FEE REDUCTIONS:CONTRACTS BETWEEN the State and thousands of medical professionals will need to be renegotiated to give effect to the Government decision to reduce professional fees by 8 per cent.
Some 5,800 health practitioners with General Medical Services contracts will be affected by the changes. The total annual bill for their services runs to €780 million but a change in their fee structure will require new or modified contracts. The Department of Finance said yesterday that the changes will require legislation in addition to a process that is not dissimilar to the one used to change the structure of payments for medical cards for over 70s.
The State will have to enter negotiations to circumvent the current contracts. It will have to state its intentions to make the reduction and then engage in consultation through the appropriate channel.
It is likely that a mediator will be commissioned to oversee the process. Former senior Department of Finance official Eddie Sullivan fulfilled that role during the process that followed on from the over-70s medical card controversy.
Some 2,315 general practitioners have contracts under the GMS; as do 1,530 pharmacists, 1,413 dentists and 552 optometrists.
Sources in the Department of Finance said yesterday that it was essential the Department of Health took a lead in the process, given that the bulk of the fees relate to health professionals.
The remaining €220 million in fees from the €1 billion in annual expenditure on professional services goes mainly to lawyers, with the residue being paid to veterinary surgeons.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen said on Tuesday that the 8 per cent cut in fees would save the exchequer €80 million in a full year.
The Department of Enterprise has been asked to draft the legislation. Government sources said the muted response from professional representative bodies so far has been taken as a relatively positive sign but accepted that the bodies may have chosen not to comment publicly for strategic reasons.
In the initial reaction on Tuesday, Law Society director general Ken Murphy said there was a recognition that pain sharing was required of everyone and the Law Society expected the legal profession would play its part with everyone else.
The Government’s intention is to introduce the new level of fees on March 1st but says that it is not a definite date.
