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‘Disappointing’: Bulk-billing loading allocation revealed
The incentive will be split 50:50 between GPs and practices, but the RACGP has hit back, saying the Government ‘hasn’t listened’.
Health and Ageing Minister Mark Butler announcing the bulk-billing incentive allocation at an Adelaide press conference.
GPs will be allocated only half of the new 12.5% bulk-billing incentive payment, leaving the RACGP ‘disappointed’ its advice and the voice of GPs have been ignored by the Federal Government.
From 1 November, practices which join the Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program will need to bulk bill every eligible patient for every eligible service to receive the 12.5% loading.
While the RACGP pushed for GPs to be allocated 100% of that bonus, Health and Ageing Minister Mark Butler revealed on Friday that practices and doctors will share a 50:50 split, following ‘close consultation’.
A central plank in the Labor Government’s 2025 election campaign, the incentives are geared towards boosting the number of fully bulk-billed practices to around 4800 nationally – triple the current number.
But RACGP President Dr Michael Wright said the 50:50 incentive split is at odds with what most doctors want and could prove to be ‘a barrier for many practices and GPs who might otherwise have taken part’.
‘We made it clear to the Government that in order for its program to succeed, we need to make it as attractive to GPs as possible,’ he told newsGP.
‘Frankly, it’s disappointing that the Government hasn’t listened to our advice.
‘For years the college has been saying that GPs need to be able to charge their worth and to run a viable business. If these incentives don’t cover costs, then practices will keep their current billing practices.’
A recent newsGP poll of almost 1400 GPs revealed 71.6% are in favour of the full loading being paid to GPs, with individual arrangements then determining how the practice component is to be paid.
Only 9.7% want the incentive payment to be split 50:50 between the GP and the practice, and 10.8% said 100% of the payment should go to the practice, with the service entity distributing as agreed to the GP. Just under 8% are unsure.
‘We surveyed our members, and the majority told us that all of the incentive should go to the GP and then shared as per other generated income,’ Dr Wright said.
‘That would have been the simplest way to do this, and also the way that would be most likely to maximise GP opt-in to the program.’
But Minister Butler remains confident the incentive split is fair and will boost the rate of practices offering fully bulk-billed services ‘because those practices will be better off’.
However, he said buy-in is needed from both individual doctors and practice owners, ‘which is why we’ve gone with the idea or the decision to split the incentive evenly’.
‘That is the right balance,’ Minister Butler said.
‘Individual doctors should be rewarded for taking a decision to bulk bill every patient that they see, but also, we need to make this work for the practice themselves.
‘Although there have been arguments made to us that doctors should get all of the money or the practices should get all of the money, we think striking the balance that the money is split evenly between those doctors and the practices is the right decision.’
Mr Butler made his announcement on Friday from a South Australian practice, ForHealth, which operates healthcare services at more than 95 locations and is described as the largest bulk-billing general practice provider in the country.
The group’s CEO Andrew Cohen said ‘almost eight out of every 10, probably about 70 clinics, will transition to 100% bulk billing by 1 November’.
This includes the practice of ForHealth clinical director and Elizabeth-based GP, Dr Carolyn Roesler who said she is ‘excited’ about the new incentives.
‘We are all, as GPs and certainly in the urgent care space, very excited. We know this is an area of rapid growth,’ she said.
Spruiking the program, Minister Butler said doctors and practices are making the shift ‘because they know it is good for patients, and it is good for their bottom line’.
‘We know this investment will work,’ he said. ‘Because it has already worked for the patients the incentive already applies to – pensioners, concession cardholders, and families with kids.’
But Dr Wright said the new bulk-billing incentives are not going to be viable for everyone.
‘The college will continue to fight for increased Medicare rebates, particularly for longer consults, and to support practices regardless of whether they take up the current incentives,’ he said.
The Government says its landmark Medicare investment will mean bulk-billing GPs will earn more than average mixed-billing GPs, with a GP at a city practice that bulk bills every visit earning $5300 more than a mixed-billing GP that provides the same number of services.
The earnings boost is larger outside of city areas, with a GP at a rural practice that bulk bills every visit to earn almost $24,000 more than a mixed-billing GP, for providing the same number of services, Government modelling shows.
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