Doctors earn €34m in medical card payments

More than 70 of the country’s top-earning doctors shared €34.37 million from payments received through the medical card system in 2012, new figures show.

According to the Primary Care Reimbursement Service (PCRS) Statistical Claims Report for 2012, 76 GPs received an average payment of €452,247 in 2012.

The report show payments through the medical card system increased by €14m to €483m that year as the number of people on medical cards reached record levels.

The payments to doctors include €239m in capitation, along with a host of allowances including annual leave; locum and practice expenses; rural practice; secretarial/nursing; study leave and practice development.

The detailed breakdown shows 39 GPs received in excess of €470,000 compared to 23 in that earning bracket in 2011. Seven practices in Dublin North East received in excess of €470,000, as did 10 in HSE South and 15 in HSE West.

In a bumper year for GPs, the figures show 151 practices received fees of between €370,001 and €470,00, compared to 108 in that bracket in 2011.

The report shows that 464 GPs received fees of €270,001 to €370,000 — compared to 418 in 2011.

A further 202 GPs received fees between €240,001 and €270,000 — compared to 172 in 2011.

HSE figures show payments to pharmacists also increased from €1.482m to €1.547m, while payments to dentists increased from €52.m to €63.7m.

The figures show 416 pharmacists received dispensing payments of over €240,000 compared to 328 in 2011.

The report also shows 109 dentists received payments through the Dental Treatment Services Scheme of over €120,000 — up from 74 in 2011.

In total, the PCRS cost €2.55bn in 2012, with services from 6,855 GPs, pharmacists, dentists and optometrists/ophthalmologists.

Some 1.8m held medical cards in 2012, or 41% of the population, which was a 60% increase since 2005.

The report shows that the PCRS processed 82m transactions in 2012.