AGPA at Cairns RACGP POC
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Archive for month: May, 2024
AGPA Welcomes Decision on Payroll Tax
Media Release
Australian General Practice Alliance (AGPA) Welcomes Decision on Payroll Tax
22/05/2024
The Australian General Practice Alliance (AGPA) Deputy Chair Dr Mukesh Haikerwal AC and Director Dr Sarah Lewis today welcomed the decision by the Victorian Government to exempt all Victorian General Practice businesses from any outstanding or future assessment issued for Payroll Tax on payments to contractor GPs for the period up to 30 June 2024, and a further 12-month exemption from Payroll Tax for payments to contractor GPs, through to 30 June 2025. This will be available for any General Practice business that have not already received advice and begun paying Payroll Tax on payments to their contractor GPs on this basis.
AGPA along with other medical peak bodies in Victoria has been actively advocating for these changes on behalf of General Practice owners and patients. AGPA has sought clarity, consistency, stability and a fair and understandable system to work with. This decision builds on months of work includes a petition with the Vic Opposition and negotiations with the Victorian Treasurer.
In a joint statement Dr Haikerwal and Dr Lewis said the removal of the retrospective application of the Payroll Tax on contractor GP payments gives certainty to the industry and the extension to 2025 provides General Practices an opportunity to review their business structures and approach to continue to deliver high quality primary care to Victorians,” they said.
“General Practice businesses are a key component of the delivery of primary health care in Victoria and for this to continue they must be both viable and thriving. The Government’s decision today goes some way to provide certainty and allows time for necessary business planning.”
The decision to exempt payments to contractor GPs from Payroll Tax and employee GPs for providing bulk-billed consultations from 1 July 2025 should help to maintain current levels of bulk-billing consultations.
AGPA also welcomes the recognition by the Victorian Government of the importance of General Practice in maintaining the primary health of the community.
“We thank the Victorian Government for its decision and commitment to the primary care sector as this outcome will support practices to remain viable into the future and help Victorians continue to have access to affordable services as we work together through the details to ensure affordability of health services to Victorians. GPs can now focus on caring for their patients and the health system,” Dr Haikerwal and Dr Lewis said.
For media inquiries or further information, please contact:
Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, AGPA Deputy Chair
Dr Sarah Lewis, AGPA Director
About AGPA
The Australian General Practice Alliance (AGPA) is Australia’s leading association of independently owned General Practices working to ensure high-quality healthcare delivery to all Australians.
AGPA represents the interests of GP Practice Owners, addressing issues faced by Principal-led General Practices.
The Australian model of GP owned private general practice has been responsible for our international reputation as an efficient and highly effective primary health care service.
The continuation of high quality primary healthcare in Australia is dependent on the continued viability of the Practices that provide the leadership and infrastructure that allows GPs to practice, and patients to access the healthcare system.
AGPA Webinar: Zero to 140K Visits in 10 years
AGPA Webinar
Thursday 13 June 2024, 7:30pm AEST
7:00 pm SA, 5:30 pm WA
Zero to 140K Visits in 10 Years
Speaker: Dr John Deery – YourGPCanberra
Since opening their first clinic just over 10 years ago John and Mel Deery have trialed and applied a number business management approaches to their Canberra Practice.
They now have over 40 GPs working over three sites and are the largest Principal -led Practice in Canberra recording over 120,000 patient visits per year.
John will discuss what he sees as being the key aspects that have enabled them to develop the Practice, the Practice management philosophy, the approach they use to make their Practice attractive to tenant GPs, analytical tools they have adopted to allow them to effectively track progress and what they see as being the major opportunities and challenges that Principal-led Practices will face in the future.
Book at
https://www.trybooking.com/CSERM
This event will be free to AGPA members.
AGPA non Members $50
AGPA at Cairns RACGP Practice Owners Conference
The AGPA will be present at the upcoming RACGP Practice Owners Conference at the Cairns Exhibition Centre 24 & 25 May 2024.
A number of Directors will be present so this will be a great opportunity to catch up and discuss the issues that are important to you as a Practice Owner and what the AGPA can do to help.
See you at Stand 1
Walk-in Clinic Budget Funding Will Not Significantly Ease Primary Care Access Crisis
Australian General Practice Alliance (AGPA) Warns Walk-in Clinic Budget Funding Will Not Significantly Ease Primary Care Access Crisis
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
13/05/2024
AGPA Deputy Chair Dr Mukesh Haikerwal AC said today the increased funding for walk-in primary care in tomorrow’s budget will fail to address the biggest issue in care delivery, the threat of closure faced by hundreds of GP clinics across Australia.
Dr Haikerwal said unless Federal and State Governments urgently addressed the issue of payroll tax levied on GP clinics, investment in the sector would dry up and eventually hundreds of clinics will be forced to close.
He said recent court decisions had required practices to treat payments collected on behalf of GPs from patients as payroll, totally undermining the funding model and potentially leaving many practices on the brink of insolvency.
Dr Haikerwal said the 58 urgent care clinics have seen 400,000 patients since being established last year. He said even with the additional 29 clinics to be announced in the budget they were likely to see fewer than 1 million patients a year compared to the close to 170 million consults in General Practice. “It is a drop in the bucket. A distraction from the real task of properly funding and supporting General Practice to improve access nationally. It is cherry picking funding for certain areas and providers rather than using the funds to incentivise existing providers to handle more urgent cases which they could do at a far lower cost per patient,“ he said.
Dr Haikerwal said the Federal Government would do better to work with States to tackle the payroll tax issue. He welcomed the recent announcement by Victorian opposition leader John Pesutto that in government it would exempt clinics from payroll tax. He urged all state and territory governments to adopt a similar position or risk increased chaos in the sector as it moves into long term decline.