Open letter to the federal Minister for veterans’ affairs

12 Aug

Joint position of 10 veteran service organisations on the proposed $5,000 Annual Monetary Limit on allied health services

Dear Minister Keogh,

We write to you jointly, on behalf of 10 national veteran service organisations representing veterans, and families of veterans across Australia.

We do not support the proposed $5,000 Annual Monetary Limit on DVA-funded allied health services, (widely known as “the cap”), and we will take that position into the consultation process commencing this month. We write to be clear with you about where we stand, and seek to work together on an alternative approach.

We first acknowledge what the Budget got right. The investment in allied health provider fees is the largest in more than two decades, and removal of the treatment cycle lifts a real administrative burden from veterans and providers. Both decisions were welcomed across our organisations.

It is because of those positive decisions that the Annual Monetary Limit concerns us. A measure that improves access, introduced alongside a measure that creates constraints, works against itself and sends veterans and their families a contradictory message about whether the care they need will be there for them.

The Department has described the limit as a threshold for review of clinical effectiveness, and we accept that objective as legitimate. But a review of clinical effectiveness is a clinical question. It is answered with the treating practitioner, not by attaching a dollar figure to a veteran's care and waiting for them to reach the limit.

The capability the Government is seeking to create already exists.

The Department of Veteran’ Affairs holds complete claims data and has established a Provider Integrity Division resourced to act. Overservicing can be identified and addressed directly with providers through legislation and regulation, without a threshold and without involving veterans and families of veterans at all.

The Department's own evidence to Senate Estimates points to concentrated overservicing by a small number of providers, not to widespread overservicing by veterans. Yet the measure will apply to more than 25,000 veterans, many of whom will exceed the limit simply because they receive regular treatment from more than one provider. Asking veterans and families of veterans to monitor the volume of services delivered by their providers is not their role, and it is the wrong lever.

We are also concerned that this measure could, even inadvertently, disadvantage veterans genuinely in need of care. That outcome is unacceptable to us. Every organisation signing this letter has been fielding concerns from members since Budget night. The proposed Annual Monetary Limit does not commence until 1 July 2027, but the uncertainty is causing harm today.

We ask you to:

Reconsider the approach to assuring quality of care for veterans and families of veterans. The objective is sound; the method places the onus in the wrong place.
Work with our sector to co-design an approach that directly targets overservicing providers, to stop them exploiting veterans, families of veterans and the care they need.

We are not asking Government to ignore overservicing. We share your concern entirely and we want it addressed, at its source, through the Department's data, its Provider Integrity Division and its direct relationship with providers and health practitioners.

We are ready to co-design that approach with you and with the Department. Quality of care for veterans and accountability for providers go hand in hand, and both are far more likely to be achieved with our sector in the room.

Our first responsibility is to secure the best possible outcome for veterans and families of veterans, and we believe that outcome is within reach.

We welcome the opportunity to discuss this during the upcoming consultations and meet with you separately to consider how we might begin.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Tinley AM

National President, RSL Australia

Mark Lax OAM, CSM

Chair, Legacy Australia

Colin Benporath

National President, TPI Federation of Australia

Greg Melick AO RFD FANZCN KC

National President, Australian Commando Association

Llani Kennealy