Healthcare Funding

The federal government has unveiled a $25.3 million, three-year plan to establish six fully bulk-billing GP clinics across NSW in the Hunter, Central Coast, Newcastle and Lake Macquarie regions. The i...

Health Minister Mark Butler is pursuing reforms to curb specialist fees. This year the government introduced legislation to publish prices charged by individual specialists on the Medical Cost Finder,...

The federal government is making specialist fees a high priority in health policy reform. Health Minister Mark Butler has signalled plans to curb the cost burden by publishing individual specialist ch...

Australia appears to be adopting NHS-style policy levers through changes to bulk billing for general practice. The government has tied a 12.5 per cent practice incentive to 100 per cent bulk billing o...

The Grattan Institute released a policy brief arguing that expanding bulk-billing incentives to all patients channels billions into general practice while deepening funding flaws. Before November 2025...

Cleanbill released the April 2026 Dermatologist Listings Report, revealing a rise in dermatology fees across Australia. The analysis covers pricing and availability from 322 clinics and compares late...

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners will steer the development of a nationally consistent urgent care standard. This follows the federal government confirming urgent care clinics wil...

Across rural and remote Australia a coalition of 12 national peak nursing and midwifery bodies and health system experts urged urgent federal action. They told the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs an...

The Australia Institute argues Commonwealth and state governments should directly provide primary health services in rural and remote communities, saying Medicare is not designed for non-urban Austral...

RACGP WA has submitted a policy package ahead of the state May Budget, urging more support for after-hours general practice. The RACGP WA faculty held a round-table with Libby Mettam, WA’s Deputy Lead...

The World Health Organization validated Australia as having eliminated trachoma as a public health problem. The milestone follows years of community-led work, with trachoma prevalence in at-risk Abori...

GPs under NDIS are pressuring for formal recognition as medical specialists within the disability scheme. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners lodged a submission with the joint stand...

Medicare gaps are forcing rural Western Australia to rely on local councils to keep general practices running. At a senate hearing in Kununurra, Rural Health West outlined how Medicare’s design strugg...

The Australian Society of Anaesthetists polled more than 1,100 anaesthetists and found patient costs are rising as rebates stagnate and insurer rules lag behind care costs. Fees are linked to how long...

RACGP expands RES. The move brings military medicine and veterans’ health into the Recognition of Extended Skills framework. The Recognition of Extended Skills applies to GPs with extensive experience...

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler unveiled a bulk-billing practice incentive as part of the 2025-2026 Budget. The plan aims to redesign the Medicare Benefits Schedule to support bulk billing at the...

The AMA released an updated position statement calling for practice nurses to play a larger role in GP led teams. It argues that current funding and policy settings stop GP clinics from fully using th...

Australia faces a mental health crisis with persistently high suicide rates and record psychiatric drug use, despite rising spending. ADHD prescriptions have surged from 500,000 to 4.5 million in litt...

From 15 May, Australians aged 75 years and over, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 60 and above, will be eligible for a free RSV vaccine under the National Immunisation Program. Th...