The state government said it will prioritise providers who promise 'a minimum of 20,000 bulk billed appointments per year’.
Tasmania’s state government has released an expression of interest for providers for five new, universally bulk billing GP clinics, even as bulk billing rates on the isle hold steady.
In the lead up to its July election earlier this year, both of the state’s major parties committed to opening the clinics.
The proposal originally came from Tasmanian Labor, which pledged $5 million for clinic fit-outs, $4 million per year in operating costs and $2 million in GP incentives.
The GPs themselves would have been hired as independent contractors by the state government but paid via Medicare.
When the Tasmanian Liberals – who ultimately won the election – adopted the proposal, they committed simply to support the opening of five new clinics.
The EOI for the clinics, which went live on the Tasmanian Government tender site this week, does not specify the amount of funding on the table.
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Instead, it advises that “funding may be for either capital or operating expenditure which contributes to the establishment or expansion of bulk billing”.
Priority, it said, will be given to submissions which “deliver a minimum of 20,000 bulk billed appointments per year”.
It comes as the latest Medicare statistics reveal that Tasmania has continued to close the gap in terms of GP non-referred bulk billing levels, having risen from second-lowest in the country at 68.5% in December 2023 to third-lowest at 72.4% at the end of September 2025.
It’s still a slight drop on the previous quarter, when GP non-referred bulk billing rates reached 75.3% in Tasmania, but forms part of a general upward trend.
Tenderers must agree to a three-year contract in order to secure operational funding and use a private business model.
The document also advises that it will be the legal responsibility of applicants to maintain compliance with section 19(2) of the Health Insurance Act 1973, which famously prohibits GPs from accepting any additional funding for a bulk billed service.
The EOI will close on 21 January 2026.
