In Medicare's 40th birthday year, the Australian Government is making an historic change that will finally support nurses and midwives with some of the highest qualifications to independently provide Medicare services.
From 1 November, nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives will be able to autonomously provide a range of Medicare services and prescribe certain Pharmaceutical Benefits Schedule (PBS) medications, in line with their skills, training and experience.
Review after review has shown that patients benefit from the high-quality care that endorsed midwives and nurse practitioners provide, particularly in rural and regional communities that struggle to attract and retain doctors, either full-time or long-term.
Since gaining access to provide Medicare services and prescribe PBS medicines in 2010, these health professionals have been legally required to have a "collaborative arrangement" with a medical practitioner, which were dependent on the availability and willingness of doctors to enter into them.
Legislation introduced by the Albanese Government and passed through the Parliament this year removes this legal requirement, bringing Australia more into line with comparable countries like the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
The Albanese Government is also introducing several new Medicare rebates and increasing other Medicare rebates, to better support nurses and midwives to provide the care Australians need.
Australia will soon benefit from another 1,850 nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives, through a $50 million scholarship program that provides financial support for nurses and midwives to undertake the postgraduate study required.
Quotes attributable to Minister Butler:
"Nearly 15 years on, we can now see that this requirement has become a glass ceiling holding back our highly educated and highly valued nurses and midwives."
"Since gaining access to Medicare in 2010, nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives were the only health professionals required by law to establish an arrangement with a doctor in order to provide Medicare services."
Quotes attributable to Assistant Minister Kearney:
"Review after review found that Australians were losing out. They were missing out on high quality and timely care, they were waiting longer for appointments and paying more in gap fees, because of this needless red tape.
"This is about supporting a workforce that is almost exclusively women, to empower them to become small business owners, to build their own practices and run their own clinics, so that more people get the care they need."
Quotes attributable to Annie Butler, Federal Secretary, Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation:
"The removal of collaborative arrangements represents a monumental shift in access to health care for all Australians. With these barriers removed, more Australians will benefit from quicker and easier access to essential healthcare services."
"This change empowers nurse practitioners and endorsed midwives to provide safe, high-quality care directly to people in the community, reducing the need for GP visits or long waits in overcrowded hospital emergency departments."
Quotes attributable to Helen White, CEO, Australian College of Midwives:
"The removal of collaborative arrangements will further enable endorsed midwives to work to their full scope of practice without this unnecessary barrier in place, the Australian College of Midwives thanks the Albanese Government for prioritising this change.
"Collaborative arrangements were a decade-long barrier for women to access Medicare rebates for midwifery continuity of care, removing this red tape is a win for women and for midwifery."
Quotes attributable to Leanne Boase, CEO, Australian College of Nurse Practitioners:
"This will enable more people to access funding and subsidies for their health care and improve the affordability of care provided by nurse practitioners."
"Nurse practitioners will continue to work in the same way from 1 November, delivering the same collaborative and person-centred care, however this will reduce the administrative burden for many, allowing them to focus more time on health care."
