One third of GP practices have ditched universal bulk-billing since 2018, survey suggests
A GP fee comparison site has looked at historical data for 400 clinics
A survey of GP practices suggests around a third of those who where offering universal bulk-billing four years ago are now mixed-billing their patients.
The figures have been released by Cleanbill, a website that has collated and published GP fees since 2017, when it was originally called MindTheGap.
Back in 2018, its founder James Gillespie phoned 416 GP practices across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, finding that 191 (46%) had a universal bulk-billing policy.
Late last year, he hired contractors to call 4000 GP practices asking for their fees, without saying the information would be published online.
