According to today’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook documents, the government will not be proceeding with the Frequent Hospital Users program.
The Commonwealth appears to have canned one of the three original promised MyMedicare incentives in Wednesday’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO), while also stepping in to save key rural programs.
When MyMedicare was first announced in 2023, it was meant to have three big patient-facing programs attached.
These were: rebates for long telehealth appointments, the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive and a wraparound primary care program for frequent hospital users.
The first two have been delivered, with a review of the GP aged care incentive now underway.
But, according to a progress report released by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing just last week, the primary care for frequent hospital users program had not left the planning phase as of mid-2025.
A summary of Strengthening Medicare policies from 2023 described the incentive-to-be as “designed … to support general practices through a blended funding model linked to MyMedicare to work in primary healthcare team”.
The latest development was buried deep within this year’s MYEFO papers.
“The Government will also achieve efficiencies of $179.1 million over four years from 2025–26 (and $47.8 million per year ongoing), including: $175.8 million over four years from 2025–26 (and $46.7 million per year ongoing) by not proceeding with the Frequent Hospital Users program with funding to be reinvested in new or expanded health services,” the papers read.
The Medical Republic has confirmed with federal health minister Mark Butler’s office that this is the same program which was slated to be part of MyMedicare.
“The Department of Health has undertaken extensive stakeholder consultation on the delivery of the Frequent Hospital Program first announced in Budget 2023-24, including with State and Territory Governments,” a government spokesperson said.
“From the consultation it was clear the model-of-care could not be designed to both support these patients and deliver on its intended purpose through MyMedicare.”
Other GP-related efficiency measures included ceasing outsourcing arrangements for the provision of independent advice on the distribution and allocation of training places under the AGPT, and consolidating the Murray-Darling Medical Schools Network and two rural health sub-programs into a single rural multidisciplinary training program.
The government will also achieve savings of $112 million in 2025–26 through reprioritising unspent funds from the Support at Home program thin markets grants to other aged care services, along with another $80 million over two years by reprioritising unspent funds in the Commonwealth Home Support program growth funding grant opportunity.
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The MYEFO also included $14.6 million over four years to implement legislation modernising bulk-billing assignment of benefit, as well as $9.3 million to “introduce patient end support MBS items for eligible Medicare providers who are providing in‑person support to a MyMedicare registered patient during a GP video consultation”.
There was also an extra $17 million to extend the Workforce Incentive Program Rural Advanced Skills Stream, which was due to sunset on 31 December after just two years of operation.
It’s not out of the woods yet, though; the $17 million will only sustain the incentive program for another 12 months.
Other rural GP programs to get funding extensions this MYEFO included a pre-fellowship program that supports non-vocationally registered doctors to work in general practice, rural WIP loadings and the Other Medical Practitioners program, which enables non-vocationally registered GPs to access higher MBS rebates when working in rural areas.
