Bulk-billing rates for standard GP consults crash

Regional centres have taken the brunt of the shift, according to the Department of Health's figures.

16 May 2023

If you want to know why the Federal Government tripled bulk-billing incentives in last week’s budget, this could be it.

The bulk-billing rate for MBS item 23 has fallen from 84% in the first three months of 2022 to just 75% in the same period this year.

Overall, there were 2.3 million fewer bulk-billed standard consults even though the total number of standard consults rose by around 200,000.

Regional centres have taken the brunt of the shift, according to the figures from the federal Department of Health and Aged Care.

Slightly fewer than 69% of standard consults in these areas were bulk-billed to start this year, compared with 75% in metropolitan areas and 83% in the most remote areas.

Bulk-billing rates fell for the other main attendance items as well — from 95% to 89% for all level A consults, from 82% to 74% for level C consults and from 80% to 75% for level D consults.