27 May 2016


National campaign a response to evidence and your concerns

The RACGP has launched an advocacy campaign to highlight RACGP members’ real and serious concerns in regards to the health consequences of the Medicare patient rebate freeze.

The national campaign, which includes the ‘You’ve been targeted’ materials, reflects your strong feedback over the past few years calling for an end to the freeze. RACGP members have continually made it clear that this is a critical issue for our patients and the profession.

This campaign is not about politics. The RACGP remains autonomous, as a member-based organisation, with no political affiliation. 

The engagement is simply about highlighting the multiple health and fiscal consequences of this short-sighted health policy.

The results of the latest In Practice poll directly reflect these concerns, revealing a majority of GPs will have to pull back on bulk-billing and charge patients a fee due to the freeze.

Bulk-billing was used for the vast majority of GP services in 2015, but the survey confirms this number will plummet as 61% of GPs say they will increase out-of-pockets and/or privately bill all patients.

This means up to 14.5 million Australians will either have to start paying upfront, or pay more. This will have a deleterious effect on the provision of quality general practice care for all Australians, but especially for the disadvantaged and those on low incomes in rural and metropolitan areas.

The full results of the poll can be found below.

As I mentioned in my message to you yesterday, the RACGP’s national television campaign will commence from this Sunday. There will also be radio, print and online ads.

The RACGP will be forthright, honest and outspoken when anything threatens the quality of care we are able to provide for our patients and our communities. In essence that is what this campaign is all about.

I ask you to support the campaign by downloading the materials for display in your practice and talking to your patients about what the freeze may mean for them.

You can view the television advertisements and campaign materials on the RACGP website.

Dr Frank R Jones
RACGP President


Standards update – summary of second consultation phase

The first draft of the RACGP Standards for general practices (5th edition) (the Standards) was released for consultation from 15 February 2016 until 1 April 2016. A small-scale pilot, involving 12 practices and five surveyors, also occurred during this time.

There were over 1500 downloads from the RACGP standards development webpage, resulting in feedback from over 80 stakeholders on more than 330 individual items.

The RACGP would like to thank those stakeholders who provided feedback as part of the second consultation phase. Your feedback has been considered by the RACGP Expert Committee – Standards for General Practices (REC–SGP) and has informed the development of the second draft of the 5th edition Standards. 

A summary of the feedback received from stakeholders and from the small-scale pilot can now be accessed on the RACGP website.  

The next consultation phase will release the second draft of the Standards on 6 June 2016. A large scale pilot of over 100 practices across Australia will also occur. This consultation phase will end on 30 September 2016.

Stakeholders are encouraged to review the second draft of the Standards and provide their feedback.


Handbook of Non-Drug Interventions award win

The Handbook of Non-Drug Interventions (HANDI) won the National MedicineWise Award for ‘Excellence in e-health resources’ at the ninth National Medicines Symposium in Canberra last week.

HANDI was developed by the RACGP as a freely available web-based tool designed to make effective non-drug treatments easy to find and use. Until HANDI, no formulary for non-drug interventions was available to GPs.

Since its launch in late 2013, HANDI has published 45 evidence-based non-drug interventions for a broad range of conditions and it continues to grow and evolve, with new interventions developed each year.

The award recognises the work done by the HANDI team, chaired by Prof Paul Glasziou, in developing an innovative online resource to support the provision of evidence-based non-drug interventions in general practice.

HANDI is available on the RACGP website


RACGP elections

Council election 2016

Nominations for the 2016 Council election close on Monday 30 May at 5.00 pm AEST.

The current terms for the positions of President, Censor-in-Chief and Registrar Representative conclude at the close of the RACGP annual general meeting (AGM) on 30 September 2016.

Nomination forms and eligibility requirements are now available on the RACGP website.

For more information, please contact Helen Gaskin, RACGP Executive Assistant, Office of the President and CEO on 03 8699 0321 or email elections@racgp.org.au.

Faculty elections 2016

Nominations for elected positions on the RACGP Faculty Boards are now open and close at 5.00 pm Friday 10 June 2016.

The RACGP Faculty Boards are the local representative advisory committees for continuing professional development, education, training, quality care, research and advocacy on behalf of general practice in their respective states, and play a critical role in achieving the objectives of the RACGP.

For further information please contact your local faculty or visit the RACGP website.


Clinical pearl

Simple strategies to reduce the pain and distress of childhood vaccination

Vaccine injections are the most common cause of iatrogenic pain in childhood and may contribute to vaccine hesitancy across the lifespan. Although there are many simple, evidence-based strategies available to reduce this, most are not routinely used.

Interventions to reduce vaccination pain in children include procedural, physical, process and psychological strategies. For example, for children of all ages, when more than one vaccine injection is scheduled for the same visit, injecting the most painful vaccine last decreases distress. Avoiding aspiration before intramuscular vaccine injections also presents strong evidence for reducing distress.

To learn more about pain management strategies for childhood immunisation in different age groups, visit the RACGP’s Handbook of non-drug interventions (HANDI).


In Practice poll results

Extension of Medical Benefits Schedule rebate freeze

On 3 May 2016, as part of the 2016–17 Federal Budget, the Federal Government announced an extension of the freeze on Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) patient rebates until 30 June 2020. Over the past three weeks, the RACGP has surveyed members on whether the extended freeze on MBS rebates will impact their billing policy.

A majority of respondents (61%) indicated that they will increase out of pockets and/or privately bill all patients under the extended rebate freeze. One third of those who indicated they would increase out of pockets and/or privately bill suggested that they would support concession card holders by capping yearly out-of-pocket fees.

Of the remaining respondents, 30% indicated they would maintain a mixed billing policy, while only 9% said they would continue to bulk bill all patients.

The RACGP thanks all poll respondents for their feedback. We will use this information in continued advocacy efforts for appropriate indexation of Medicare rebates.

The RACGP’s You’ve been targeted campaign includes further information for both GPs and patients on how they will be affected by the freeze, including fact sheets, posters and letters to send to local candidates.


In Practice poll

RACGP member forum subject poll

On Thursday 16 June, the RACGP will host a member forum in Melbourne to discuss and debate key issues affecting general practice now and into the future.

We are seeking your input on the issues you’d like to discuss with a panel of experts, focusing on health system policy and practice.

Please provide your response to advocacy@racgp.org.au. Further details on the member forum will be provided in upcoming In Practice messages.


Media enquiries

Journalists and media outlets seeking comment and information from the RACGP should contact:

John Ronan

Senior Media Advisor