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Officials reveal impact of bulk-billing incentives
New data released during a Parliamentary grilling shows around 1100 practices have switched to bulk billing, one month after the launch of the BBPIP.
‘There’s a very strong expectation if you’ve registered, you’ve done so because you’ve decided, as a practice, this is your business model’: Federal Health Department.
Almost 3000 clinics have now signed up for the Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program (BBPIP), with the bulk-billing rate for November lifting to 81%, according to highly sought-after data released by Federal Health Department officials.
But the release comes as the Federal Government is accused of rolling out ‘big headlines’ when it comes to its targets for the program, with the Opposition saying Australia is on a ‘trust journey with the Government’ when it comes to the BBPIP’s objectives.
The figures offer a glimpse into bulk billing since the start of the much-debated program on 1 November, however, further evidence shows 58% of these 3000 practices were already bulk billing.
The insight was delivered during a Parliamentary Senate Estimates hearing on Thursday in response to a line of questioning from Opposition Health Minister Anne Ruston.
Senator Ruston quizzed department officials on the number of practices involved in the program, how many of those were already bulk billing all patients, and evidence of its progress.
They pointed to early data showing a jump in bulk-billing incentives from seven million in October to 10.8 million in November which, along with a lift in bulk billing for November, indicates progress is being made towards the Federal Government’s 2030 end goal of hitting 90% bulk-billed services.
First Assistant Secretary of the Primary Care Division, Mark Roddam told the hearing that as of 30 November, 2902 practices had registered for the program.
‘[Of those clinics] 1675, or 58%, were previously fully bulk billing … 1092 were previously mixed billing,’ he said.
‘We had 135 who were new to MyMedicare and didn’t have established billing information.’
Mr Roddam also provided a state-by-state breakdown of those clinics as well as a figure on the number of practices in each jurisdiction that were already providing fully bulk-billed services before signing up (presented below in brackets):
- New South Wales: 1160 (776 previously bulk billing)
- Victoria: 803 (449)
- Queensland: 505 (271)
- Western Australia: 176 (80)
- South Australia: 148 (51)
- Tasmania: 51 (18)
- Australian Capital Territory: 15 (8)
- Northern Territory: 44 (22)
Labor frontbencher Jenny McAllister said the figures shared at the hearing show there is upward momentum in bulk billing.
‘The conclusion you could draw from the data that’s been provided is that there are a range of practices that say they wish to be fully bulk billing, have registered for a program that incentivises bulk billing, and bulk-billing statistics for that first month reflect a significant increase in the number of practices offering bulk-billed consultations.’
Eligibility for the BBPIP incentive payment is assessed quarterly, and GPs need to have bulk billed 100% of consultation services within the previous three months to receive payment.
Once those requirements have been ‘validated’ as being met, a payment can be expected in ‘the second half of January’, an official said.
Department of Health and Ageing Secretary Blair Comley said there is a ‘strong expectation’ that those who have registered will carry through with the program requirements.
‘There’s a very strong expectation if you’ve registered, you’ve done so because you’ve decided, as a practice, this is your business model,’ he said.
‘We won’t know for certain until that reconciliation occurs, but you would think that practices trying to achieve bulk-billing incentives need to have decided upfront that this is the practice they intend to make.’
Senator Ruston grilled officials on the lack of a clear year-on-year target being shared with the hearing.
‘You’ve gone with these big headlines. Big headlines about “this is what’s going to happen”. And of course, we all want to see that happen, because nobody doesn’t want to see Australians getting easy and affordable access to primary care. That is what the objective was,’ she said.
‘But somehow, we’re on this trust journey with the Government.
‘How can we know you’re on target to or on track to meet your target, if you don’t have any measures to understand that?’
However, officials explained that the overall goal remained reaching a 90% bulk-billing rate by 2030, and that more data would emerge over the coming months to track progress and reflect overall uptake.
While estimates were provided in the
Impact Report on the program, these are not targets, Mr Comley told the hearing.
‘It’s not uncommon for governments to set targets over longer periods of time without necessarily having precise interim targets, as opposed to estimates, and that’s partly because governments … often take account of the information that rolls out over the early stages of the program to decide whether there may be any modifications to that program.
‘The overall target that the Government has said is the bulk-billing rate, the number of practices that have registered or intended to pick up gives you also an indication of how much of that bulk billing is occurring.’
The RACGP has
continuously stated that GPs should decide on the billing model that works best for their practice.
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