Medicare fees, staff shortages put squeeze on GPs

Operating costs expected to increase for more than three in four GPs over the next year amid Medicare fee pressures.

GPs are being squeezed by Medicare fees and staff shortages. Picture: File

Operating costs are expected to increase for more than three in four Australian GPs over the next year, new research has revealed, as practices struggle with the Medicare fee schedule and overwhelming staff shortages.

The most common financial challenge for practices over the next year will be the Medicare fee schedule running behind operating costs, with 60 per cent of practices opting to review billing models to reduce the proportion of bulk billing, the CommBank 2023 GP Insights report said.

The new research comes as the federal government’s Strengthening Medicare Taskforce looks to fix the crisis-ridden Medicare system with major reforms set to be announced ahead of the May budget.

“We’re spoken to more than 200 health care providers who identified Medicare fees as a specific challenge, and said that their costs were increasing faster than the increases in the Medicare benefits schedule,” CommBank Health CEO Albert Naffah told The Australian.

“There are obviously peak bodies in this space that have been talking to government, and that has been acknowledged by government that that’s a challenge.

“Providers themselves have also identified a way to address the issues is by increasing the instances of paid patient claiming so there is less reliance on bulk billing where there is no contribution from the patient.”

Commbank’s research identified around 72 per cent of general practices are experiencing staff shortages that force them to hold back on operational capacity and growth aspirations. This was more prominent among regional-based practices (84 per cent).

While general practices want to focus on people and culture as a major tactic to attract and retain staff, just 26 per cent are planning to recruit more doctors in the year ahead.

“It’s no surprise that this sector is seeing significant costs in operating, driven by things like workforce shortages and the associated costs in having to pay things like overtime because of the lack of staffing that’s available, particularly in this field as it’s more acute,” Mr Naffah said.

“We’ve seen a significant reduction in the number of doctors coming in from overseas, and certainly a significant reduction in number of graduates who are choosing general practice as their preferred specialty going forward.”

The RACGP’s most recent annual Health of the Nation report said only about 15% of final year medical students were choosing general practice as their first-preference speciality, the lowest proportion since 2012.

Mr Naffah encouraged GPs to take up digital solutions, such as using the CommBank Smart Health to process Medicare and private health insurance claims on the spot, to respond to increased challenged on the workforce.

“The digitisation of general practices is set to expand as healthcare managers do everything they can to improve accessibility and convenience of care,” he said.