DVA makes ‘substantial increase’ to GP payment for claims work

The RACGP has welcomed reforms to better remunerate GPs for their work on veteran medical assessments and reports, rolled out this week.
 
The Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) has released updated guidance on fees for medical assessments and reports by GPs that are required to support a veteran’s compensation claim.
 
Effective 9 February, the changes represent a ‘substantial increase’ in fees payable to GPs since the last official update, with adjustments to consultations, completing medical forms, and for clinical notes.
 
‘As examples, the GP short [less than 20 minutes] consultation fee has increased from $37.10 to $49.90. GP long [over 40 minutes] consultations have increased from $105.10 to $141.35,’ a DVA spokesperson told newsGP.
 
There has also been a rise from $14.70 to $22.55 to the fee for completing DVA medical report forms, medical impairment assessment forms, diagnostic reports and capacity for work/rehabilitation forms under the new guide. 
 
Veterans’ Affairs Minister Matt Keogh said the changes provide more support for medical practitioners and ensure ‘payments for reports are more consistent with other equivalent jurisdictions and better reflect actual costs to practitioners’.
 
The Government is also investing more than $203 million to boost integrity and compliance efforts, which will include active monitoring of invoices in a bid to stamp out fraudulent providers.
 
The DVA states that where billing irregularities are identified during monitoring, action can include delays to payment while invoices are reviewed, providers being placed on hold, or refusal to pay invoices that do not comply with relevant conditions.
 
In the 2024–25 financial year, there were 43,727 requests for medical reports specifically related to liability and compensation claims, a DVA spokesperson told newsGP.
 
Minister Keogh says while ‘the vast majority of providers act ethically to support veterans, regrettably some do not’.
 
‘Bad actors are seeking to take advantage of improved Government service delivery, and we are scaling up DVA’s integrity and compliance efforts to match.’

He added that consultation is now underway on strengthening protections for veterans engaging with the advocacy system to ensure they’re not exploited.
 
‘We will stop medical practitioners and unscrupulous veteran advocates taking advantage of veterans and those lodging fraudulent medical reports or claims for treatment provided,’ Minister Keogh said this week.
 
RACGP Rural Chair and veteran Associate Professor Michael Clements said the RACGP welcomes the DVA’s move to lift fees, describing it as ‘reasonable and appropriate’.
 
‘I do feel that for the majority of GPs who are supporting veterans in this claiming process, this guidance is clear, it’s good and, certainly compared to a few years ago, there has been a significant increase,’ he told newsGP.
 
‘It is recognition of the expertise that GPs have, [it reflects] how much time I spend on a report, and it sits close to what the psychiatrists are getting for a report.’
 
Associate Professor Clements added it was important for GPs to be aware ‘that there is an enforcement threat behind this’.
 
‘There is some very strong wording in the guidance talking about how they will investigate, how they will hold invoices and not pay if they think that there’s anything toward going on. That’s new, that certainly hasn’t been in these documents before,’ he said.
 
‘What we have seen is that some advocates have targeted veterans, offering to help them claim as much as possible, but be paid in terms of a percentage of their claim.’
 
Minister Keogh said the reforms are part of a $739.2 million investment to improve the provision of treatment and rehabilitation for veterans.
 
‘Consistent with the findings of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, DVA will now have a greater focus on early intervention and prevention, working closely with the Department of Defence to identify risks earlier and act sooner,’ he said.
 
‘This includes using insights from claims decision‑making to support Defence’s proactive approaches and making it easier for veterans to access treatment and rehabilitation as early as possible to improve wellbeing outcomes.’

Once a medical condition is accepted as service-related, ‘veterans can access modern, evidence-based care’.
 
‘We’re funding effective and innovative treatments for veterans, prescribed by registered medical practitioners,’ the minister said.

‘This includes options such as medicinal cannabis, for which we are releasing a new framework, as well as world‑leading treatments like MDMA for PTSD and psilocybin for treatment‑resistant depression, with appropriate safeguards in place to ensure safety and clinical oversight.’

RACGP President Dr Michael Wright said GPs have long said compensation assessments are highly technical and time-consuming.

‘Aligning the funding available to GPs and veterans more closely with workload will help to improve efficiency and continuity of care and support veterans navigating compensation pathways with their GP,’ he said.

‘We hope the improved funding incentivises more specialist GPs to provide this care, encourages veterans to see their usual treating GP, and reduces delays in claims processing.’

GP funding veterans veterans’ health