The Australian healthcare system is known for its Medicare program, which provides access to a range of health services for citizens. In a move that will bring a sigh of relief to many, Medicare is set to offer bigger bulk billing rebates to patients in 17 locations across New South Wales (NSW), Queensland (QLD), Victoria (VIC), Western Australia (WA), and South Australia (SA). This change comes as a result of the latest Census data, which has led to a reclassification of the remoteness of each locality.
For those of you who may not be familiar, bulk billing is when your doctor bills Medicare directly and accepts the Medicare benefit as full payment for their service. This means no out-of-pocket costs for the patient for that visit. The amount of the rebate you receive from Medicare can vary depending on where you live, and it’s this amount that’s getting a boost in the 17 reclassified communities. Patients in these areas can now expect to be refunded up to $11.15 more than usual after each visit to the doctor.
But the benefits don’t stop there. General practices in these 17 communities will also find it easier to recruit and retain doctors, thanks to an expansion of their priority status. This allows them to hire from a larger pool of professionals, which is crucial for maintaining high-quality healthcare services in remote areas.
The Modified Monash Model (MMM) classification system, which informs the education and health sectors about workforce needs, categorises locations into one of seven categories based on remoteness. ‘The more remote a GP practice is, the larger the incentives,’ explained the Department of Health and Aged Care.
The most significant rebate increases will be seen in areas moving from a metropolitan area (MM1) to a regional area (MM2), such as Mulgoa, Murwillumbah, Wallacia, and Wallalong in NSW, Hopetoun Park in VIC, and Jacobs Well in QLD. Rebates in these locations will jump from $64.20 to $75.35 per visit.
Medicare payments will increase at different rates depending on each location’s updated classification.
In Victoria, Myrniong is shifting from a regional classification (MM2) to a large rural town (MM3), Toongabbie is moving from MM3 to a small rural town (MM5), and Hopetoun is being reclassified from MM5 to a remote location (MM6). In Western Australia, Green Head and Leeman are also transitioning from MM5 to MM6.
In Queensland, Stanthorpe is moving from a medium rural town (MM4) to a small rural town (MM5), while Lamb Island is shifting from a remote location (MM6) to a very remote classification (MM7). Bourke, in New South Wales, is also being reclassified from a remote to a very remote area.
Additionally, some locations that previously held dual classifications have now been assigned the more remote of the two. For example, Sutton (NSW), which was previously classified as both a metropolitan and regional area, is now solely considered a regional zone. In Victoria, Woodend, which had both ‘medium rural town’ (MM4) and ‘small rural town’ (MM5) classifications, is now designated exclusively as a small rural town.
In remote areas, where residents often have limited access to care due to staffing issues, these changes help level the playing field. A non-metropolitan Distribution Priority Area (DPA) status allows GPs to recruit from a wider pool of doctors than in city areas. This is further supported by the requirement for overseas-educated doctors to spend their first ten years practicing medicine outside of major cities and metropolitan areas if they want to provide Medicare services.
The Department of Health attributes the ‘boom in new doctors’ partly to some 5,431 overseas-trained professionals moving to Australia in the last two years, with an extra 17,000 doctors registering to practice in the last two years—more than at any time in the past decade.
However, not everyone agrees that these changes are entirely positive. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) rural chair, Associate Professor Michael Clements has expressed concerns that the classification shifts may channel doctors away from areas more acutely in need.
What do you think about these updates? Have you noticed any changes in healthcare access in your area? Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.
Also read: Will Labor’s Medicare bulk-billing pledge make it cheaper to see your GP?
I live in a rural area in the SE of SA and attended a doctor for the first time since we moved here a month ago. Cost was $112.90 and that was with a health care card concession. I hope our area is going to be getting cheaper because this is the most I’ve ever had to pay to see a doctor, ever.