The Zoo scan

The business of general practice, daily

Thursday 6 August 2026

Three items. Fifty new Commonwealth supported medical places go to eight universities from 2028, and none to the school where more than half of graduates enter GP training. The Australian Digital Health Agency has set the dates by which a practice's software must meet new My Health Record standards, and under Share by Default a practice that cannot share conformantly cannot be paid. DVA pays 115 per cent of the MBS benefit, so an item 23 consult is worth $50.50 against Medicare's $45.05, and it pays for forms and clinical notes on top.

The herd · market and workforce
Two GP practices have opened in the past four weeks Confirmed
  • Appin, NSW, 3 GPs, Appin Healthcare Centre, a fully bulk-billing practice, opened July 2026. Practice website
  • Newcastle West, NSW, 6 GPs, Parry Street Family Practice, a purpose-built private-billing practice, opened July 2026. Practice website
GP practices on the market across four states Confirmed

New South Wales

  • Sydney, a fully equipped medical centre with long lease terms. $200,000. BusinessForSale
  • Penrith, an accredited medical centre. $75,000. BusinessForSale
  • Mid north coast, a DPA and MM5 practice in premises owned by the local health service, which covers rent, equipment and reception. Medical Business Brokers

Victoria

  • Melbourne's northern suburbs, a medical centre. $550,000. BusinessForSale
  • Melbourne's north-west, a long-standing GP practice. $500,000. BusinessForSale
  • Melbourne outer south-east, 5 GPs working 3.5 full-time equivalent, a bulk-billing practice coming to market. Medical Business Brokers

Queensland

  • A fully managed medical centre in an MMM2 and DPA location. $2,595,000. BusinessForSale
  • Hillcrest, a well-established GP practice with the property included. BusinessForSale
  • Bargara, a family medical centre. BusinessForSale

Western Australia

Fifty new medical places, none to the school that produces the most GPs Confirmed

Fifty Commonwealth supported medical places go to eight universities from 2028, with ANU and QUT taking ten each and six others five apiece. James Cook University, where 52 per cent of graduates enter GP training, received none. The government has announced 358 new places a year since 2022. Students starting in 2028 reach fellowship in the middle of the next decade, so an owner recruiting a GP over the next few years will pay close to what they pay today.

5 August 2026
The Medical Republic: More medical places, but is it enough?
Habitat · policy and regulatory watch
My Health Record conformance becomes a condition of being paid Confirmed

The Australian Digital Health Agency will make AU Core and AU CDI the baseline for any FHIR connection to My Health Record. It stops accepting new connections built on the legacy CDA standard at the end of 2028 and retires the existing ones by mid-2029. Under Share by Default a clinician who cannot share conformantly cannot be paid, so which software a practice runs, and whether its vendor is on the transition path, becomes a diligence line.

5 August 2026
Health Services Daily: ADHA to mandate national interoperability standards
A DVA consult pays $50.50 against Medicare's $45.05 Confirmed

The Department of Veterans' Affairs published its 1 July fee schedule late after problems applying the indexation, and has confirmed it paid every claim at the post-July rate whatever the provider invoiced. GPs are paid 115 per cent of the listed MBS benefit plus loadings, so item 23 is worth $50.50 against $45.05 for a Medicare card holder. DVA also pays $23.29 a page for medical forms and $41.61 to $225.06 for clinical notes.

5 August 2026
The Medical Republic: DVA rectifies rebate error
Fresh tracks · what we're watching

Private equity in clinician-owned and adjacent health services, the pool GP buyers come from.

  1. The 30/20 telephone rule. The AMA and the RACGP have asked the government to move the automatic Professional Services Review trigger from 30 phone consults on 20 days to 30 on 50, arguing that a level 3 fuel shortage would push patients onto the phone. An ask, not a change. Australian Doctor, 5 August 2026
  2. PH Medical Centres, Ryan Plaza and Medicine on Second. The one live Australian GP matter on the ACCC register, MN-15027, was notified on 3 July and stood at Phase 1 when the register was last read on 5 August. Its statutory determination period runs to 14 August, which is next Friday.
  3. Online prescribing and Share by Default. Rules requiring online prescribing information to be shared through My Health Record are expected by December, with medicines information, chronic condition management plans and specialist letters named as the items after that. Health Services Daily, 5 August 2026
  4. Partnered Health. The breach ran in this scan on 4 August. Bupa’s purchase still has foreign investment clearance outstanding and the matter has not appeared on the ACCC register.
  5. Healthscope. Management’s proposal to turn the hospital group into a not-for-profit would leave lenders waiting two years to be paid, against a rival offer from a consortium of the group’s landlords. The AFR expects the outcome this month.
  6. Qscan and Pacific Equity Partners. PEP holds exclusivity over Infratil’s 59.6 per cent stake in the medical imaging group in an auction reported at $900 million. Diagnostic imaging rather than general practice, and the same buyer is circling Healthscope.
  7. The Foreign Investment Review Board condition review. Treasury expects to open public consultation on ineffective conditions in August. The FIRB decisions page was checked this morning and nothing has been published.
  8. KKR and FYihealth. The waiver granted on 22 July required optometrists and management to roll a minimum of about 20 per cent of the acquirer’s equity, with the option to roll more. The rollover floor sets what a clinician owner keeps after a sale, which is why it is the term worth watching.
  9. National Dental Care. Crescent Capital has Morgan Stanley selling the group after more than a decade of ownership, reported on 18 June with nothing since. Any multiple that process discloses is a rare public comparable for a clinician-owned roll-up.

Talk to the people who track this market

Own a practice and thinking about your exit, this year or in three? Write to kate.marie@mediusglobal.com.au, in confidence.

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