Thousands of IMGs working under the 10-year moratorium will be free to move to regional cities from today, following one of the Federal Government’s most controversial election pledges.

The RDAA says it is now bracing for doctor resignations in more remote parts of Australia.

Under the reform, all practices in regional centres — such as Ballarat, Cairns and Townsville — will be automatically given Distribution Priority Area (DPA) status, allowing IMGs and bonded medical graduates with return-of-service commitments to bill Medicare in these areas.

Previously only practices in MMM 3-7 areas were automatically approved, while city and regional centres were assessed based on a comparison of patient populations to the amount of Medicare-funded GP services in their catchment area.