Somebody has it in for general practitioners, particularly the charging practices of a few.
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Since early August, a fake letter has been circulated to GPs in NSW and Queensland asking them to review their practices for over-servicing.
At least 25 general practitioners have received the letters, supposedly from the Department of Human Services and Medical Board of Australia, warning that they are reaching the limit for the number of consultations charged to Medicare.
It is similar to genuine letters sent out by the department to GPs who are approaching 80 or more professional attendances on 20 or more days in a 12-month period.
But the tell-tale sign is the co-branding with the Medical Board of Australia, which does not send such letters.
IPN Medical Centres, which runs 36 practices in NSW and 30 in Queensland, confirmed one of its practitioners had received the letter, but had no idea who had sent it or why.
Initially staff thought their system might have been hacked, but on closer inspection of the letter it was revealed to be "highly inaccurate".
"We have assisted the doctor with data that shows the claims made in the fake letter bear no relationship with reality," a spokeswoman said.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services said it had reported the matter to the Australian Federal Police.
"The majority of the content is the same as a legitimate letter, however the co-branding with the Medical Board of Australia as well as the inclusion of incorrect information, such as dates and figures, confirmed the letter was forged," the spokeswoman said.
"The department is unable to speculate on the motivation behind the fraudulent letter or provide specific details as this may compromise future investigations and potentially breach privacy laws."
The Australian Federal Police has confirmed that it received correspondence from the Department of Human Services over the matter.
Over-servicing by general practitioners has been one of the bugbears of the federal government, which attempted to combat the practice with its ill-fated $6 GP co-payment.
A roundtable of 30 healthcare experts convened by the George Institute for Global Health last week recommended that a new payment model be introduced to cruel the incentive for doctors to charge patients for multiple visits instead of conducting more comprehensive consultations.
This would include fee-for-service as well as a capitation model for patients with chronic disease, where doctors would be paid per patient for a year.
President of the Royal Australasian College of General Practitioners Frank Jones said most doctors were altruistic in their work practices, but a capitation model may be a more appropriate way to charge for patients with chronic disease.
"Items of service work pretty well if you only visit the doctor occasionally, but it doesn't work if you have multiple diseases, diabetes, depression," Dr Jones said.
On average the department sends 20 legitimate letters to practitioners each quarter, when those practitioners are approaching an unusually high volume of rendered services.
The Department of Human Services has asked that any doctors who believe they have received one of these fraudulent letters to contact its Health Practitioner Section on 02 6143 6040.
This story was updated on August 18 to include the AFP's response.
