For the first time, patients in Lameroo, Wallaroo and Ceduna can now visit their local hospital to access a range of bulk-billed primary health care services.
The federal government-funded initiative fills gaps in primary care provision in rural and remote SA by allowing Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) payments to be claimed for a range of services like bulk-billed GP consultations, appointments with allied health professionals and other nursing and midwifery services.
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States are generally not permitted to claim MBS funding for services delivered in their public hospitals, as the federal government already provides funding through its national public hospitals funding.
The newly eligible sites are Ceduna District Health Service, Mallee Medical Practice at Lameroo, and Northern Yorke Peninsula Health Service at Wallaroo.
Under the initiative, SA must reinvest at least 70 per-cent of the MBS funds in new services and improvements at approved eligible sites or outreach services.
Reinvestment of rebates into primary care services and providing incentives to doctors and other health professionals will attract them to live and work in the more remote parts of the state.
Rebates are reinvested according to local community needs and may include after hours and emergency primary care, locum support, mental health support services, allied health, nursing and midwifery support services, professional development, and new equipment to better deliver primary care. Reinvestment decisions are made using local governance arrangements.
In 2020-21, eligible sites collectively received approximately $16.2 million in additional revenue to improve access to primary care services in their communities.
A $3.7m targeted aged care allied health training site in Port Lincoln for the University of South Australia and $1.94m for Flinders University to provide more training opportunities in Murray Bridge, Berri, and other sites in the Riverland Mallee Coorong region have also been announced.
