More GPs leaving rural practices, but officials defend IMG rule changes

The effect of the rule change is "not a stampede, but an ongoing trickle", the RDAA says.
Peta Rutherford
Peta Rutherford.

Officials have revealed the number of doctors who abandoned rural practices after new workforce rules let more IMGs bill Medicare from regional cities.

In mid-2022 the government declared all regional centres — category 2 in the Modified Monash Model — would count as areas of need, allowing newly arrived IMG doctors to bill Medicare under the 10-year moratorium.