Page 2185 - Week 07 - Thursday, 16 May 2013
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Health—visiting medical officers
(Question No 105)
Mr Hanson asked the Minister for Health, upon notice, on 10 April 2013:
(1) What portion of current ACT Health staff are Visiting Medical Officers (VMOs).
(2) What portion of specialists in the ACT are VMOs.
(3) How many VMOs contracts are due to expire at the end of 2012-13.
(4) What is the total dollar value of these expiring contracts.
(5) How many of these contracts will be extended or continued.
(6) What is the total dollar value of the contracts being extended or continued.
(7) How much is the Government expected to save from the reduction in the indexation rate for VMOs.
(8) Have there been any VMOs that will not be continuing in the ACT due to the change referred to in part (7); if so, how many.
Ms Gallagher: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:
(1) Visiting Medical Officers (VMOs) are not staff of ACT Health.
ACT Health has contracts with 184 VMOs.
(2) ACT Health does not keep numbers of specialists across the health system. ACT Health has contracts with 184 VMOs.
(3) There are nine VMO contracts due to expire prior to the end of the 2012-2013 financial year.
(4) Until a contract has been finalised, and all invoices submitted, this cannot be determined. VMO contracts are for services, but do not specify a definite number of procedures, what those procedures will be, or an exact dollar value.
(5) Of the nine contracts noted at item 3 above, new contracts are currently being finalised in seven cases, one is yet to be considered by the relevant managers, and one is a locum contract that will not be renewed.
(6) As noted at 4 above, there is no specific dollar value specified in a VMO contract. Rather the intended number of sessions is specified. The actual value of a contract will depend on factors such as the actual procedures performed, the extent of participation in on-call rosters, the number of instances of call-back and the particular circumstances of individual patients/VMOs.
Contracts with VMOs are outlined in ACT Health’s annual report.
(7) The Government has made an offer of 2% indexation for sessional VMO contracts. This is subject to negotiation, with the final outcome likely to be determined by
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