Writing on wall for blood testing

By MARTIN JOHNSTON

Some doctors may be asked to handwrite their requests for patient blood tests, in a bid to cut costs.

The Auckland District Health Board fears GPs and private specialists are ordering many costly laboratory tests unnecessarily because existing tick-the-box forms offer such a wide range of tests.

The chairman, Wayne Brown, told Parliament's health select committee yesterday that the forms were designed to generate a large volume of testing.

"We would like to make it so they write the whole test out long-hand to make sure they get what they want."

But the Medical Association dismissed the idea as a bizarre addition to the bureaucracy doctors faced.

More than 900 tests are available, state-paid, but the most common ones, costing up to $20, include blood sampling for glucose, blood-cell counts, cholesterol and kidney and liver function.

Auckland District Health Board chief executive Graeme Edmond, said the board, which intended to discuss the test forms with labs, had been told of a case in which a GP had ordered a pregnancy test for a man.

"It could have been a mistake, but was used as an example of a GP not looking carefully at this."

The board is spending about $210 million in the year to June 30 on primary healthcare - lab tests and subsidising drugs and GP visits - and income from the Ministry of Health falls short.

Mr Edmond said the lab and drug losses were adding about $3 million to the board's $72 million deficit, but next year the losses could hit $20 million as the ministry had not committed to renewing a "risk-sharing" deal.

Medical Association chairman Dr John Adams said it would be slower for doctors to write out tests and carry a higher risk of errors.

Dr John Matthews, clinical director of Auckland-based Diagnostic Medlab, the largest community laboratory, said only 40 per cent of the test requests came on its pre-printed forms. The rest were printed out from medical clinics' computers.

The pre-printed form, which also had a space where doctors could handwrite requests, was designed in consultation with medical groups and Government officials.

Excluding population growth, the number of tests a year was rising by 5 to 7 per cent, he said, in line with other Western countries. This was partly because of the increasing complexity of medical care and an ageing population.

nzherald.co.nz/hospitals