February 2015

Improving the governance of your RACGP has been a hot topic over the past few weeks as the Governance Review roadshow made its first stops around the country. Along with Faculty Chairs and prominent GPs, I have been enjoying participating in workshops and webinars debating the RACGP’s future.  The roadshow is all about listening to member feedback so we can have a clear sense of what you want the RACGP to be. Establishing good governance structures and practices creates real benefits, including increased RACGP responsiveness to your interests and ...

The RACGP is deeply concerned by findings outlined in the  Closing the Gap –The Prime Minister’s Report 2015 , which revealed limited progress towards bridging the gap in life expectancy between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous Australians. The Federal Government’s recent decision to support the implementation of a National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan is welcome. However, this initiative will prove futile unless a genuine consultation process is carried out during its formulation and implementa...

The RACGP is pleased to confirm that Chronic Disease Management (CDM) items can now be claimed, for appropriate patients, where a GP is providing support for Advance Care Planning activities. When deciding if a Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) item is applicable to use to support Advance Care Planning activities, GPs must use their professional judgement and consider the comprehensive information contained within the MBS items and regulations. It is expected that these decisions are consistent with those generally accepted by the medical profession ...

Over the past three weeks, the RACGP’s  In Practice  poll asked its readers whether the Health Insurance Act 1973 should be amended to allow GPs to bulk bill (directly bill) and charge a modest patient contribution for those who can afford it.   The results indicate that a strong majority (92%) is in favour of GPs charging for consumables and other basic overheads costs which would better support the provision of quality patient services. Only 8% of participants support the current restrictions under the Health Insurance Act 1973.   The RACGP thank...

I’m pleased to announce that the RACGP will be embarking on an extensive consultation process to develop the fifth edition of the RACGP’s  Standards for general practices. The Standards set out a safety and quality template for practices that choose to be accredited and since the current edition was released in October 2010, much about how GPs and their practices work has changed. The RACGP knows it is GPs, practice managers, practice nurses and support staff who are best placed to know how the Standards can be improved, and that’s why it is import...

General practice registrars were more positive than other specialties about their training program according to the  2014 Australian Medical Association’s Specialist Trainee Survey . The survey report released this week found general practice registrars were more positive about training aspects such as the relevance and quality of educational activities, employment prospects at the end of training, health and wellbeing, and access to flexile training options. The report also notes that the survey was conducted before the 2014 Federal Budget annou...

Changes are being made to the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR) reports in an effort to help GPs encourage parents to have their children immunised on time. The reports help GPs and other practitioners identify children due or overdue for their immunisations. The changes will see one new ACIR report produced and modifications made to three existing reports. The additional report was released in December 2014 and provides information to GPs on the children they see at their practice who are considered not fully immunised according to ...

Electronic medical record alerts for clinicians and SMS and email reminders for patients have been shown to increase detection of gonorrhoea, chlamydia and syphilis, as well as increasing retesting rates among gay men. Clinician alerts were also found to increase the yield of asymptomatic early syphilis, especially among HIV positive gay men. Use of such technology, where available, is recommended to increase the frequency, regularity and yield of sexually transmissible infection (STI) and HIV testing among men attending clinical services. Refer to...