General Practitioners (GPs) who provide after-hours services have raised questions about the requirements for billing urgent after-hours items. The new urgent after hours items 597 and 599, which replaced items 1, 2, 601, 602 and 603, can be used by GPs for urgent after hours services provided in consulting rooms, or at a place other than consulting rooms, in an after hours period
If more than one patient is seen on the one occasion, the standard after-hours attendance items should be used in respect of the second and subsequent patients attended on the same occasion.
GPs who routinely provide services to patients in the after-hours periods at consulting rooms, or who provide the services (as a contractor, employee, member or otherwise) for a general practice or clinic that routinely provides services to patients in after-hours periods at consulting rooms, are reminded that they will not be able to bill urgent after hours items 597 and 599.
