Nurse practitioners can do the same work as GPs and should be given access to the same Medicare items for care plans, urgent after-hours and health assessments, an MBS Review Taskforce committee has declared.

In a no-holds-barred expert report, the review’s nurse practitioner reference group calls for a “significant” boost to the rebates for existing nurse practitioner attendance items, declaring current restrictions on Medicare are limiting patients from choosing to see a nurse instead of a GP.

As part of the recommendations, the committee also suggests dismantling the Medicare requirement that nurse practitioners work in collaboration with a doctor when prescribing, arguing it is an “impediment to growth of the role”.

The mandatory requirement was introduced in 2010 when nurse practitioners were first given access to Medicare and the PBS.