Cubiko Ownership

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On 28 May 2025 the Australian GP Alliance (AGPA)  wrote to members advising it had come to our attention that that the medical data analytics  application Cubiko is ultimately majority owned by medical corporate Sonic Holdings.

The majority ownership by Sonic was believed to have occurred approximately 12 months earlier. The Cubiko website currently states that this controlling interest occurred in April 2023.

Sonic Holdings are a major operator in the Australian Healthcare Sector with approximately 35% of the pathology services. Their website states that they have over 200 GP clinics trading as Sonic HealthPlus, Australian Skin Cancer Clinics and IPN Medical Services.

AGPA expressed its concern that at the time of Sonic taking a controlling interest there was no advice to Cubiko users and while the Cubiko website states that Sonic Holdings have no access to data the lack of transparency is concerning.

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AGPA at Cairns RACGP POC

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Come and find us in Cairns at Stand 01 – RACGP POC

 

 

AGPA Welcomes Decision on Payroll Tax

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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

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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

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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

 

AGPA Brochure

 

 

Walk-in Clinic Budget Funding Will Not Significantly Ease Primary Care Access Crisis

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Media Release

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.

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Payroll Tax Update

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The payroll tax campaign continues with a joint campaign with  AGPA, RACGP and PCBC  very active in Victoria.

The AGPA leads are Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, AGPA Deputy Chair and Dr Sarah Lewis, AGPA Board Member.

RACGP survey data is now confirming the predictions of the impact of payroll tax with only 3% of Practices considering that they would be able to absorb the tax and 78% of Practices  (95% of Victorian Practices) indicating they would need to raise fees.  The implications of this for the provision of primary healthcare

Since November the joint campaign has

  • submitted revised scenarios for the Victorian SRO seeking a ruling on the scenarios for the applicability of 100% flow of funds to the Independent Practitioner.   These are based on the concepts used in the the Queensland public ruling. A further meeting with the SRO is scheduled.
  • had a public petition read in the Victorian legislative Council.
  • written again to the Premier Jacinta Allen, and
  • made a joint media release as part of a media campaign.

The AGPA Practice Poster – Don’t Tax Health is here.

Printable version is here

AGPA Webinar: Payroll Tax – Administrative Controls. Video Available

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ACCC opposes Australian Clinical Labs’ proposed acquisition of Healius

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The Australian GP Alliance made a submission and engaged in a number of discussions with the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) regarding our concerns with the Australian Clinical Lab’s  proposed acquisition of Healius. AGPA’s concerns centered around the potential for service quality reduction and the reduction of competition for collection centre rentals. This has the potential to impact on a tender process to establish market rents, with a resultant reduction in the ability to establish rental rate that is higher the assessed value of the property.

On 15 December 2023 the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced that they would oppose the Australian Clinical Lab’s proposed acquisition of Healius

The ACCC has decided to oppose the proposed acquisition of Healius Limited (ASX:HLS) by Australian Clinical Labs Limited (ASX:ACL).

Following an in-depth investigation, the ACCC has concluded that the proposed acquisition is likely to result in a substantial lessening of competition in Australian pathology services markets.
The ACCC considers the proposed acquisition is likely to substantially lessen competition in the supply of out-patient pathology services, private hospital in-patient pathology services, and commercial pathology services.

ACL and Healius both supply pathology services to the community, private and public hospitals, commercial and government customers, and veterinary clinics. They compete closely with one another and offer services under well-known brands.

“We consider that the proposed acquisition would be likely to result in a substantial lessening of competition as it would combine two of the three largest providers of pathology services in Australia, further consolidating already-concentrated markets,” ACCC Commissioner Stephen Ridgeway said.

 

The full ACCC media release is here