LARGE NUMBERS of general practitioners are facing difficulties with the Revenue Commissioners, new official Department of Health documents maintain.
In a report drawn up for former minister for health Mary Harney in December, senior Department of Health officials stated that they had been informed by the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) that “a significant amount of back taxes” was owed to the Revenue by family doctors.
The Department of Health officials said that the IMO had set out this position in a submission opposing Government proposals to reduce fees for GPs working in various State medical schemes.
“The IMO commented on the effect on general practice of the Revenue Commissioner changes to the status of all locums and partners, where GPs are effectively employees under the new system and a significant amount of back taxes are owed to the Revenue Commissioners by a large number of GPs for the years 2007-2008,” the document states.
The report drawn up for Ms Harney does not specify the number of GPs who owe back taxes or suggest the amounts involved.
Asked about the comments attributed by the Department of Health to the IMO on the issue of GPs owing significant sums in back taxes, the doctors’ trade union said there “was no agreed joint minutes or notes of the oral submission recorded”.
“However, the IMO did mention the Revenue Commissioner changes as a ‘point of information’ as it may result in extra costs for individual general practitioners. Detailed information was not provided, the IMO not having a role in collating such data.”
The report drawn up by senior Department officials in December formed part of a process which led to Ms Harney deciding to reduce or abolish some fees paid to GPs, with an estimated saving of €48 million.
As part of the measures introduced by Ms Harney, fees paid for treating people over the age of 70 in a private nursing home were cut by 50 per cent, while the distance a patient lived from a GP’s surgery was removed as a criterion in setting capitation fees
Changes were also put in place for out-of-hours consultations which will reduce payments by 22 per cent.
The move to reduce the fees took place under financial emergency legislation introduced by the Government which required it to conduct a consultation process with interested parties.
In submissions to Ms Harney, the IMO and a number of individual doctors maintained that further cuts in fees could result in practice staffing levels having to be reduced and existing services being discontinued.
The IMO contended that GPs believed they had been targeted for more cuts than other professional grades – they experienced an 8 per cent cut in 2009.
The IMO also argued that GPs had fixed overheads of 40-60 per cent of gross turnover.
However, in a commentary, the Department of Health said it had no direct evidence to support the claim the IMO made about the scale of fixed overheads.
It also maintained that 62 per cent of people seeking GP services must do so on a private basis.
