Australian Doctors' Federation

25/11/2025

ADF supports the Australian Medical Professionals Society's call to halt the development of NHMRC treatment guidelines for minors with gender dysphoria and again urges political leaders to follow the Cass Review recommendations and ban irreversible medical and surgical gender treatments for children. Read our media release here:

The Australian Doctors’ Federation requests again that our Australian political leaders respond to the ongoing urgent child protection issues raised by the ...

31/10/2025

It's 1 November, the day the government's new GP Bulk Billing incentives come in. In our latest Let's Talk Medicine podcast, ADF Chair Dr Aniello Iannuzzi, Prof Karen Price, Prof Mukesh Haikerwal and Dr Max Mellenkopf discuss the challenges facing GPs in this new environment. Our panel raises concerns about quality of care, the impact of government control, data management and the need for respect, support and integration to maintain quality medical care for patients.

In Part 3 of our Let's Talk Medicine podcast series on the GP Crisis, ADF Chair Dr Aniello Iannuzzi talks with Prof Karen Price, Prof Mukesh Haikerwal ...

23/10/2025

What exactly will the impact be of the government's new Bulk Billing incentives for general practice? The ADF warns this is another step towards nationalisation. Read more here:

A significant alteration in the Medicare rules comes into effect on 1 November 2025 that will dramatically change general practice in Australia. What might ...

05/08/2025

Phage Therapy is an innovative treatment method that utilizes bacteriophages to combat antibiotic-resistant infections. In our latest podcast, ADF Chair Dr Aniello Iannuzzi talks with Professor Ruby Lin about the future potential of this groundbreaking therapy. Watch here:

This conversation explores the innovative field of phage therapy, a treatment method that utilizes bacteriophages to combat antibiotic-resistant infections. ...

10/07/2025

ADF highlights the crucial role of independent medical practitioners in the wake of recent behaviour by third party funders. Read more at https://ausdoctorsfederation.org.au/2025/07/10/the-australian-doctor/.

22/05/2025

1️⃣ 5️⃣ Lack of Medicare education

There is little to no Medicare education at medical school or during specialty training.

Given Medicare enjoys a monopoly status in Australian healthcare, it is incumbent on it to do more with respect to education.

22/05/2025

Recordings from the landmark Future of Youth Gender Medicine seminar held at NSW Parliament in March are now available on the National Association of Practising Psychiatrists' website.

Free webinar for psychiatrists wishing to understand the Future of Youth Gender Medicine

19/05/2025

As the nation went to the polls on May 3, over 200 health professionals were meeting in Sydney to discuss concerns about the health regulator AHPRA. Watch ADF Chair Dr Aniello Iannuzzi's brief summary of the issues here:

In this brief summary of the recent AMPS / ADF conference The Misdeeds of AHPRA, Dr Aniello Iannuzzi outlines the major areas of concern arising from the co ...

15/05/2025

1️⃣ 4️⃣ The Medicare book

Once upon a time, all doctors used to receive a book from Medicare every year, listing all the item numbers and relevant rules.

Sometimes a supplement would also be sent during the course of the year.

Not any longer!

As a result, doctors find it very hard to keep abreast of all the changes of an increasingly complex MBS

15/05/2025

1️⃣ 3️⃣ The 30/20 rule

This is the cousin of the 80/20 rule discussed yesterday; this time consultant physicians are included.

The exclusions are puzzling, as they appear to favour allied health practitioners over medical practitioners.

For a busy doctor to do 30 telehealth consultations in a day is not unreasonable.

08/05/2025

1️⃣ 2️⃣ The 80/20 rule

The 80/20 rule aims to address high volumes of rendered or initiated services by some but not all medical practitioners.

The rule is a blunt instrument that targets GPs. It does not fairly distinguish quality versus quantity.

Our chair wrote about this over a decade ago and nothing much has changed:
https://insightplus.mja.com.au/2013/6/aniello-iannuzzi-irresponsible-rule/

08/05/2025

1️⃣1️⃣ Established relationship requirements

To access Medicare rebates for telehealth, there must have been a face-to-face visit with a doctor in the practice in the last twelve months.

Whilst this appears fair, it disadvantages healthy patients who infrequently need a doctor.

Many exemptions are also defined, some of which are quite open ended such as BBCSRH consultations.

As a result of the open ended nature of exemptions, many businesses have opened up in direct competition to general practices.

An exemption that would be appropriate but is absent is geographical isolation: patients who live a great distance from doctors should have open access to telehealth.