ACRRM has teamed up with World Extreme Medicine (WEM) in a joint podcast series, highlighting the realities, challenges, and triumphs of delivering healthcare in rural, remote, and First Nations communities.

We’re looking for passionate professionals like you to share your experiences and insights with a global audience of healthcare practitioners dedicated to extreme and remote medicine. If you have a story to tell, we’d love to hear from you!

Interested? Email marketing@acrrm.org.au to find out more and be part of this exciting opportunity.

On World Health Day (Monday 7 April), ACRRM continued to urge all political parties to prioritise maternity care in their election commitments, ensuring women in rural and remote communities can access safe, high-quality care close to home.

 
The World Health Organisation’s 2025 campaign, Healthy Beginnings, Hopeful Futures, highlights the staggering global toll of maternal and newborn deaths—nearly 300,000 women die each year due to pregnancy or childbirth complications, and more than 2 million newborns don’t survive their first month.

 

While Australia’s healthcare system ranks among the best in the world, rural, remote and First Nations women face increasing barriers to maternity care as services are closed or downgraded, forcing them to travel long distances and putting their and their babies’ health at risk. 

 

Did you know that cardiovascular disease (CVD) affects men and women differently? Evidence shows that important modifiers of CVD – sex and gender, as well as biological, anatomical, cultural and societal factors – are often overlooked in clinical practice.¹

To better understand the role of sex biology on CVD risk and health outcomes, join the Heart Foundation’s clinical webinar ‘‘Let’s talk about sex: Understanding biological differences in CVD risk’ on Thursday 8th May from 7:00 to 8:30 pm AEST. 

Register now to hear experts discuss the role of the female reproductive system as well as gender-affirming therapy on CVD risk and progression. 

 

 

1. Gauci S, et al. Curr Atheroscler Rep. 2022 Sep;24(9):701–708.

The National Council of Primary Care Doctors (NCPCD) is Australia’s peak collaborative body for primary care doctors.  It welcomes recent commitments to invest in primary healthcare, while acknowledging more work is needed to properly fund complex care, improve access for rural and remote Australians, and better target co-ordinated care through MyMedicare. Providing GPs with more options to bulk bill patients will also help address cost barriers for those Australians who do not currently qualify for bulk billing incentives.

 

Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) telehealth changes were committed as part of the 2025-
26 Federal Budget. These measures were agreed in the context of Strengthening Medicare
New and Amended items.

From 1 November 2025, subsequent phone items for consultations that occur after the initial consultation with a consultant physician will be re-introduced. These services will provide more flexibility for patients and providers and better recognise the additional time of providers where phone is clinically appropriate but services are not straightforward. While video consultations remain the preferred substitution for an in-person service, the availability of telephone will reduce technology inequity barriers to care for some patients where it is a safe and effective option.

From 1 March 2026, GP and NP PES services will enable MBS rebates for in-person support while the patient participates in an MBS video consultation with a referred non-GP specialist. The availability of PES services will enhance access and improve quality of video consultations, particularly for patients who come from a cultural and linguistically diverse background, the elderly, and patients with a disability as they can have a provider in the room that they are familiar with. These services will also enhance practitioners’ clinical assessment, multi-disciplinary collaboration, clinical handover, and support. The new GP and NP PES services will differ from those available in the past, being available nationally. More detailed implementation information on these measures is forthcoming in the context of routine stakeholder engagements on amendments to MBS regulations and the publication of factsheets closer to date of implementation.

Secure your spot today and take the next step in your professional development! 

View the full course list and available dates here.

 

ACRRM, in collaboration with the National Allergy Council, has launched allergy assist^TM — a new government-funded service providing timely, high-quality specialist advice on allergic diseases.

Don't hesitate — submit your case today and get the expert guidance you need to support your patients.

 

 

Join well known dermatologist Dr. Jim Muir as he unpacks the diagnostic challenges and treatment approaches for skin rashes in elderly long-term care residents. This webinar is your chance to boost your confidence in managing common (and uncommon!) rashes in older patients.

The WA Department of Health End Of Life Care Program is investigating opportunities to improve the sustainability and wellbeing of the VAD workforce. They are seeking to understand the factors that influence eligible medical and nurse practitioners to undertake VAD Approved Training and roles under the Act. This feedback will help identify enablers, barriers and additional resources needed to ensure that equity of access to VAD is upheld alongside other end of life care choices.

The Program would like to hear from medical and nurse practitioners that meet the eligibility
requirements to provide VAD services in Western Australia (WA), including those who have not
completed VAD Approved Training.

The survey is voluntary and should take no more than 5-10 minutes to complete. The survey is
open from 1 April to 22 April 2025 and is available on Citizen Space here.