GPs may not be able to avoid raising fees after funding changes

Many patients could pay more to see a GP this year, despite the government suggesting fees would remain stable, a group representing general practices says.

Health NZ is changing the way it funds GPs, and as part of the new agreement many practices would not increase fees.

But the General Practice Owners Association said that did not cover everyone.

Chair and GP Angus Chambers said for some clinics, the new funding structure meant they will still need to increase fees to cover their costs.

"We're a bit concerned that patients will hear a message that there's no fee increase and then they'll get a fee increase and the anger will be directed at general practice, because they have been told there is not fee increase this year," he said.

The new agreement and a funding boost overall was positive in many ways, with extra money for practices that had more complex patient populations, including older people and those living rurally, he said.

But others - including those with a high degree of young, urban patients - might not fare so well, Chambers said.

"One of the big concerns here is that they've not included ethnicity in the formula which has proved to be an independent variable associated with need if you control for all the other things like deprivation and rurality," he said.

As many as a fifth of all clinics have not been adequately compensated under the the new structure, he said.

Chambers know of a "significant number" who planned to apply for approval to increase their fees.

There was also a problem with ACC consultations because the amount GPs were funded for them had not been increased.

That meant the cost may need to be passed on to patients, Chambers said.

Health NZ acting director of community and primary care funding Martin Hefford said the stable fees policy was intended to hold the "great majority" of fees steady this year.

But it was known there would be exceptions - and they had been set out in the agreement with GPs, he said.

That included practices whose business sustainability was jeopardised, who would have to greatly reduce patient services, or who could show they were not meeting criteria for being adequately compensated for their services under the new funding model.

Patients would benefit from the new policy, he said.

"By investing an additional $120.6 million in primary care, Health New Zealand is supporting practices to hold fees steady and improve access to timely, quality healthcare for New Zealanders," he said.