News

---

Press Club appearance to help drive conversation on Medicare reform

---

RACGP President Dr Nicole Higgins is due to take part in this week’s National Press Club of Australia event, presenting the college’s position on Medicare reform and why more support is required for general practice.
 
The appearance has been scheduled in the wake of last week’s release of the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce report, and will see Dr Higgins be joined by fellow Taskforce member and health economist Dr Stephen Duckett, as well as Dr Kerrie Aust, President-elect of the AMA ACT.
 
Prior to the panel discussion, Dr Higgins will also be given the opportunity for a brief speech, which she hopes will help reinforce the dual messages that Australia’s health system is in crisis, and that general practice lies at the centre of the solution.
 
‘The solution is simple: we must invest in general practice,’ Dr Higgins told newsGP.
 
‘This is definitely a general discussion of explaining what general practice is, what we do and how we do it – and why it needs to be funded better.’
 
Key solutions Dr Higgins highlights as ‘general principles’ include better funding for general practice and the teams that wrap around it, reducing the rebate gap for patients, and increasing the number of GPs nationwide.
 
‘We are in the position where we have to stem the bleeding now,’ she said.
 
‘That can be done through increasing rebates for patients to reduce the gap, and we welcome the acknowledgement of the need to properly fund longer consultations.’
 
Dr Higgins is also likely to warn that any reform will be ‘killed off’ by the application of payroll tax on tenant doctors, which she says is ‘a double tax for general practice’.
 
‘General practice already pays payroll tax – this is a tax on Medicare,’ she said.

While the RACGP is still calling for greater reform to secure the future of general practice, it ‘cautiously welcomed’ recommendations in the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce report, including:

• funding for longer consultations to reflect the time for chronic and complex care
• increasing investment to support multidisciplinary teams in general practice that are responsive to local needs – provided that it reinforces the role of GPs as the custodians of patient care
• ‘blended funding models’ integrated with fee-for-service, including incentives to promote better care for people who need it most
• introducing a streamlined voluntary patient registration scheme to enable patients to sign up to a practice that receives extra funding to coordinate care
• better use of data and digital technology to share critical patient information and support superior patient healthcare
• investment in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations to commission primary care services building on their expertise and exploring new funding models that are locally relevant to rural and remote practices
• investment in primary care research.

But rather than cover the college’s advocacy requests in her Press Club presentation, Dr Higgins plans to help build health system literacy and simplify the message about the future of Medicare and the chance GPs have to drive change.
 
‘It’s really important to say that Australia’s health system is recognised as one of the best in the world,’ she said.
 
‘But the problem is general practice is not funded … we’re being asked to do more for less, and GPs can no longer afford to subsidise patient care.’

Dr Higgins is also keen to acknowledge the work that has gone into the college occupying a prominent position in recent Medicare reform and payroll tax media coverage, which she described as an important part of ongoing advocacy efforts.
 
‘This is a real chance for the RACGP to do a shout out,’ she said.
 
‘This is really amazing stuff [and] is recognition of the hard work that we’ve all put in. We should be shouting off the rooftop.’
 
Dr Higgins’ appearance will be broadcast on ABC24 and iView at 12.30 – 1.30 pm.
 
Log in below to join the conversation.

---

---

Medicare reform RACGP advocacy Strengthening Medicare Taskforce

---