Dr Margaret Faux is a health system lawyer, nurse, author, senior executive, academic and the founder of Synapse Medical, a software and advisory organisation specialising in payment integrity within Australia’s health system. With more than four decades in healthcare — including 15 years in clinical nursing and over 30 years as an administrator and lawyer — she brings deep practical and legal insight into health system regulation in Australia and internationally.
Dr Faux holds a PhD examining Medicare claiming and compliance and is widely recognised as a leading authority on the legal and operational architecture of Australia’s Medicare framework. She leads a multidisciplinary team providing advisory services to both payers and providers and is regularly engaged as an independent expert in legal matters concerning Medicare billing and MBS item interpretation.
A prolific writer and consumer advocate, Dr Faux has authored more than 300 articles and contributed to numerous media appearances and public forums on health system reform. She has published extensively on health financing, codes and classifications, regulatory frameworks, payment integrity and digital enablement and continues to engage actively in national debates concerning the integrity and sustainability of Medicare.
She is the author of “How to Avoid the Medical Bill Rip Off!” https://drmargaretfaux.com/e-books/
A bold and unapologetic resource written exclusively for Australian consumers. Her academic publications include:
Margaret Faux, Damien Linnane and Anthony Levin: Section 19(2) of the Health Insurance Act 1973 Prevents Prisoners Accessing Medicare; Fact or Fiction? (2024) 31 JLM 624.
Margaret Faux, Jon Adams, Simran Dahiya, Jon Wardle: Wading through molasses: a qualitative examination of the experiences, perceptions, attitudes and knowledge of Australian medical practitioners regarding medical billing. Published in PLoS One in January 2022. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0262211
Faux, M., Adams, J. & Wardle, J: Educational needs of medical practitioners about medical billing: a scoping review of the literature. Published in Human Resources for Health, Hum Resour Health 19, 84 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12960-021-00631-x
MA Faux: Frenetic law making during the COVID-19 pandemic: the impact on doctors, patients and the Medicare system. Published in the Australian Public Law Blog April 2020. https://www.auspublaw.org/blog/2020/04/frenetic-law-making-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-the-impact-on-doctors-patients-and-the-medicare-system.
MA Faux, JL Wardle and J Adams: Medicare Billing, Law and Practice: Complex, Incomprehensible and Beginning to Unravel, June 2019, (2019) 27 JLM 66, November 2019.
MA Faux, JL Wardle, Angelica G Thompson-Butel and J Adams: Who teaches medical billing? A national cross-sectional survey of Australian medical education stakeholders.
BMJ Open July 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020712.MA Faux, JL Wardle and J Adams: No payments, co-payments and faux payments: Are medical practitioners adequately equipped to manage Medicare claiming and compliance? Internal Medicine Journal February 2015. https://doi.org/10.1111/imj.12665.
Posts by Margaret