Ochre welcomes new Medicare funding announcements and emphasises the need for bipartisanship to deliver rural reform

The Albanese Government has committed to make a new investment in Medicare to:

• Expand the current bulk-billing incentives to all Australians.
• Increase GP training places & incentives in order to attract more doctors to GP practice and rural practice.
• Deliver a relative funding increase for regional and remote locations due to the current weighting of the bulk-billing incentives.

Following the announcement, the Coalition vowed to support the initiative.

The Ochre Health Group welcomes both announcements, but it warns that real change will only be achieved if bipartisan support is maintained and funding promises are delivered without delay.

Dr Hamish Meldrum, Co-Founder and Director of Ochre Health, says, “Both sides of politics need to commit to, and support, high quality care from our GP workforce. Without this, we will slip into a model of care that focuses on medical specialists and hospitals, which will be extremely costly for the nation – not just financially costly but also costly in terms of the health of our people.”

“With over 65 medical centres and Urgent Care Clinics supporting more than 500 doctors across Australia, many in regional, rural and remote areas, Ochre Health has first-hand experience in addressing the chronic GP shortages and pressures on rural doctors and communities.”

“The commitments to higher Medicare rebates and stronger workforce incentives made yesterday by the Albanese Government and supported by the Coalition are a welcome and crucial step forward, but bipartisan collaboration and support needs to be maintained to ensure they are fully implemented.”

“We are aware that many GP practices in rural and remote locations have closed over the last five years. The new measures have the potential to make some currently non-viable locations viable again, and they will help to reverse the workforce distribution that we see in Australia by making rural and remote practice more financially attractive.”

“Ochre Health has always been committed to facilitating high quality care in communities across Australia and we stand ready to work with government and industry leaders to ensure these reforms become a reality.”

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a sustainable Medicare model for remote and rural GPs. It will also go a long way to halting the trend to more and more private billing in regional and urban locations.”

Dr Miranda Hann, a GP practicing with Ochre Health in Hobart (an MMM2 location) says, “These changes have been drastically needed. I am cautiously optimistic they will lead to ongoing positive changes to primary care. I expect further improvements and funding will be required, but it’s fantastic to see new incentives happening.”

Dr Alex John, a GP practicing with Ochre Health on remote Flinders Island in Bass Strait (an MMM7 location) says, “For me, and other rural practitioners like me, this is a huge boost, making our positions sustainable. This policy is a boost for all Australian communities that rely on bulk-billing to make sure they can function day-to-day. It is a boost for rural Australia. I cannot help but hope it is good news for the future – helping medical students to see ‘going rural’ as a viable choice, getting existing doctors to go remote and to stay remote, and enabling long term doctor-community relationships that are the key to a happier and healthier rural Australia!”