Entries by Richard Hart

Increased Bulk Billing Incentive Payments are a Welcome Initiative for Regional, Rural & Remote Australia

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MEDIA RELEASE

9 May 2023

INCREASED BULK BILLING INCENTIVE PAYMENTS ARE A WELCOME INITIATIVE FOR REGIONAL, RURAL & REMOTE AUSTRALIA

The increased bulk billing incentive will be a major benefit for primary healthcare in regional, rural & remote Australia and will help retain and attract GPs into those areas. The benefits will be much lower for metro Australians.

A short consultation in remote Australia is now funded at $79.40, but a metro Australian is only worth $60.40. With metro fee rates already at over $90 the opportunity cost for a doctor to bulk bill in metro Australia is approximately $30.

[…]

Health Minister’s Speech at Press Club

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On 2 May the Hon Mark Butler MP, Minister for Health gave an address at the Press Club in Canberra.

Some highlights from that address are are below:

 

Minister for Health and Aged Care – Speech – National Press Club – 2 May 2023

 

Media event date: 2 May 2023

Date published: 2 May 2023

Media type:Speech Audience: General public

Selected Comments – Full speech is available here

I’d like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the lands on which we stand, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people.

I offer my respect to Elders […]

NSW to Progress with Payroll Tax on GP

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2 February 2023 the AGPA wrote to the NSW Premier, Health Minister and Treasurer and their Shadow counterparts.

We expressed our concerns regarding the potential impact of taxing medical professional payments under the payroll tax and the impact that this would have on bulk billing as Practices would need to suspend bulk billing to develop contingency funds, pointed out that because of the way GP is structured it is a tax exceeding 10% on Practice revenue and requested that the State consider amending the payroll tax act to exempt medical professional fees.

Today we have received an […]

AGPA Webinar – Making the CPD System Work

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Webinar Thursday 30 March 2023, 7:30pm AEDT 6:30 pm Queensland, 7:00 pm SA, 4:30 pm WA AGPA Webinar Making the New CPD System Work Presented by: AGPA Speaker: Dr Bernard Shiu

Commencing 1 January 2023 the MBA has introduced a new CPD – system. GPs need to:

          • Have a CPD Home
          • Complete a Professional Development Plan (PDP) every year
          • Complete 50 hours of CPD annually

            • […]

AGPA Advocacy

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AGPA continues to lobby with news media and at the political level to bring issues of importance to General Practices into the spotlight.

Two recent examples from Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, foundation member  and Deputy Chair, on The Project 29 January and in a special ABC report (Youtube) from Bridget Rollason

State Tax on Medical Fees

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The imposition of payroll tax on medical professional fees is in reality a tax on Practice revenues.

In 2020 a case in the Victorian Court of Appeal confirmed the right for the Victorian State Revenue Office to charge payroll tax on payments made to medical professionals. The payroll tax appears to be payable regardless of the status of the medical professional being an independent contractor or an employee.

Since that precedent both NSW and Queensland have also been imposing payroll tax on General Practices apparently where they consider that the behavior of the Practice is more akin to an employer […]

Bulk Billing Rates Decline

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The impact of under funding of Medicare, and GP shortages are starting to seriously impact on the cost of patient access to GP services.

GP bulk billing rates have declined sharply in all states over the last five quarters. Falling from just under 90% in the 2021 September quarter to 83.5% in the  2022 September quarter, rates have declined over 6% nationally but in in the ACT and the NT this decline exceeds 10%.

The ACT  has the lowest rate of bulk billing at just over 61%.

AGPA Webinar – Non Medicare Income Streams

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Webinar Tuesday 6 December 2022, 7:30pm AEDT

6:30 pm Queensland, 7:00 pm SA, 4:30 pm WA

AGPA Webinar

Non Medicare Income Streams

Presented by: AGPA

Speakers:

Dr Brenda Murrison, Dr Fiona Raciti, Dr Jared Dart

 

As part of our Practice Sustainability webinar series AGPA has asked members to discuss some of the options they have followed or considered for their Practices.

Declining Government support for primary healthcare via Medicare has impacted on Practice income and in some cases Practice viability.

A common […]

That 7:30 Report

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In mid October the ABC 7:30 Report ran an article suggesting very high levels of  “leakage” from Medicare. The ABC news site article of 17 October states:

Doctors are abusing the $28 billion Medicare system, at times putting patients at risk, billing dead people and falsifying patient records, all to boost profits.

A joint investigation by ABC’s 7.30 program, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age has uncovered flaws in Medicare’s systems that make it easy to rort and almost impossible to detect fraud, incorrect payments and errors.

The leakage is estimated to represent nearly […]

Practice Principals are a bit like Ducks

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GP practice owners are a bit like ducks, says Dr Jared Dart,  a GP Practice Owner and director of the Australian General Practice Alliance (AGPA) in an interview with Francis Wilkins of Medical Republic.

“They look like they’re floating, but under the surface they’re paddling fiercely,” he said in the interview . “And the biggest problem is practice principals have nowhere to go. A GP can retrain or go on sick leave, but principals only have one option: to sell, and unfortunately, many are doing just that.”

Inflation is now one of the toughest challenges facing owners. “Medical inflation over […]