shouldn't have been. The medical centres, located in Townsville, Cairns, Indooroopilly and Upper Mt Gravatt trade under the Aus-Care group name.
The offer of refunds follows a complaint made to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's North Queensland office advising that a medical centre in Townsville had charged GST on vaccinations for the Hepatitis B virus for children under the age of thirteen years. Investigations by the ACCC indicated that similar charges may have been made by the other three medical centres.
'After considering information published by the Australian Tax Office, the ACCC formed the view that the medical centres had included a GST component on goods or services which were GST-free and as such, the medical centres were at risk of breaching the price exploitation provisions of the Trade Practices Act', Acting ACCC Chairman, Mr Allan Asher, said today.
'The medical centres now agree that in most circumstances, the vaccinations in question should be GST-free. They admitted that in charging GST they may have inadvertently misled their patients and charged more than they should have'.
After being approached by the ACCC, the medical centres cooperated with efforts to ensure the vaccinations did not include a GST component and have agreed to fix the problem by providing the ACCC with court-enforceable undertakings.
'This is a good outcome for patients of the medical centres because they will be compensated for any over-charging they were subject to in vaccinating their children', Mr Asher said.
'It also demonstrates that the ACCC has a presence across regional Australia and has the ability to get results wherever consumer protection issues arise'.
The medical centres will also take the positive approach of conducting a review of all their billing practices to ensure that there is no GST component on any GST-free services.
The undertakings also include an agreement to institute a trade practices compliance program to ensure that future conduct of the medical centres is less likely to raise concerns under the Act.
'The ACCC encourages other medical practitioners to take the same steps as these medical centres by reviewing the publicly available information from the Australian Taxation Office and ensuring that there is no GST component on any GST-free medical services.
'However, where businesses wait to be approached by the ACCC or do not rectify a situation quickly, the ACCC will not hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to ensure that consumers obtain refunds'.