Strengthening Medicare - implications for your practice from the 2023 budget

This month the Darling Downs and West Moreton PHN hosted a breakfast for general practices at the Brisbane Lions AFL grounds in Springfield, and a dinner in Toowoomba for general practices at Gips on the same evening.

Our special guest speakers Dr Walid (Wally) Jammal and Dr Steven Hambleton were joined by nearly 100 GPs, nurses, practice staff, allied health, and other health professionals to discuss Strengthening Medicare from the 2023-24 budget, and implications for practices.

The Minister for Health and Aged Care established the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce, building on Australia’s Primary Health Care 10 Year Plan 2022-32, to provide recommendations on the highest priority improvements to primary care.

The measures include:

• supporting workforces to work at top of scope, including pharmacists and paramedics
• expanding the nursing workforce to improve access to primary care
• improving access to and delivery of after-hours primary care
• introducing MyMedicare to support wrap around care for patients registered with their local GP through new blended payment models
• providing flexible funding for multi-disciplinary team-based models to improve quality of care
• investing in digital health to improve health outcomes.

Dr Jammal and Dr Hambleton covered how the taskforce report is now driving national policy, and the particular impacts to general practice regarding changes to MBS billing, team care payments and patient registration.

Dr Jammal and Dr Hambleton also took a deep dive into the introduction of MyMedicare, a model of voluntary patient registration to support quality continuity of care and new blended funding models for practices and providers.

Speaking on the investment in the 2023-24 budget to lay the foundations for a stronger Medicare, Darling Downs and West Moreton PHN CEO, Lucille Chalmers, said, “our priority is ensuring that people in our region get greater access to affordable, quality primary health care when they need it.”

“This event has been a great opportunity for our health workforce to gain an expert-level insight into how the focus on strengthening Medicare in the 2023-24 budget will positively impact their practices and patients,” said Ms Chalmers.