President’s update: Assignment of benefit changes, workforce issues, pharmacy prescribing and more

Happy Friday!!

What a week! As I write this, I'm feeling the buzz from the announcement just made about our success in amending Assignment of Benefit (AoB) changes. These were set to really disrupt many practices — particularly in general practice but also in other specialities. Despite years of quiet consultation, releasing the final product in tranches with no notice was set to be unworkable and would leave some of our most vulnerable patients and practices at risk.

But thanks to very assertive and sustained advocacy, we got the department and government to hear your voices. 

Government has intervened and put in place a 12-month transition period with two key features:

• the option of verbal assignment of benefit for all bulk billed patients will continue to be available during the transition, in all settings
• enduring assignment of benefit will be brought forward to 1 July 2026 so that patients registered with MyMedicare, residents of aged care homes, and patients of ACCHOs and AMSs will be able to make these for GP bulk billed services.

You can read more about this on our website. We'll continue to advocate for a more sustainable assignment of benefit process that works for all patients and practices.

In more advocacy news, we joined other health organisations in signing a letter to health ministers and regulators cautioning that current proposals on pharmacy prescribing extend beyond the available evidence base and do not adequately address the complexity of undifferentiated clinical presentations. 

We know that scope creep outside of collaborative care models is a huge concern for so many of you, and the hundreds of responses to the survey we sent to members have helped inform our own submission to the Pharmacy Board. We will be continuing our advocacy efforts on this issue and will have more to say about our submission soon. 

This week we also continued our advocacy on workforce, highlighting the severe workforce shortages identified in a Department of Health, Disability and Ageing report. The recently released Whole of medical workforce compendium report reinforces the need for urgent action on workforce planning, which must include the establishment of an independent health workforce planning agency.  

Earlier this week our federal Public Health Committee met to discuss a wide range of issues. Illegal tobacco, health misinformation and food regulation wins were on the agenda, but the most striking discussion was on antimicrobial resistance (AMR). AMR is now linked to more than 5,000 deaths and $700 million in costs each year. Resistance rose 25 per cent in 2023–24, multidrug-resistant bacteria were found in more than 12 per cent of bloodstream infections in children, and only three of 27 new antibiotics developed since 2011 are available in Australia. Stronger action on both antibiotic stewardship and availability of new antibiotics (carefully governed of course) is clearly needed.

Today is the final meeting of the expert panel meeting for the Primary Care and Workforce Reviews. The meeting will be looking at the issue of wraparound care. We have long advocated to government on the importance of supporting this kind of care to the community, and throughout the process of these meetings have continued to press the importance of properly funding general practice to provide preventive care, multidisciplinary care, and that comprehensive care we know will best support our population now and into the future.

Finally, it’s Men’s Health Week. We’ve been highlighting the week through our social media channels, which is a good reminder to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok if you haven’t already! If you, or the men in your life don't already have a GP, this week is a great time to remind them to book in a check-up!