17 June 2025
The Grattan Institute Report highlights the complex challenges Australia faces in ensuring timely access to specialist care, and the need for long-term thinking and collaborative solutions.
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) President, Professor Jennifer Martin says there must be a holistic, systemic approach to reforming the health system.
“We need to treat the cause of high costs where we see them, not just the symptoms,” Professor Martin said.
“Fee transparency is important, but where and why out of pocket costs can be high is a complex issue.
“We have to address the interconnecting issues that impact specialist costs – particularly improving workforce planning and public clinic access to make sure there are more specialists available to everyone, no matter their post code.
“The high costs are a symptom of an unhealthy system that needs greater investment in specialist care.
“We welcome the report’s recommendation to train the specialists Australia needs – we couldn’t agree more. This helps ensure we have the specialists we need across public and private healthcare.
“The RACP supports investment in public and bulk-billed specialist clinics for under-represented specialties to ease hospital pressures. We are also a strong supporter of collaborative care models with GPs and other health professionals to ensure support for primary care and timely access to specialist advice.
“The Grattan report rightly points out that people in rural communities disproportionately miss out on the healthcare they need, and we strongly support the need to invest in solutions that drive health equity. The RACP has a strong focus on improving access to specialist care in the bush.
“The recommendation to invest an extra $9m a year to develop flexible training models is absolutely a step in the right direction. The RACP is already seeking to use grant funding to develop networked training models in rural areas.
“We need to increase the number of rurally-based medical students and junior doctors, which means funding rural specialist training pathways to attract new talent and improve retention.
“We also support a national health workforce planning body to identify and co-ordinate health workforce and healthcare reform and to create a real-time physician workforce data system.
“We know one of the factors impacting healthcare costs is that Medicare rebates have not been keeping up with inflation and do not reflect the complexities and real costs of providing care – and that needs to be addressed.
“We have always advocated for investment in preventive care to ease the strain on the healthcare system, and ensuring Australians have access to timely and affordable care is absolutely critical to alleviating that pressure.
“There is no one silver bullet – we have to address the underlying issues of our health system and workforce to begin to see cost relief.
“The Grattan report shines a light to what many of us see in our day-to-day practice: we need more support to train and retain specialists so all Australians can access the healthcare they need,” says Professor Martin.