Slashing IMG bureaucracy ‘the only option’ to fix workforce crisis: corporates
This story has been updated with additional comments from AHPRA, see end.
IMGs are spending thousands of dollars meeting unnecessary bureaucratic requirements, such as face-to-face interviews with AHPRA conducted months before they begin practising, the major GP corporates claim.
Despite the workforce crisis, many IMGs have to wait up to 18 months before they can start treating patients as they go through the process of securing visas and Medicare provider numbers.
The Primary Care Business Council, the newly minted lobby group for corporate practices including IPN, ForHealth and Ochre Health, says the time frame could be slashed to around six months by trimming unnecessary bureaucracy while also making a move to Australia less expensive and more attractive to prospective doctors.
