$2.2bn health funding package lays the groundwork for Medicare overhaul

The first steps towards a decade-long project of reforming Medicare aims to recruit thousands of nurses, fund preventative care and keep ‘frequent flyers’ out of hospital

The federal government has taken the first major steps towards overhauling Medicare with a $2.2bn package of funding. Picture: AAP Image/Dave Hunt

The federal government has taken the first major steps towards overhauling Medicare with a $2.2bn package of funding designed to bolster general practice, expand the suite of healthcare workers caring for patients in primary care, and co-ordinate preventative care of the sickest to address the growing crisis of overwhelmed hospitals.

The initial groundwork for a “blended” funding model to be rolled out at scale will be laid in the May 9 budget with a large expansion of the GP Workforce Incentive Program, which funds practices to employ more nurses and allied health staff to conduct multidisciplinary care and work at the “top of scope” of their practice. In rural areas, multidisciplinary teams will be contracted via Primary Health Networks.

There will also be incentives in the budget for GP clinics to stay open after-hours, with funding directed in particular to areas of service gaps in the regions.

A nationwide rollout of voluntary enrolment by patients with a regular doctor at a “home” GP practice will also be rolled out via a scheme to be known as MyMedicare. The model is designed to provide a central hub of information across primary care and hospitals about enrolled patients who will be given a MyMedicare patient ID, with the scheme designed to enable those with significant needs who frequently visit hospital to be offered “wraparound primary care” aimed at keeping them out of hospital. Funding will flow to these high-needs patients via MyMedicare.

The proposals are broadly in line with the policy plans put forward by the medical profession and backed by a consensus of leaders in last year’s Strengthening Medicare taskforce.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler. Picture: Martin Ollman/Getty Images

“The government is strengthening Medicare for future generations,” federal Health Minister Mark Butler said.

The reforms do not yet extend to directly funding the entire nursing profession and allied healthcare workers to work to the top of their scope of practice via direct Medicare Benefit Schedule items, although the groundwork has been laid in later budgets with funding allocated to a National Scope of Practice Review that will examine barriers and incentives for the optimum use of the skills of all health professionals.

The upcoming budget will also pour money into the recruitment of nurses, targeting those who have recently left the workforce and also simplifying processes for recruitment form overseas as recommended in the Independent Review of Overseas Practitioner Regulatory Settings by Robyn Kruk, released on Friday. The government will also fund 6000 placements for nursing students in primary care.

Australian College of Nurse Practitioners president Leanne Boase said the government was laying the groundwork for the future with this year’s budget for a much greater role nurses, paramedics and allied health in primary care. “It’s important whenever we make significant changes in health that the groundwork and the supporting evidence is in place,” she said.

Australian College of Nurse Practitioners president Leanne Boase.

Opposition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston. Picture: Gary Ramage

Other key aspects of the $2.2bn Medicare package is an expanded role for pharmacies in all vaccinations, with all immunisations on the National Immunisation Program available at local pharmacies for everyone aged five years and over for $19 each jab. There will also be an expansion of GP incentives to fund a attendance in residential aged care homes, along with more investment in digital health programs.

Opposition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston said the announcements were “strong on aspiration and light on the key details”. Both the Royal Australian College of GPs and the AMA broadly welcomed the details of the funding package.