Instead of asking how to fix the rural GP shortage, we should look at the bigger picture and ask how nurse practitioners could work to their full capacity.
Multiple doctors’ organisations, led by the Australian Medical Association, and a major farm lobby have called on the federal government to boost Australia’s climate change ambition.
AMA president Dr Omar Khorshid (centre) has been a regular commentator, lobbyist and advocate during the pandemic.
Lukas Coch/AAP
When you receive a medical bill you didn’t expect – even though you’re insured. And it’s still happening, even in time of COVID-19.
The current rules seek to ensure most Australians have access to a pharmacy staffed by a highly skilled professional with a pharmacy degree.
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Only pharmacists can own a pharmacy and you can’t set one up within 1.5km of an existing one. But calls to loosen these rules could give health companies a green light to set up more chemist chains.
Some Coalition’s policies have been seen as a fundamental assault on Medicare principles of bulk billing and universality.
Dan Peled/AAP
Scare campaigns only work if there is some anxiety to build on. Labor’s Medicare campaign plugged into a long history of Coalition ambivalence – or open hostility – towards Medicare.
New AMA president Michael Gannon is looking to ‘build bridges’ with what he expects will be a returned Turnbull government.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
The AMA has campaigned heavily on the Medicare rebate freeze, pointing out its potential impact on patient access if out-of-pocket costs were to increase.
Although the Coalition is largely associated with this issue, Labor first introduced the Medicare rebate freeze in 2013 as a ‘temporary’ measure.
AAP/Joel Carrett
Labor will lift the rebate freeze from 2017, while under the Coalition, GPs will be paid the same amount for delivering health services in 2020 as they were in 2014. So what does this mean for patients?
AMA President Brian Owler says hospitals will have insufficient funding to meet the increasing demand for services.
Dean Lewins/AAP
The Australian Medical Association’s annual Public Hospital Report Card says hospitals are facing “a growing funding crisis” – with their performance virtually stagnant.
AMA president Brian Owler said the decision to outsource production was financial, describing the publisher’s financial position as “perilous”.
Lukas Coch/AAP
The recent decision to outsource production of the journal to international publishing company Elsevier – and the route it took to get there – made my position untenable.
AMA chief Brian Owler said that instead of putting the public hospital sector on a sustainable footing, the federal government had retreated from its responsibilities.
AAP/Lukas Coch
An Australian Medical Association report showing the nation’s public hospitals face a funding “black hole” because of the federal government’s cuts gives premiers strong ammunition for their Friday meeting with Tony Abbott.
Tony Abbott and Peter Dutton announce changes to the government’s GP co- payment policy.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
In the government’s latest “scraping away the barnacles” of unpopular and blocked policies, prime minister Tony Abbott and health minister Peter Dutton have announced they’re abandoning the plan to have…
Peter Dutton and Tony Abbott have presented a less controversial Medicare co-payment that should be easier to sell to the public.
AAP/Lukas Coch
The government has stepped back from its A$7 proposed co-payment for visiting the GP but still aims to skin the Medicare cat, putting the onus on doctors to send a $5 price signal to non-concessional patients…
Paediatricians says children’s trauma is compounded when they are placed in mandatory detention.
Australian Human Rights Commission/AAP
More than 80% of Australian paediatricians believe mandatory detention of asylum seeker children constitutes child abuse, according to survey results published today in the Medical Journal of Australia…
Medicines Australia code of conduct for pharmaceutical companies has attracted a large number of negative submissions.
hobvias sudoneighm/Flickr
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is considering whether to approve the latest Medicines Australia code of conduct for pharmaceutical companies. The code lays out disclosure requirements…
The AMA proposal would wipe out 97% of the government’s $3.5bn savings.
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Jane Hall, University of Technology Sydney y Kees Van Gool, University of Technology Sydney
Bulk billing without restrictions has been a feature of the Australian health system since the introduction of Medicare in 1984. It is particularly important in general practice, as it means any Australian…
AMA president Brian Owler said the association was not opposed to co-payments entirely.
AAP/Alan Porritt
The Australian Medical Association has released its alternative to the budget’s controversial $7 Medicare co-payment plan that would protect pensioners and children, but raise only $60 million in revenue…
Professor of Bioethics & Medicine, Sydney Health Ethics, Haematologist/BMT Physician, Royal North Shore Hospital and Director, Praxis Australia, University of Sydney
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne