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$2.2 billion Medicare investment ‘just what the doctor ordered’
Rebuilding general practice was a key focus of National Cabinet, which introduced a number of measures to make healthcare more accessible and affordable.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during the National Cabinet meeting in Brisbane on 28 April. (Image: AAP)
The RACGP has welcomed the Federal Government’s $2.2 billion commitment to strengthen Medicare, announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese following Friday’s National Cabinet meeting in Brisbane.
A number of measures to make healthcare more accessible and affordable were announced, including extended funding for practices operating after-hours, which was due to end in June, along with potential changes to visa eligibility rules for international medical graduates (IMGs).
RACGP President Dr Nicole Higgins welcomed several of the measures, saying they are ‘just what the doctor ordered’.
‘Greater support for general practice is the key to relieving the strain on our entire health system,’ she said.
‘This new funding program enabling practices to open longer hours will mean fewer people turning up in crowded emergency departments seeking help for health concerns that could and should have been managed by a GP.
‘The last thing we want is people turning up again and again to hospital emergency departments without their underlying conditions being properly addressed and today’s announcement will help remedy that.’
The funding will also support new Primary Health Network programs to increase access to primary care services for culturally and linguistically diverse Australians and people experiencing homelessness.
Other measures agreed upon in response to the Strengthening Medicare taskforce report include:
- introducing MyMedicare (patient ID) to support wrap around care for patients registered with their local GP through new blended payment models
- expanding the nursing workforce to improve access to primary care
- providing flexible funding for multi-disciplinary team-based models to improve quality of care
- supporting workforces to work at top of scope
- investing in digital health to improve health outcomes.
Dr Higgins cautiously welcomed the announcement about MyMedicare. While she acknowledged that voluntary patient enrolment could be particularly valuable for older patients and those with multiple chronic conditions, she pointed to the UK experience as a warning for Australia.
‘This is targeted at “frequent flyer” high risk patients who are often in and out of hospital with poorly managed conditions,’ she said.
‘The devil is in the detail, and we will work with Government on a suitable model.’
The RACGP President did welcome additional funding for GPs in residential aged care as part of MyMedicare, but again said that it would be important to first learn how the funding system will operate.
National Cabinet also unveiled a substantial increase to the Workforce Incentive Program (WIP), which Dr Higgins said will be particularly beneficial to improving access to healthcare outside of major cities.
‘The RACGP is always keenly focused on boosting general practice care in the bush,’ she said.
‘The college also supports greater investment in digital health to improve a range of health outcomes. We have made massive inroads on this front in recent years and the sky is the limit on how far we can go.’
Meanwhile, National Cabinet endorsed the
Independent Review of Overseas Health Practitioner Regulatory Settings Interim Report, which recommends measures to immediately boost the health workforce and ensure Australia is a competitive destination for the global health workforce into the future.
Dr Higgins urged the Government to make this an ‘urgent priority’, saying that Australia ‘must cut
red tape’ that is holding back more IMGs from working in Australia.
‘It’s particularly important for rural and remote areas, which rely disproportionately on foreign doctors,’ she said.
‘Go to any rural or remote practice and ask a GP or practice manager
how difficult it can be to bring in a GP from overseas and get them set up to actually start working – it can take up to two years and this
time consuming process leaves many practices desperately short of GPs with nowhere else to turn.’
Health workforces working at the top of their scope of practice was also a focus at the meeting. In light of this, pharmacy will see a boost in the number of vaccinations they can deliver under the National Immunisation program, as well as increased access to opioid dependency therapy.
However, Dr Higgins said that expanding pharmacists’ scope of practice should be approached with caution.
‘We must be careful not to fragment care because the last thing we want is the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing, and that is exactly what can happen if pharmacists and GPs are both performing functions such as prescribing medications and delivering vaccines,’ she said.
The college president went on to dispel any claims that this stance is about a turf war.
‘GPs and practice teams absolutely value the vital role that pharmacists perform in communities across Australia,’ Dr Higgins said.
‘The RACGP is right behind GPs working hand in glove with a range of allied health professionals, including pharmacists, and we believe that they should be supported within general practice.
‘It is positive that the Government has recognised that only general practice has the right systems in place for delivering vaccines to children five and under.’
While Dr Higgins said the college is supportive of increased access to opioid dependency therapy through pharmacy, she said more must be done to expand access to these treatments, noting the private dispensing fee of $5–$15 per day.
‘Many people simply can’t afford these sums and go without, so that is something that Government must address,’ she said.
‘People with opioid dependency need help to get their lives on track and we must remove all roadblocks stopping them from doing so.’
Also on the agenda for National Cabinet was the future sustainability of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), with the Government committing more than $720 million in the 2023–24 Budget to lift the National Disability Insurance Agency’s capability, capacity and systems to better support participants.
The Prime Minister, Premiers and Chief Ministers also committed to an NDIS Financial Sustainability Framework, and will provide an annual growth target in the total costs of the scheme of no more than 8% by 1 July 2026, with further growth moderation as the scheme matures.
Federal Health and Aged Care Minister Mark Butler said that after nine years of cuts and neglect – including the six-year rebate freeze – that Medicare is in its ‘worst shape in 40 years’.
‘We said at the election that there was no higher priority for Labor in the health portfolio than strengthening Medicare and rebuilding general practice,’ he said.
‘The Albanese Government is making it easier for Australians to see a doctor when they need it. Being able to access a doctor after hours is critical for patients to get the [help] they need, when they need it, taking the pressure off hospitals.’
It was the last National Cabinet meeting before the Federal Budget is handed down in May. National Cabinet has agreed to another meeting dedicated to health reform in the second half of 2023.
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