AMA VICDOC Spring 2023 - Magazine - Page 32
T H E P O L I CY D ES K
AMAV
ADV CACY
MEETING ROUNDUP –
DEPARTMENT, HEALTH
MINISTER, PAYROLL TAX
SUMMIT, HCW UNIONS,
VCAT, COLLEGES
-
AMA Victoria regularly
meets with a variety
of individuals and
organisations to advocate
for members. Over the last
several weeks, we have met
with the Secretary of the
Victorian Department of
Health, the Victorian Health
Minister, the Victorian
Opposition, the Australian
Nursing and Midwifery
Federation, the Victorian
Allied Health Professionals
Association, the Health and
Community Services Union,
the Victorian Civil and
Administrative Tribunal,
and specialty colleges,
amongst others.
With the Department
and Minister, we discussed
issues including workforce,
payroll tax, the GP Registrar
incentive payment, the
pharmacist prescribing pilot,
the doctor in training class
actions, Ahpra fees, elective
surgery announcements
32
AMA VI C TO RIA
and targets, improving
communication between
public hospitals and general
practice, and issues in
emergency departments
(especially the consistent
failure to meet 4-hour
targets statewide — with
this issue most pressing in
regional/rural hospitals).
With the Opposition,
we attended a payroll tax
summit, where we again
put forth our position
— that despite our GP
members strongly believing
in universal access to
healthcare, given the lack
of movement from the
Government on this issue,
we anticipate that, of those
practices that remain
viable, most will move to
private (not bulk) billing
for the majority of patient
services. We anticipate the
average out-of-pocket cost
for seeing a GP will increase
by at least $10, and that the
move to impose payroll tax
on GP income will be the
nail in the coffin for bulk
billing, with patients footing
the bill. At this summit,
we urged the Victorian
Click here if you have a
policy issue you would
like to discuss, or have
some feedback about
our priorities.
Government to exempt
medical practices from
payroll tax and commit
to ‘no retrospective
application of payroll tax
obligations’ for independent
GP contractors.
More on payroll tax:
Payroll tax update and
request for member
questions (amavic.com.
au); Victorian GPs threaten
to name, shame Daniel
Andrews on medical bees
in payroll tax dispute
(theage.com.au)
With healthcare worker
unions (the ANMF, VAHPA,
and HACSU) we discussed
the combined union position
regarding Special Leave
removal on 1 September,
and our shared interests
in ensuring mental health
reform provides safe
care provision.
With VCAT, we met to
express concerns regarding
what we understand to
be a common practice of
VCAT requesting medical
practitioners to complete a
form titled Medical Report
Template — Guardianship
List, while rejecting out of
