Health Policy

South Australia held a pre election debate on health policy that brought together the Labor government and the Liberal opposition. The event was organised by AMA SA ahead of the March state election a...

From November 2025 the Australian government expanded the bulk-billing incentive for general practice. The changes extend a Medicare top-up to all patients who are bulk billed, not just concession-car...

Queensland faces a growing skin cancer care burden with a regional workforce gap. A Queensland team used supply, demand and needs based modelling to estimate the number of skin cancer clinicians and t...

More than $61.4 million was paid to general practices in the first Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program round. Payments went to 2,949 practices out of 3,251 registered, covering November 1 to Decem...

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced a 739.2 million dollar investment to boost the treatment and rehabilitation of veterans. The plan also funds administrative tasks tied to compensation clai...

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing is seeking feedback on a potential overhaul of GP referrals. The proposal would require standard information to accompany referrals from GPs to non GP s...

Australia’s Commonwealth released the Closing the Gap 2025 Annual Report and the 2026 Implementation Plan. The release shows mixed progress, with only four of nineteen targets on track for the 2031 de...

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners reports a record start to GP training in 2026. A total of 1772 doctors will begin general practice training this year. Of them, 161 will spend at...

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has a Fellow Support Service to help doctors after they gain a Fellowship. The program offers advice, education, supervision and mentoring...

The Department of Veterans Affairs has updated the fee guidance for GPs who perform medical assessments and reports used in veteran compensation claims. The changes take effect on 9 February 2026 and...

Australia has published the world’s first clinical practice guide on MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD. Monash University led the effort, aiming the guidance at GPs and other health professionals i...

The move from the Commonwealth Home Support Program to the new Support at Home model is drawing warnings from peak bodies, clinicians and regulators in Australia. COTA, Meals on Wheels, academics, pro...

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing has released early figures for the Bulk Billing PIP. In the first two months, the BB PIP paid out $61,370,277.86 to 2,949 practices. The average payout...

With a state election looming in South Australia, 10 health advocate bodies formed the SA College Chairs Committee and signed off on a three point plan. The aims are to map unmet health needs and serv...

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 Australian government and all states and territories agreed to back Thriving Kids with a new A$2 billion funding package. It will create a foundational supports program for children aged 0-8 with...

In January 2026 the AI health assistants ChatGPT Health and Claude for Healthcare launched. These tools are purpose built to guide health decisions and are becoming the main way many people start thei...

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...

In New South Wales the health system is rolling out GP training to diagnose ADHD and initiate prescribing. Training starts in March and is funded by NSW Health. Nearly 600 GPs have already expressed i...