GP attendances

A decrease in the proportion of Australians who had a GP attendance

Over 22 million people (86% of Australians) had at least one Medicare-subsidised general practitioner attendance (a total of around 166 million attendances). This represents a relative decrease in the percentage of the population who had a GP attendance by 2.0% (down from 88% of Australians) in 2018–19 (Table 1).

Table 1: Use of Medicare-subsidised GP attendances, 2018–19 and 2022–23

Measure

2018–19

2022–23

Percentage of people(a)(b) who had a GP attendance

88%

86%

Number of GP attendances per 100 people(a)(b)

632 per 100 people

639 per 100 people

Total Medicare benefits paid for GP attendances per 100 people(a)(b)(c)(d)

$32,158 per 100 people

$33,384 per 100 people

Notes:

  1. The numerator is the number of people who had a GP attendance and the denominator is the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Estimated Resident Population (ERP).
  2. GP attendance includes PIP GP attendance items, From 31 October 2022 these items have been removed.
  3. Does not include government expenditure on bulk-billing incentives for non-referred attendances. See Technical notes for further details.
  4. Expenditure results are not adjusted for inflation.

Sources: AIHW analysis of Department of Health and Aged Care, Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) claims Data; ABS ERP.

GP attendances vary depending on where people live

The proportion of people who had a Medicare-subsidised GP attendance ranged from 72% to 94% across Primary Health Networks (PHN). There was greater variation in the proportion of people who received a Medicare-subsidised GP attendance in regional PHNs (72% to 89%) compared to metropolitan PHNs (81% to 94%) (Figure 1). On average, people in metropolitan PHN areas had higher Medicare-subsidised GP attendance (657 per 100 people) compared to those in regional PHN areas (606 per 100 people). This variation may be due to a range of factors, see Interpreting the data for more details.

Figure 1: Percentage of people who had a Medicare-subsidised GP attendance, by Primary Health Network (PHN) area, 2022–23(a)

Figure 1 shows that the proportion of people who attended a subsidised GP service ranged from 72% in Northern Territory to 94% in Nepean Blue Mountains.

Note:

(a) GP attendance includes PIP GP attendance items. From 31 October 2022 these items have been removed.

Chart: AIHW. Sources: AIHW analysis of Department of Health and Aged Care, MBS claims data; ABS ERP.

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