While Government financially supports training of physicians and paediatricians through grants to the RACP, the cost of providing education and training by physicians and paediatricians for medical students, interns and GP registrars continues to be unrecognised.

The AACP is pursuing the introduction of new items for prolonged initial and review consultations for patients with complex and chronic diseases whose care demands complex coordination and management – this includes geriatric patients but there is also a strong case for paediatric patients.

The AACP is actively pursuing the permanent inclusion of all telehealth consultation items in the MBS – both video and telephone – to ensure equity of access to patients, particularly those without access to video facilities or reliable internet.

The AACP strongly supports maintenance of the existing Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) item structure for consultant physicians and paediatricians, without the introduction of an untested time-tiered structure, to assure ongoing access to medical services provided by consultant physicians and paediatricians.

The AACP is continuing to push for expanded access to the geriatric assessment items for those consultant physicians who provide the required geriatric assessment services, particularly in rural settings where there is very limited access to specialist geriatricians.

The AACP is striving to correct the anomaly whereby patients are not eligible for MBS reimbursement for allied health services following attendance for consultation or review under MBS Items 132 and 133 and where they have been referred direct to the allied health provider.