21 December 2018


Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook overview

The Federal Government released its 2018–19 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) on 17 December. The MYEFO provides an update on the economic and fiscal outlook from the previous Federal Budget.

The RACGP has reviewed the expense measures included in the 2018–19 MYEFO and has developed an overview of the new initiatives and changes to existing programs. The announcements for health expenditure in the 2018–19 MYEFO include a $512 million ‘strengthening primary care’ package, which includes $318 million specifically directed towards general practice.


Members are encouraged to read through the MYEFO overview to better understand some of the forthcoming changes to funding arrangements, health programs and initiatives.   

Visit the Federal Government Budget website for further information.

MBS Review General Practice report for consultation

The MBS Review Taskforce has released its Report from the General Practice and Primary Care Clinical Committee (the Report) for consultation.

The Report has 18 recommendations, including:

  • a move to a patient-centred primary care model supporting GP stewardship
  • a new general practice patient enrolment fee
  • support for flexible access, including non-face-to-face access
  • changes to chronic disease management items
  • a change to Level B item descriptors to set a minimum six-minute consultation length
  • the introduction of an Medicare Benefits Schedule item for consultations lasting 60 minutes or more
  • expansion of telehealth item descriptors to support access in general practice.

The RACGP is inviting you to provide feedback on the Report’s recommendations in order to inform its submission to the Taskforce.

The RACGP has commented on the report in the media this week.

If you have any general comments or questions about the Report, email advocacy@racgp.org.au


Notifiable Data Breach scheme: Fact sheet to support general practices

Health service providers have consistently featured in official reports as significant sources of data breach notifications, since the introduction of the Notifiable Data Breach (NDB) scheme in February 2018. 

A new RACGP resource, Notifiable Data Breach scheme fact sheet, is now available on the RACGP website.

The fact sheet supports general practices to appropriately assess and identify notifiable data breaches and understand the mandatory reporting requirements under the NDB scheme. Additional privacy and information security resources for general practice are also available on the RACGP website.


RACGP Christmas and New Year shut down details

The RACGP’s national office, as well as all state and territory faculties, will be closed for the Christmas and New Year period from close of business Friday 21 December, and will re-open on Monday 7 January 2019. We wish all of our members, colleagues, patients and their families a safe and happy festive period.

The RACGP member portal and online services such as shareGPrecruitGP and gplearning will still be available at this time. 


In Practice poll results – Essential infrastructure to support quality, safety and risk management in residential aged care facilities

The RACGP polled members on what they thought were essential infrastructure requirements to support and maintain high quality patient care in residential aged care facilities (RACFs).

The top three responses identified by members were:

  • Access to current patient health records (44%)
  • Access to a consulting room (22%)
  • Access to current patient medication charts (22%)

Thank you to all respondents for taking time to provide feedback, which will help to inform future work surrounding quality and safety for GPs working in RACFs.


Media enquiries

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

John Ronan

Senior Media Advisor