Vol. 564 No. 1
216 Mr. P. McGrath asked the Minister for Health and Children the annual rate of payment to general practitioners for providing treatment to a medical card holder; if there is a uniform payment to these doctors for treatment of medical card holders who are over 70 years of age; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8661/03]
General practitioners are paid annual capitation fees for the patients on their GMS lists. These rates are based on the age, sex and location of the patients. The latest published figures, for the year 2001, indicate that an average of €177.06 per patient was paid to doctors in that year.
A uniform figure of €462.16 per annum is currently being paid to doctors in respect of all patients who live in the community and received their medical card for the first time as a result of the Government decision to grant automatic medical card eligibility to persons aged 70 and over with effect from 1 July 2001. A capitation rate of €669.79 is payable for all patients in this age group in private, health board approved nursing homes for a continuous period in excess of six weeks. The higher capitation rates reflect the outcome of an industrial relations process between management and the Irish Medical Organisation, the representative organisation of the doctors involved.
Patients aged 70 and over who were medical card holders on 1 July 2001 do not attract the new higher capitation rate. The rates applied to these patients vary and depend on their age, sex and location.
Doctors who hold GMS contracts also qualify for other payments, including out-of-hours consultation fees, for all categories of patients I have mentioned, and a range of practice support allowances which are based on their patient panel size. A ratio of 3:1 is being applied to doctors' panels in respect of the newly eligible over-70s for the purpose of the calculation of such allowances.
