MEDIA RELEASE
Most GP Training Practices are Fair and Reasonable
The President of General Practice Registrars Australia (GPRA), Dr Melanie Smith today advised that recent national research shows most training practices are fair and reasonable when paying registrars their percentage of Medicare billings.
“The GPRA 2017 Benchmarking Survey has revealed that 10.6% of practices pay registrars their share of Medicare billings monthly, 40.6 % of practices pay registrars fortnightly and 8.9% pay weekly,” said Dr Smith.
“Unfortunately, 28% of practices force registrars to wait for three months to receive their share of the Medicare billings they have earned for their training practice,” she said. “That means they wait up to thirteen times as long as other registrars to receive their percentage of their billings.”
“Receiving a percentage of billings makes up for the low base rate of pay for GP registrars compared to hospital registrars and is a key part of a fair and reasonable employment situation. For many registrars, their share of their Medicare billings contributes a significant proportion of their remuneration. Withholding this payment for three months is not a fair and reasonable way for training practices to treat their GP registrar employees.”
“Typically, registrars receive 44.79% of billings. That means if this income is being withheld it can be a significant proportion of the money they need to pay for study resources, College examination fees and other training costs as well as day-to-day living expenses. This can be a significant source of stress, especially for GP registrars who have had to relocate to do their training placement.
“Over 60% of Australia’s general practices pay their registrars their share of the Medicare billings they have earned within a reasonable timeframe (i.e. at least monthly). It is disappointing that 28% impose an excessive delay in providing these earnings to their registrars.”
ENDS
An infographic summary of the research findings is available on the GPRA website.
Inquiries:
General Practice Registrars Australia
enquiries@gpra.org.au or 03 9629 8878