From 1 March 2026, the government expands Medicare rebates for GP referrals to speech pathology. Eligible patients under 25 can access eight assessments and 20 treatment sessions with speech pathologi...
The Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs has recommended passing the Health Legislation Amendment Bill 2025, a move that would let designated registered nurses prescribe medicines under the...
From 1 March the Medicare Benefits Schedule will allow up to 20 rebated treatment sessions and eight assessment sessions for eligible patients under 25, delivered by speech pathologists and other alli...
The Federal Government commissioned an independent evaluation of Medicare Urgent Care Clinics (UCCs). More than 130 clinics are now operating, with 87 analysed between June 2023 and August 2025. The s...
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners is urging the federal government to establish an independent pricing authority to set Medicare rebates based on evidence, value and true cost of d...
Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme has added Wynzora to subsidies for chronic stable plaque-type psoriasis vulgaris. Wynzora combines calcipotriol and betamethasone dipropionate and is now sub...
Australia is moving to bake price transparency into private health care. The Health Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 Schedule 1 would let the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing publish informa...
The Improving Choice and Transparency for Private Health Consumers Bill sets out plans to publish GP fees and bulk-billing rates by default on the Medical Costs Finder. The data would come from Medica...
Pertussis cases have surged in Australia, reaching levels not seen in 35 years. For 2024, Australia recorded 57,257 pertussis cases, and the combined total for 2024–2025 reached 82,530, the highest si...
The federal government has introduced the Health Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 to publish more detailed private health billing data. It would pull information from Medicare, hospitals and private in...
The Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program has lifted the national bulk-billing rate to 81.4% for the period November to January. In total, 3412 Medicare bulk-billing practices are registered, with 1...
Australia’s health department released bulk billing data covering November 2024 to January 2026. The national GP non-referred bulk billing rate averaged 81.4%, up 3.8 percentage points on the Septembe...
Australia is testing its urgent care clinics with a target of 137 UCCs. An interim evaluation, nearly a year old, sits alongside a final report due in 2026. The interim findings show each UCC presenta...
The Australian government announced a five-year GP training contract worth more than 1 billion dollars. Training will stay under the RACGP and ACRRM, with a split of 71 to RACGP and 29 to ACRRM, spe...
The Federal Government has signed a five-year Australian General Practice Training grant agreement for 2026–30. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) will receive 751.3 million...
Private Healthcare Australia released a report based on a survey of more than 4,000 Australians, including about 2,300 who had recently been referred to a non-GP specialist. The findings show 30% have...
