Tristar Medical Group: Collapse of 10 GP clinics signals bulk-billing crisis

Regional towns will lose some bulk-billed medical services as 10 “loss making” GP clinics are forced to close their doors.

The collapse of 10 GP clinics, including five in regional areas, is a sign of Australia’s bulk-billing system in crisis, Australia’s peak GP body says.

On Wednesday, the administrators of Tristar Medical Group, McGrathNicol Restructuring, announced 10 GP clinics belonging to the troubled chain would be forced to close their doors.

Clinics in Ararat, Avoca, Dandenong and Grovedale in Victoria, Bruce in the ACT, West Wyalong and Kempsey in NSW, and Darwin and Palmerston in the Northern Territory will all close, leaving a big gap in the primary healthcare options available to their communities.

McGrathNicol partner Matthew Caddy said the clinics were “loss making” and the firm had been unable to find a buyer for them.

“We have been left with no other option,” he said.

Tristar Medical Group, which runs 29 GP clinics in Victoria, NSW, South Australia and the Northern Territory, was placed under voluntary administration in May owing more than $25 million to creditors.

The chain operated under a bulk-billing business model, which offered patients appointments partially subsidised by Medicare, but required fast turnarounds of 10 minutes per patient.

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Dr Karen Price said she was concerned patients would be worse off after clinics closed.

Ten Tristar Medical Group clinics will be forced to close, while administrators continue to search for buyers for a number of clinics. Picture: Jessica Ball

“We have a concern that if there’s insufficient general practitioners in the area, that patients will either delay seeking care, or they’ll avoid seeking care altogether,” Dr Price said.

She called on the Federal Government to recognise “the acute urgency of the situation”.

Years of government underfunding of Medicare and general practice had created “a perfect storm”, she said.

A years-long freeze on Medicare subsidies for bulk-billed general practice “took billions of dollars out of general private sector, and then we’ve had poor indexation,” Dr Price said.

“The financial model doesn’t work. And then the workforce model doesn’t really work either. It’s very hard to attract doctors.”

The news of the clinics’ closure comes after Family Doctor Group announced on Friday it had bought 12 Tristar clinics in the larger regional centres of Ballarat, Coffs Harbour, Deer Park, Eaglehawk, Epping, Epsom, Horsham, Kangaroo Flat, Mildura, Sebastopol, Sunbury and Wodonga.

Managing director of Family Doctor and principal GP Rodney Aziz told media the group was still reviewing how patients accessing the clinics would be billed.

Federal Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler blamed the former government for the clinics’ closure.

“The former Government froze the Medicare rebate for six years, ripping billions of dollars out of primary care and causing gap fees to skyrocket.

“After nine long years of cuts and neglect of Medicare it has never been harder or more expensive to see a doctor than it is now,” he said.

Mr Butler said the Albanese Government’s Strengthening Medicare Taskforce would “identify the best ways to boost affordability, improve access, and deliver better support for patients with ongoing and chronic illness, backed by the $750 million Strengthening Medicare Fund”.

$220 million will be available through grants to GP practices through the Strengthening Medicare GP Grants program, he said.