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The Health of General Practice

AMA Vice President, Professor Geoffrey Dobb, in a recent Australian Medicine article, discusses in detail the benefits and pitfalls of current funding arrangements for general practice. 

He highlights the ongoing efficiencies that general practice has achieved, pointing to the Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services 2014 that shows real expenditure in general practice has hardly changed in the last five years. He also reminds us that general practice consumes only five per cent of total health spending but provides the vast majority of consultations and chronic disease management services. 

Professor Dobb looks at the business imperatives of running a practice, the implications of the patient rebate, and the possible role of private health insurance. He highlighted that GPs need to be better supported when providing longer consultations and managing complex and chronic disease.

Read Professor Dobb’s article.

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