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The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) welcomes today’s Federal Budget announcement of an historic $101 billion in healthcare initiatives over four years, saying they will benefit rural, remote, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and the workforce that supports them.
ACRRM President Dr Dan Halliday says this Budget will help to stabilise access to general practice and build the health workforce, noting it is an important first step in a much-needed reform program.
He says a commitment to immediately triple bulk billing incentives, at a cost of $35b, will mean that with rural indexing, specialist General Practitioners (GPs) and Rural Generalists (RGs) in very remote areas will see an incentive increase from around $13 to $39 for a standard consultation.
“ACRRM has long called for an increase in incentives for Medicare Rural Bulk Billing as part of a broader reform package and this will ease the financial pressures on patients living in rural and remote areas and the practices who care for them,” Dr Halliday says.
“We will be very interested to hear more about the MyMedicare initiative, which aims to better support patients with chronic disease and the healthcare teams that care for them.
“We hope this initiative will include funding models which recognise and support the unique contexts and needs of rural and remote communities and the health professionals who serve them.
“Further investment of $445.1 million to expand general practices will assist in attracting health professionals into regional and rural and remote communities and build multidisciplinary teams which are best suited to providing a broad range of health care services in these communities.
“The specialist RG model of practice has been shown to be the best model to meet the healthcare needs of rural and remote communities.
“RGs and specialist GPs should play a central role in the coordination of multidisciplinary, team-based care that is being mooted.
“We acknowledge the $951.2m investment in digital healthcare.
“We know there are issues with IT systems that don’t talk to each other, and therefore restrict information sharing that would provide a better experience for healthcare workers and patients.
“We are optimistic that the investment plan extends to solving mobile blackspot and regional connectivity issues, to enable telehealth to be used as an effective tool to support face-to-face services.”
ACRRM is pleased to see that support for the training of RGs and specialist GPs has not been overlooked and welcomes the $4.5m expansion of the Single Employer Model trials.
These models will enable participating RG and GP registrars to train and deliver services across the private practice and hospital settings, in a range of locations, while maintaining continuity of employment and all the benefits that offers.
“We also note the $81.8m for scholarship arrangements and will review these closely to ensure they will help address workforce shortage,” Dr Halliday says.
“We welcome the initiatives announced tonight and will continue to advocate for healthcare reform that supports the ACRRM vision to have the right doctors in the right places, with the right skills, providing high-quality healthcare for rural, remote and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.”
ENDS
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The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) welcomes today’s Federal Budget announcement of an historic $101 billion in healthcare initiatives over four years, saying they will benefit rural, remote, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and the workforce that supports them.
ACRRM President Dr Dan Halliday says this Budget will help to stabilise access to general practice and build the health workforce, noting it is an important first step in a much-needed reform program.
He says a commitment to immediately triple bulk billing incentives, at a cost of $35b, will mean that with rural indexing, specialist General Practitioners (GPs) and Rural Generalists (RGs) in very remote areas will see an incentive increase from around $13 to $39 for a standard consultation.
“ACRRM has long called for an increase in incentives for Medicare Rural Bulk Billing as part of a broader reform package and this will ease the financial pressures on patients living in rural and remote areas and the practices who care for them,” Dr Halliday says.
“We will be very interested to hear more about the MyMedicare initiative, which aims to better support patients with chronic disease and the healthcare teams that care for them.
“We hope this initiative will include funding models which recognise and support the unique contexts and needs of rural and remote communities and the health professionals who serve them.
“Further investment of $445.1 million to expand general practices will assist in attracting health professionals into regional and rural and remote communities and build multidisciplinary teams which are best suited to providing a broad range of health care services in these communities.
“The specialist RG model of practice has been shown to be the best model to meet the healthcare needs of rural and remote communities.
“RGs and specialist GPs should play a central role in the coordination of multidisciplinary, team-based care that is being mooted.
“We acknowledge the $951.2m investment in digital healthcare.
“We know there are issues with IT systems that don’t talk to each other, and therefore restrict information sharing that would provide a better experience for healthcare workers and patients.
“We are optimistic that the investment plan extends to solving mobile blackspot and regional connectivity issues, to enable telehealth to be used as an effective tool to support face-to-face services.”
ACRRM is pleased to see that support for the training of RGs and specialist GPs has not been overlooked and welcomes the $4.5m expansion of the Single Employer Model trials.
These models will enable participating RG and GP registrars to train and deliver services across the private practice and hospital settings, in a range of locations, while maintaining continuity of employment and all the benefits that offers.
“We also note the $81.8m for scholarship arrangements and will review these closely to ensure they will help address workforce shortage,” Dr Halliday says.
“We welcome the initiatives announced tonight and will continue to advocate for healthcare reform that supports the ACRRM vision to have the right doctors in the right places, with the right skills, providing high-quality healthcare for rural, remote and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.”
ENDS