Training location requirements
There are training location requirements you must meet to comply with the Training Program Requirements Policy.
Overseas doctors
Overseas trained doctors and foreign graduates of accredited medical schools are subject to section 19AB of the Health Insurance Act 1973 (Cwlth). The Act restricts their access to Medicare benefits for a minimum period of 10 years (‘10-year moratorium’) unless they work in a rural or remote location (distribution priority area [DPA]). If you are in this category, it means you must train in non-metropolitan areas (MM 2–7).
If you are subject to section 19AB, you’ll need to make sure that your practice is in a DPA location so that you’ll be eligible for a Medicare provider number.
The Modified Monash Model (MMM) defines whether a location is a metropolitan, rural, remote or very remote. MM 1 are metropolitan areas and MM 7 are very remote communities. More information on MMM areas can be found on the Department of Health and Aged Care website.
Rural Generalist Fellowship registrars
As a registrar working towards Rural Generalist Fellowship, at least 52 weeks (FTE) of your general practice training must be completed in an MM 3–7 location, either in one continuous block or in two six-month terms.
Your rural general practice training must include:
- a diversity of patient presentations: age, gender, socioeconomic status, and cultural and linguistic background
- ideally, at least two different supervisors and two different general practice management systems.
Rural general practice training should also give you at least one of the following experiences:
- providing emergency/trauma services at the local hospital or similar healthcare facility
- providing other procedural and/or non-procedural services at the local hospital or similar healthcare facility
- limited access to local specialists, including hospitals with salaried medical specialists and inpatient–outpatient allied health services
- providing after-hours services according to community needs.