DoHDA scales back own GP attendance targets

The Federal Health Department has quietly lowered its own benchmark for GP attendances, dropping its target for Australians who see a GP each year from 85% to 80% as patients increasingly access care through other providers.
 
In a revised goal set out in its Corporate Strategy 2026–27, the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (DoHDA) reveals it is now aiming for more than 80% of the population to make at least one annual Medicare-subsidised GP visit for 2026–27.
 
In its previous strategy, the target stood at 85% with the same goal in place until 2028–29.
 
But with 165.7 million GP non-referred attendances and $10 billion in benefits paid in 2025–26, the cut is likely to have significant impacts on GPs, practices, and patients.
 
The DoHDA has attributed the shift to an ‘expected reduction in demand’, suggesting more patients will access care through other health professionals, including via pharmacies.
 
It also says private online clinics that are not MBS subsidised and other Government programs, including through the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, are likely to contribute to the change.
 
‘Reductions in demand for Medicare services due to these factors would be anticipated to increase in the future, based on current trends,’ the DoHDA document states.
 
RACGP President Dr Michael Wright said the revised target reflects significant underlying shifts.
 
‘It shows the amount of healthcare increasingly being delivered outside of Medicare in the private sector with unclear regulations and responsibilities,’ he told newsGP.
 
He stressed the importance of holding all healthcare providers to the same standard, as well as raising concerns over the longer-term implications for continuity of care.
 
‘While GPs and practices are held totally accountable for quality and safety, other providers potentially aren’t,’ he said.
 
‘The greatest impact that we have in general practice is with continuity of care, with patients coming back and seeing us regularly. 
 
‘That needs to be encouraged through our health system.
 
‘Anything that reduces access to continuity of care in general practice is a concern.’
The DoHDA told newsGP the percentage of the Australian population who made at least one GP visit in 2025–26 stood at 83.6%, including services offered through urgent care centres.
 
Any figure below 82% would have been classed as a ‘significant deviation’ against the target and would have prompted a review into why people are changing the way they visit GPs.
 
That trigger point has now been revised down to 78% for future years.
 
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the percentage of Australians who had a Medicare-subsidised GP consultation ran at around 88% from 2017–18 to 2019–20.
 
It then dipped for the following year before spiking to 90% in 2021–22, a peak driven by the COVID-19 vaccination program and a significant expansion in telehealth access.
 
Meanwhile, the latest Services Australia figures show general practice bulk billing is on the rise, but the number of overall GP services is falling.
 
According to its public data, the total bulk-billed services stood at 134.1 million in the past financial year, a rise of 3.5 million driven by the newly expanded tripled bulk-billing incentive program that came into effect last November.
 
It also accounted for a total of $8.18 billion of Government spending, a $444.85 million increase from the previous 12 months.
 
However, there were more than two million fewer overall MBS-subsidised GP services in 2025–26 compared to the previous financial year, with 165.7 million across the 12-month timeframe.
 
The DoHDA says hitting the 80% target would show its work ‘is providing support for Australians to receive primary care services, which are more effective and cost-effective than other acute or emergency services in preventing health conditions and managing existing chronic conditions’.
 
Its new strategy also includes revised workforce targets, noting a projected GP shortfall in many areas, with goals including the GP workforce in all Modified Monash Areas.
 
The 2026–27 targets are for 28,430 GPs to be working in MM1, 5077 in MM2, 4276 in MM3, 2950 in MM4, 3748 in MM5, 1091 in MM6 and 1319 in MM7.
 
The DoHDA says it expects further workforce increases in subsequent years.
 
The new strategy also set an overall 80.8% bulk-billing target for 2026–27.
 
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