President's update: Medicare Gap campaign launch, gambling reform, logjam, bird flu, and more

Happy Friday!  

It’s been quite a week. Seven days that perfectly encapsulated the broad array of what we do here at the AMA, and which also served as a perfect reminder of why our advocacy work is needed. 

From day-to-day, week-to-week, throughout the year, our advocacy efforts across a range of issues that impact our profession are ‘always on’. Occasionally, there are instances where we get to bring separate matters together to advocate and amplify an issue that touches many, if not all, aspects of our profession. 

The launch this week of our new Medicaregap.com.au campaign is one of those. 

It highlights the true drivers of out-of-pocket costs across our healthcare system, including general practice, specialist consults, surgery, and hospital care. It is designed to help patients understand how patchy Medicare funding is and provide them with greater insight into the growing costs they are likely experiencing. 

I encourage you to become familiar with the campaign resources and share them with your own patients and networks. 

On Monday, I participated in the ongoing inquiry into the Gambling Reform Bill. As doctors, we all see the health harms and associated stigma that gambling wreaks in our communities. 

Both in my inquiry appearance and resulting media interviews, I reminded the public that they can talk to their GP and flagged that there are resources like BetStop which are there to help us help them, but the biggest reminder I served was to our nation’s politicians — they’ve been sitting on this issue for way too long. They’ve had sensible reports and reforms and recommendations sitting on their desks for years and so we’re all sick and tired of having the same conversations in the absence of change. 

On the flip side, sometimes politicians chip in on healthcare when their contribution is ill-advised, unwelcome, and potentially dangerous & counter-productive. We’ve seen that in recent weeks in various parts of the country with politicians asking patients to avoid visiting emergency departments to help ease pressure. 

Simply put, that is unsafe health advice and only serves as a further reminder of poor planning. Winter comes every year — it shouldn’t be a surprise, and the hospital logjam needs proper attention and planning, not short-term bandaids or discouraging people from accessing care. Like many of you, I worry that the only people listening to these press conferences are those who really should be attending but often stay home awfully unwell because they think “I don’t want to be a burden and you all work so hard.” 

Speaking of ED and logjams, there was some great coverage in the press this week, via the AMA Vic team, about Urgent Care Centres (UCCs). These are seemingly a permanent feature of our health landscape but often struggle to articulate their value proposition.  

We hear time and time again that they are “easing pressure on emergency departments” – a fact strongly disputed by those of you on the ground who know the real logjam in ED is due to severely unwell people needing complex care. In some parts of the country, UCCs are a supportive adjunct to GP urgent or after-hours care, but current models are often poorly integrated and in some cases are picking away at an already threadbare workforce. We continue to highlight the challenges and work to improve the role of UCCs in our system. 

Media reporting this week also shows that the issue of bird flu is one that continues to grow in scale, albeit still at a fairly low level, on our shores. While no human cases have been recorded in Australia, it is possible, although human-to-human spread still remains very unlikely. The authorities’ current focus is on protecting wildlife and commercial poultry, and we remain in regular contact with public health advisors. 

Finally, if you haven’t registered for our national conference time is running out and there are only a handful of tickets left (I mean it…as in less than 20!). So, register now, and I hope to see you there.  

Have a great weekend!