The funding of general practice needs to be overhauled so GPs can stop worrying about Medicare rebates and focus on patients, the AMA says.

AMA president Dr Tony Bartone has called on the Federal Government to put more cash towards co-ordinated care payments to ease the “increasingly enormous pressure” on GPs.

“Current remuneration structures do not value GPs’ time or the significant complexity of their work,” Dr Bartone said in his National Press Club address in Canberra on Wednesday.

Fee-for-service was “working well” for most patients but had severe limitations for those with complex or chronic illnesses.