Following the Federal Budget on Tuesday 9 May, the College has identified key health announcements that will impact Rural Generalists (RGs), specialist General Practitioners (GPs), and the communities they live and work in.  

The full set of budget papers, including Ministerial media releases, are available on the Department of Health and Aged Care website.  The College’s pre and post- budget response is available on the College website. 

ACRRM will continue to consider the detail of the announcements and provide more information to members as it becomes available. We anticipate that ACRRM will be invited to provide input into the final design of some of these initiatives, and we commit to ongoing advocacy on all rural health matters. 

Headline Announcements

Bulk- billing incentive payment 

In the College’s pre-budget submission we called for doubling of the Medicare Rural Bulk Billing Incentive to be doubled, so the announcement that the rebate will be tripled is positive news.  This payment is tiered to rurality remoteness, so it will be particularly welcome to rural and remote consumers and practices.  This announcement also provides an immediate response to the GP funding crisis, which  has been a priority point of advocacy from the College. 

Other Medicare Initiatives  

The new MBS item for a consultation lasting 60 minutes or longer will benefit rural and remote GPs and RGs and patients and support high-quality care for people with complex and chronic conditions. Other announcements such as more affordable wound care will also be of benefit. 

There will be increased access to MBS rebates for Nurse Practitioners and Allied Health professionals and a removal of the existing legislative collaborative arrangement. 

MyMedicare  

While the College call for blended funding models and flexible funding pools for rural and remote general practices to support RG practice has not been specifically answered, the MyMedicare initiative will introduce a Voluntary Patient Enrolment and associated blended funding arrangements for people who most frequently visit hospitals.  Building on this relatively low-key introduction, this initiative will be extended to other patient cohorts in future years. 

Workforce Incentive Program (WIP) 

 Practices will be supported to expand multidisciplinary care and employ more practice nurses, Nurse Practitioners, Allied Health Professionals and Aboriginal Health Workers.  In more remote areas where this may be difficult to achieve, Primary Health Networks (PHNs) will be funded to support general practices to offer more multidisciplinary care. 

Single Employer Models (SEM) 

A further 10 SEM trial sites will be funded which will double the number of GP and RG registrars employed under these arrangements.  Eligibility will be expanded to include underserviced outer metropolitan areas, and three trial sites will test market-based models in the private sector. 

Digital Health and the MyHealthRecord 

Funding was provided to enable the Australian Digital Health Agency and the MyHealthRecord to continue to operate past 30 June 2023 for a further two years.   Additional investments will be made to modernise the MyHealthRecord and to improve interoperability and better communication between hospitals and primary care settings and to address other barriers. 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health

In addition to the general Medicare and other announcements, there will be specific funding to increase uptake of free annual First Nations People Health Checks and an expansion of the PIP Indigenous Health Incentive; and further support for renal services including dialysis. 

Other announcements at a glance:

  • Aged Care – pay increases for staff working in Residential Aged Care facilities and support for GP attendance in RACFs.  A new Aged Care Taskforce will review funding arrangements and develop options to secure a sustainable and equitable aged care system in the longer term. 

  • Mental health and suicide prevention – extending mental health and suicide prevention services across the system and immediate action to address critical workforce shortages and fill workforce gaps in the longer term, together with funding to upskill the capabilities of the broader health workforce. 

  • Urgent Care Centres – support for an additional 8 clinics to deliver a total of 58 clinics during 2023-24. 

  • Smoking cessation strategies; stronger regulation and enforcement for e-cigarettes together with lung cancer screening and quitting support programs. 

  • National Scope of Practice Review – this will commence in late 2023 and review the barriers and incentives for all health professionals to work to their full scope of practice. 

  • Extension of the PIPQI program for 12 months and a review of all workforce incentive programs to ensure incentive payments are appropriately directed to support primary care.