Motivation for making dentists the scapegoat becomes clear as government tries to meet budget shortfall

Dr Shane Fryer, President of the Australian Dental Association Inc. (ADA) says it is clear dentists are being used as a scapegoat by the Government to fill its revenue gaps and achieve a budget surplus by next financial year.

"The Australian Government is examining how it can make savings across the health portfolio, which includes targeting dentists for making minor administrative errors under the Chronic Dental Disease Scheme (CDDS) and demanding dentists repay the full cost of delivering dental care and treatment to patients with chronic diseases," said Dr Fryer.

The ADA has continually spoken about its reservations regarding the Government's motivation for the Medicare audits and the Government's attempts at closure of the Scheme.

"It is extremely unfair of the Government to demand full repayment of the cost of much needed dental care delivered to patients suffering chronic diseases merely because the dentist failed to complete paperwork. The manner in which Medicare has pursued dentists delivering legitimate care is quite extraordinary.

If there has been a serious or blatant breach of the Scheme from a dental treatment perspective or a fraudulent activity, then such pursuit of repayment of Medicare claims would be warranted. The ADA does not support inappropriate conduct of dentists in any way," said Dr Fryer.

The ADA has requested that Medicare provide a breakdown of the reasons for dentists being deemed non compliant in the Scheme. The same request has recently been made in the Senate. To-date, Medicare has not provided any details.

Medicare's aggressive action has placed a number of dentists who have only made administrative errors under severe financial strain and potentially the threat of bankruptcy, despite chronic disease patients receiving the dental care and treatment they needed.

The ADA has reason to believe the Government is using the demand for repayment by dentists as a way to recoup money due the significant blow out in the budgeting of the Scheme.

"The majority of dentists participating in the Scheme simply tried their best to fulfil the patient's dental needs but were unaware of the administrative requirements they needed to meet.

Medicare's communication to dentists about the administrative requirements for the Scheme has been exceedingly poor. This is perhaps best exemplified by the Medicare website where a link to the CDDS leads to information on the Medicare Teen Dental Plan only.

Legitimate, quality dental care and treatment has been provided to people with chronic disease, under the scheme," stated Dr Fryer.