Practices could lose up to £200k in GMC reform
Released 09/02/2012
NHS plans to base primary care funding on QOF data could result in the reduction of hundreds of thousands of pounds from GP practice budgets, an analysis of a report by the NHS National Institute for Health Research study suggests
The General Practitioners Committee (GPC) has defended the current model of funding
GP practices could face funding swings of up to hundreds of thousands of pounds if primary care cost estimates are reformed to rely on Quality Outcome Framework (QOF) data, a leading medical accountant has suggested.
A report, published by NHS National Institute for Health Research last year, looked into whether the current system for funding GP practices on the basis of GMS and PMS could be replaced by estimates of primary care cost using QOF data.
Laurence Slavin, partner with specialist medical accountants firm Ramsay Brown told GPonline : “There would be significant winners, but there would probably be more significant losers."
According to information from the NHS information centre, this would result in roughly one in eight practices experiencing six-figure income falls under a new QOF-based system.
The General Practitioners Committee (GPC) has defended the current model of funding based on the Carr-Hill formula and MPIG.
GPC negotiator Dr Beth McCarron-Nash said the GPC had already done “a lot of explaining” to the DH over the years to justify the current funding model.
“There are those within government who think that MPIG is a bung to practices. “In reality, there are a good many reasons why practices receive the funding level they do,” she said.
NHS Employers and GP leaders are currently debating reforms to the Carr-Hill formula and a minimum practice income guarantee.
Reformers argue that funding based on practice data would make the system clearer and fairer than and would lower the incentive to ‘cherry pick’ or dump patients between practices.
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