Australian Doctor

13/02/2026

Payments to doctors for veterans’ compensation claims have risen by 35%, while the pay for filling forms has risen even more, from $14.70 per page to $22.55 per page.

Payments to doctors for veterans' compensation claims have risen by 35%, while the pay for filling forms has risen even more, from $14.70 per page to

13/02/2026

A bill to let the Federal Government publish what individual specialists are charging for common services applies to GPs as well, Minister for Health and Ageing Mark Butler has revealed.

Mark Butler had flagged his plan to force other specialists onto the maligned Medical Costs Finder website last year.

12/02/2026

The Federal Government has paid out more than $61.4 million across 2949 GP practices for the first two months of its new Practice Incentives Program payment for universal bulk-billing.

12/02/2026

Black holes of information in the political debates on healthcare are common — one has been pharmacist prescribing.

Here for the first time, AusDoc speaks not only to a pharmacist now prescribing under Queensland’s program but also to the GP who trained and supervised her.

We speak in depth to a pharmacist who was accredited as a prescriber in late 2024.

12/02/2026

Infants raised in vegan households are more likely to be underweight in their first 60 days, but the difference mostly disappears by age two, research suggests.

Differences in growth outcomes such as length, weight and head circumference between vegan and omnivorous infants became clinically insignificant by age two.

11/02/2026

GPs who continue mixed billing risk bleeding patients to bulk-billing practices, the Minister for Health and Ageing says, as the GP bulk-billing rate bounces to 81.4%.

Health officials say 1269 GP practices gave up mixed billing for universal bulk-billing between October and January.

11/02/2026

GP registrars will be placed in bulk-billing practices as a priority under the new five-year $1.08 billion training contract the Federal Government has signed with the RACGP and ACRRM.

It is worth $751.3 million to the RACGP and $331.7 million to ACRRM.

11/02/2026

Only two of 41 randomised controlled trials of semaglutide, tirzepatide and liraglutide have examined dietary change during treatment, an Australian review has found.

Should researchers have paid more attention to diet sooner?

10/02/2026

ACRRM and the RACGP have now submitted applications to deliver a Rural Generalist Fellowship training program. The Australian Medical Council (AMC) will assess both concurrently.

Here’s what we know about what will happen next:

A review of MBS items for rural generalists is among the upcoming changes.

10/02/2026

An inquest into the Westfield stabbings has detailed the interactions Joel Cauchi had with multiple doctors after he left psychiatrist Dr Andrea Boros-Lavack’s care, none of whom were aware of signs his mental health was deteriorating.

It was 'regrettable' that Mr Cauchi's long-time GP did not conduct an urgent review, and most of the doctors he saw were hampered by inadequate information from his former psychiatrist, an inquest finds.

10/02/2026

Warnings on statins about the risks of renal failure, pancreatitis and depression are probably unnecessary and based on poor research, researchers write in The Lancet.

The findings are counter to widespread anti-statin sentiments among patients, doctors say,

09/02/2026

A major company’s four-month pause on melatonin shipments has exposed how Australian parents are unknowingly breaking the law by ordering the S4 medicine online without a prescription.

Risks around gummies, and overseas products that were far stronger than advertised, prompted iHerb to change tact.