The GP training places saga continues.
The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing has released further detail on how it expects the colleges to balance training quality, community needs and bulk billing, following widespread criticism of a new clause in its GP training contract.
As published in The Medical Republic last week, the grant opportunity documents for GP training between 2026 and 2030 went live earlier this month.
One significant departure from the previous training grant opportunity was a new clause stating that “placements in accredited bulk-billing medical practices (participating in the Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program) must be prioritised over placements in other medical practices”.
The guidelines also stated that Medicare Urgent Care Clinics should be prioritised as placement locations for the completion of advanced skills training.
The RACGP and ACRRM are the only two eligible applicants for the grant.
The Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program (BB PIP) will come in from November this year. Practices that bulk bill 100% of patients will receive an additional payment totalling 12.5% of their bulk billing income.
Questions were raised about how the colleges could simultaneously prioritise bulk billing practices while also delivering on other grant requirements related to placing registrars in specific geographic areas.
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Tasmania and Canberra, for example, have both historically struggled to attract a GP workforce and have historically had low bulk billing rates.
In a new addendum to the training grant’s Frequently Asked Questions document, published on Monday, the government has specifically addressed this point.
“The department will not require prioritisation of particular placement setting types at the expense of quality training outcomes or regional distribution that accounts for community need,” the new clarification reads.
“However, as outlined in the Grant Opportunity Guidelines, it would be expected that training providers would undertake best endeavours to prioritise training experiences in these settings where possible.
“For example, once training places have been allocated to regions based on community need, supervisory capacity, and regionality, where multiple suitable accredited training settings exist within a location, priority should be given to practices participating in the Bulk Billing Incentive Program and Medicare Urgent Care Clinics.”
The FAQ also addressed another new clause in the grant opportunity guideline, which asks the colleges to support all practices participating in the BBPIP scheme to become accredited training locations.
“These requirements have been included in the context of capacity building and future placement requirements to support the growth of the Australian General Practice Training Program – College-led Training program,” it said.
“Requirements for high quality training outcomes remain as outlined in the Grant Opportunity Guidelines, including that training placements meet quality standards.”
ACRRM and the RACGP have until 1 August to apply for the grant.
