Healthcare Funding

A Commonwealth Fund global survey of nearly 11,000 GPs across 10 countries, including Australia, shows burnout is high among Australian clinicians. In Australia, 32% of GPs report burnout, with admini...

Researchers analysed data from more than 36,000 GPs across 103 local areas in Australia, covering before, during and after the COVID period. GPs who used telemedicine more intensively prescribed aroun...

South Australia is shaping its policy debate ahead of the state election with a focus on general practitioner workforce and after hours care. The Liberal Party has pledged to remove payroll tax for GP...

Australia’s charity sector posted total giving of A$9.1 billion in the 2023 financial year, supported by about 4.5 million donors. That’s 216,000 more donors than the year before. Western Australia st...

Darwin Private Hospital has closed its maternity services, seven months after the decision was announced. The Northern Territory is now left with no private obstetricians. At the time two private obst...

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing will end the Pay Doctor Via Claimant system by July 2028 and replace it with a simplified electronic funds transfer process for Medicare rebates. Under...

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing will issue the first instalment of the Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program by the end of January. Practices and GPs who have signed up and bulk bill...

Parliamentary committees released their final report backing the Thriving Kids program, a $2 billion initiative set to start on 1 July 2026. The plan moves eligible children from the National Disabili...

The Department of Health and Disability Ageing has opened a public consultation on a modernised gap billing system for Australian GPs. From July 1, 2028, providers would submit electronic Medicare cla...

New Zealand’s Pae Ora reforms began in 2022, reshaping the health system by replacing 20 district health boards with Health New Zealand and creating a Māori Health Authority to embed Treaty-based gove...

The Productivity Commission has released the final version of Delivering quality care more efficiently. It calls for stronger formal coordination between hospitals and Primary Health Networks. It want...

Australia's Department of Health Disability and Ageing commissioned a Medicare Mental Health Check In and St Vincents operates the service, which opened on 1 January. The initial offering is a public...

The Department of Health Disability and Ageing maintains a public register of data matching activities. It confirms a 36 month PBS claims campaign started in December 2025. The effort compares pharmac...

A new report from the Department of Health highlights that smaller GP practices, especially those with fewer doctors, limited staff, or in lower socio-economic or rural areas, face more barriers to ac...

Health Minister Mark Butler has confirmed that the number of bulk billing GP clinics in Australia is rising quickly. A recent report from Cleanbill shows that over 1200 practices have switched to full...

From 1 March 2026, GPs in Australia will be able to claim Medicare rebates for ECG services again. This reverses a decision made in 2020 that stopped funding for GPs to perform ECGs. The change means...

The number of general practices offering full bulk billing in Australia has more than doubled over the past year. According to the latest data from Cleanbill, 1007 clinics switched from mixed billing...

Since March 2025, the Australian government added several women’s health medications to the PBS, including treatments for endometriosis, menopause, and contraception. In the first nine months, over 1....

The Australian government will start reimbursing GPs and specialists equally for ECG services from March 2026. This change follows years of lobbying by the RACGP and other health groups. The move is b...

The Supreme Court of Queensland found that Professor Julie Quinlivan, former director of the Professional Services Review (PSR), acted beyond her powers in a case involving ophthalmologist Dr David Ki...