The fee for a prescription is $19.95 and $5 for each additional...

The fee for a prescription is $19.95 and $5 for each additional script. I guess the doctor will receive the majority of the fee (anyone know what the split is?). A Medicare rebate does not apply and there are restrictions on what medications this applies to. It will not apply to cases that require clinical face to face assessment. It applies principally to repeat prescriptions for ongoing management of stable chronic conditions. Currently medical practices often will charge a $10 fee for repeat scripts without a consult. Often happens when no appointments are available. However there are often situations where some doctors won't write a repeat script without a Medicare consult and the patient still has a gap to pay. Obviously this is an important income stream for some less busy doctor/practices.

So there are pretty strict ethical guidelines which is very sensible if they want doctors to support this program. I think the key to success is for it to be both patient driven with their own GP and MedAdvisor marketing it strongly to the large corporate practises. If it generates additional income for a busy practice and is gives them more time for more relevant Medicare consults then its a win/win.

Do we know how the trial release in Victoria went over the last year in terms of scripts written and income generated?