GP fee site Cleanbill predicts 740 GP practices will switch to universal bulk-billing under upcoming Medicare changes, not the 3200 the Federal Government expects.

The government says tripled bulk-billing incentives for non-concessional patients and a 12.5% loading payment for universal bulk-billing will mean the number of bulk-billing practices grows from 1600 to 4800 by 2030.

However, Cleanbill, which pays contractors to act as new patients and ask GP practices for fees, predicts that 2081 GP practices will bulk-bill all patients after the 1 November changes, compared with 1341 currently.

The government would need to increase Medicare rebates by 20-30% to achieve its GP bulk-billing goal, according to a Cleanbill report published on Monday.