Medicare freeze continues to thaw – but not fast enough, RACGP says The indexation of consultation items is not high enough to cover the true costs or value of general practice care.
Australians are visiting their GP more and more Australians now see their GP an average of 6.1 times a year, up from 5.4 times in 2010–11, according to new research.
Federal Government aims to better target bulk-billing incentives for rural areas The geographic eligibility criteria for rurality will be updated to better reflect current population data.
Changes to MBS items for knee imaging: What GPs should know Associate Professor Mark Morgan, GP and member of the Diagnostic Medicine Clinical Committee of the Medicare Benefits Schedule Review Taskforce, writes for newsGP about changes to MBS items for knee imaging.
Federal Budget 2018–19: An overview for general practice There has been plenty written about this week’s Federal Budget. The RACGP has praised big-ticket spending in specialist GP training, rural health, aged care, and medical research, but there remains little detail on these and other areas.
Government ignores recommendations from pharmacy review The RACGP is disappointed at the ‘squandered opportunity’ for the Federal Government to make necessary reforms to the pharmacy sector.
High bulk-billing rate does not reflect true costs or value of general practice The Federal Government has reported a high bulk-billing rate for first half of the financial year, but the raw figures do not necessarily tell the whole story.
Outlining changes to urgent after-hours items The Federal Government’s changes to urgent after-hours Medicare rebates will take effect from 1 March.
RACGP appeals for urgent political focus on rising patient costs The RACGP is calling on Australia’s political leaders to develop an immediate solution to patients’ rising out-of-pocket costs.
What the new after-hours rebates mean for GPs The Federal Government’s recent changes to Medicare rebates are designed to better reflect the qualifications of doctors providing urgent after-hours care.