Doctors are pocketing up to $12,000-a-week by making out-of-hours house calls Dr Javad Maleki of St Ives works as an after-hours GP making house calls to the sick and frail. DOCTORS are earning as much as $12,000 a week by making after-hour house calls with their $130 call-out fee covered by Medicare. GPs are now making more than one million home visits annually, with some seeing about 120 ­patients a week. The Australian Locum Medical Service is one of the 14 companies offering after-hour GP services that are bulk billed. Despite the doctors having to pay a commission to the company, some still command annual ­incomes of more than $600,000. ALMS is owned by one of the nation's largest medical centre operators, the Independent Practitioners Network (IPN), which runs 140 medical centres throughout Australia, including 44 in NSW. ALMS finance manager Maureen Davin said the service operated in all capital cities providing after-hour, bulk-billed home visits for all GP practices that subscribed to the service between 6pm to 7am each weeknight, and from 1pm on Saturday to Monday morning. She said the service, which ­employs around 70 doctors, had provided care for 100,000 patients. The fully accredited company recruits many doctors from overseas on three-, six- or 12-month contracts. Many of the overseas-trained doctors do not meet standards that allow them fellowship of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP). All doctors trained overseas have to meet strict guidelines and have to be registered with the Australian Medical Board. They also have to pass Australian Medical Council exams. However, doctors who are not vocationally recognised are eligible to attract Medicare rebates for ­patient consultations performed while working with ALMS. The Medicare rebate for a standard level B consultation in a clinic is $36.30 and $70.30 for a 20- to 40- minute consultation. The after-hours rebate is between $127.25 and $150 after 11pm at night. Our average is $130 a visit. They are paid well, it's better than what they would get working during the day in a clinic," Ms Davin said. Stuart Tait, of the National ­Association for Medical Deputising, the peak body that represents the 14 after-hour service companies, said one million patients were visited after hours by GPs each year. "About 35 per cent of those are patients in aged-care facilities and the frail elderly in their homes, the other 35 per cent are visits to young children with anxious parents," Mr Tait said. Ben Keneally, CEO of the largest east coast medical deputising company Home Doctors Service, said his company performed 360,000 after-hour home visits each year that were bulk billed. He said they hired around 300 doctors who were a mix of overseas and local doctors. Dr Javed Maleki migrated to Australia from Iran in 2007 and is a permanent resident. He has sat his exams and worked as a GP within a hospital. He is in the process of getting his RACGP membership. I have been with the company (Home Doctors Service) since 2010 and work full-time 38 to 40 hours from 6pm to 11pm Monday to Friday and Saturday from 12. It is good because the patient can see us in their own home, if they can't get us they might have to go to hospital," the 36-year-old said. AMA general practice spokesman Dr Brian Morton said it concerned him overseas doctors who did not meet the strict guidelines for entrance into RACGP were allowed to work after hours. "There is an issue in terms of quality and ... some people whose English may not be that good going into people's homes in emergencies," Dr Morton said. They are supposed to be under the supervision of an Australia-credentialed supervisor, but the question is, is it adequate?