News
RACGP calls out ‘significant’ aged care funding disincentives
A new position statement says funding models must be urgently overhauled, with complex care undervalued and work going unpaid.
Current funding levels and systemic barriers are impeding older Australians’ access to high-quality and continuous GP care says the RACGP.
Current funding levels and systemic barriers are impeding older Australians’ access to high-quality and continuous general practice care, says the RACGP, as it calls for major reforms to aged care.
In a new position statement released this week, the college says current funding models and incentives are failing to attract GPs to work in aged care, with inadequate recognition for complex high-quality care, and much work by GPs still not remunerated.
RACGP President Dr Michael Wright told newsGP that, with more Australians living longer and with chronic health conditions, it is ‘really important’ that older people needing more care at home and within residential aged care homes (RACHs) have access to a GP who knows them.
‘For too long, Medicare rebates haven’t been high enough to allow GPs to be supported sufficiently to attend residential aged care facilities and, that combined with high levels of bureaucracy, also make it less efficient for GPs to provide the care for patients in RACH,’ he said.
Among the college’s calls is for a ‘substantial increase’ in the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive (GPACI), which GPs were recently encouraged to share their views on in a survey commissioned by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.
‘[GPACI] is administratively complex and inadequate to really encourage GPs to provide the type of comprehensive care that patients need in aged care facilities,’ said Dr Wright.
Another key recommendation in the position statement is for dementia diagnoses made by GPs to be recognised across the wider health system, including for Support at Home eligibility and access to dementia medications.
This has become all the more important with dementia now the leading cause of death in Australia, said Dr Wright.
‘We’re also calling for clearer pathways for patients experiencing dementia, so that verbal consent can be the default setting for these patients,’ he said.
Other key recommendations in the position statement include:
- greater support for GPs managing multidisciplinary team care
- blended funding models that incorporate fee-for-service and recognition for high-quality care and cover unpaid work such as travel, communicating with families and staff (even if the patient is not present), and administrative tasks
- Medicare support for face-to-face and telehealth consultations to enable care coordination for a RACH patient
- funding the integrated involvement of allied health professionals and non-GP specialists in a team-based approach
- improved alignment between aged care and NDIS supports
- improved digital interoperability between GPs, RACHs, hospitals and pharmacy
- initiatives to promote interest in aged care, particularly in rural settings
- more support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership and community participation in aged-care decision making.
The position statement also highlights the decline in GPs working in RACHs, which the
Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety attributed to insufficient funding, which contributed to issues around access to general practice care.
According to the RACGP’s
Silver Book, more than one in three general practice patient encounters are with older people aged 65 years and over.
But in the 2025
Health of the Nation report, only 9% of GPs said they had worked in a residential aged care facility in the last month, declining from 12% in 2017.
The college says stronger primary care involvement can reduce preventable hospitalisations and improve outcomes for aged care residents.
Dr Wright said improved telehealth funding will be crucial to that, particularly for older people receiving care at home, which outnumber those in RACH
by about five to one, and older patients in rural areas.
‘More Australians will be in aged care facilities, but more Australians will be ageing at home,’ he said.
‘We do need to make sure that there are resources which allow patients to access the care that they need, and to support GPs to visit patients where they are when they need it, but also to be able to use virtual services when they know their patients.
‘We know there is no substitute for the quality of care you get from a GP who knows you.’
Log in below to join the conversation.
aged care chronic conditions dementia Medicare rebates patient care RACH residential aged care Silver Book telehealth
newsGP weekly poll
To what extent do current digital health systems impact administrative workload in your practice?