Palliative Care Essential in Medicare Reforms
A new report from Palliative Care Australia (PCA) sets a clear pathway for the next round of reforms that support the GPs, nurses, and multidisciplinary teams working in primary care around the country.
The report, titled ‘The case for improved remuneration of palliative care in primary care’ shares insights from PCA’s 2024 National Palliative Care Workforce Survey, which included 129 respondents working in primary care settings.
The survey results paint a worrying picture of the how the current system remunerates palliative care in primary care:
“These findings echo what we hear every day and align with similar findings and insights from our partners in the sector,” says Camilla Rowland, Chief Executive Officer, PCA.
“Primary care has a significant role to play in meeting the growing demand for palliative as Australia’s population ages.
“The conversations and care that happens at this time of life are distinctly different and more complex to other kinds of care offered in primary care settings.
“GPs and nurses need to spend more time with patients and carers talking through a range of sensitive matters including prognosis and treatment, advance care planning, and care coordination.
“And what our survey tells us is that the current system, which is structured around how GPs bill for specific Medicare item numbers, and incentivises short appointments, doesn’t fully embrace palliative care.”
The new PCA report and its five recommendations to government, have been supported by nine other national health peak organisations as well as PCA’s member organisations – not to forget the 30,0000 signatories on the ‘Better access to palliative care’ petition.
All agree that a new approach is needed to better remunerate palliative care in primary care. If this does not occur, the burden of care will continue to fall on already stressed emergency departments and hospitals. This is precisely the situation we need to avoid, given the rising costs of healthcare and the strong preference of most Australians to be cared for at home.
PCA proposes five reforms to primary care funding to increase access to palliative care:
“It’s encouraging to see those who want to form government after the election are talking about empowering primary care through a stronger Medicare,” says Ms Rowland.
“A stronger Medicare lifts us all, but our health system needs to reward good palliative care if we are going to properly care for Australia’s ageing population.”
The recommendations contained in ‘The case for improved remuneration of palliative care in primary care’ have been broadly endorsed by the following organisations:
The full report can be viewed and