VICDOC Winter 2022 - Magazine - Page 67
GENERAL PRACTICE
TERM
WRAP-UP
—
I
t has been my absolute privilege to serve as
the Nominee for the Practice Group of General
Practice on Federal Council and the Chair of the
AMA Council of General Practice over the last
six years. During that time AMA advocacy has
very much focused on highlighting the enormous
value of general practice and putting forward
practical solutions to the challenges being faced by
GPs around the country.
There have been some bruising fights with
Government along the way, as well as some
notable wins. The work is never over and
whoever takes my place will continue to face
a challenging environment.
When I came to the position of Chair, the MBS
Review was underway, Medicare rebates were still
frozen, the now defunct Health Care Homes trial
was underway, difficult changes to the PIP (Practice
Incentive Program) Digital Health Incentive were
being implemented, and the AMA was calling for
GP funding to better support quality care and the
incorporation of non-dispensing pharmacists into
general practice.
Over my time the AMA has successfully
advocated for retention of key components of the
Practice Incentive Program. These include the
Indigenous Health, Teaching, GP Procedural and
the Aged Care Access (ACAI) incentives, which
Government wanted to sacrifice to fund the Quality
Improvement Incentive (QII). Not only did our
advocacy see these incentives retained but we
also secured additional funding for the QII and
more recently a doubling of the payments available
under the ACAI.
The most progressive step forward has without
a doubt been the funding of telehealth (video and
phone) services under the MBS. It is a shame that
it required a pandemic for Government to realise
the role that appropriate telehealth services
contributes to timely and accessible patient care.
Continued AMA advocacy for the reduction in red
tape contributed to the cessation of the Vocational
Register and the introduction of streamlined access
to Medicare for GPs via their registration status
with Ahpra.
On the GP workforce front the AMA secured
the expansion of prevocational training places
DR RICHARD KIDD
Chair of the AMA Council
of General Practice
in general practices with a focus on rural areas,
and successfully lobbied for the introduction of
the Rural Generalist Pathway. Funding for nondispensing pharmacists is now accessible through
the Workforce Incentive Program. We have
also supported a return to college led training
arrangements and we continue to work to achieve
more equitable conditions for the next generation of
GPs, backed by improved support for supervisors.
COVID-19 threatened the viability of general
practices around the country and in the first
six months of the pandemic around $600m in
additional financial support for general practice that
the AMA secured helped save many practices from
financial extinction. We fought strongly for better
access to PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and
a fair rebate for COVID-19 vaccination services. We
secured a no-fault indemnity scheme and general
practice can be very proud that it formed the
backbone of the vaccine roll out.
The Council of General Practice has led the
way in the quest for primary health reform and
put words to the vision of many GPs around the
country in our Delivering Better Care for Patients:
The AMA 10-Year Framework for Primary Care
Reform while GP policy features strongly in the
AMA’s broader Vision for Australia’s Health.
These strongly influenced the recommendations
of the Primary Health Reform Steering Committee
and our ideas were taken up in the Government’s
Primary Health Care 10 Year Plan. Unfortunately,
the Government is yet to fund this plan and the
AMA will need to work hard to ensure that it does
not become another document that gathers dust
on a shelf in the Department of Health.
Our recently launched Modernise Medicare
campaign is designed to highlight the issues facing
general practice and to keep the pressure on
the major parties to do more to support general
practice and build a health system that can meet
our future needs.
While I will be taking a step back now, I know that
the AMA has the right policies in place to ensure
patient-centred, collaborative and connected
care and to guide a better future for GPs, general
practice and the community we care for.