A district of workforce shortage (DWS) is an Statistical Area (SA2) in which the local population has less access to Medicare-subsidised medical services when compared to the national average. District of Workforce Shortage (DWS) areas are identified using the latest Medicare billing statistics and the latest residential population as per the ABS.  Section 19AB of the Health Insurance Act restricts  access to Medicare benefits and requires overseas trained doctors (OTDs) and foreign graduates of accredited medical schools (FGAMS) to work in a district of workforce shortage (DWS) for 10 years from their first Australian medical registration.

You can check the DWS status for any address in Australia by visiting Doctor Connect Website. CLICK HERE to check the DWS status of a particular location in Australia..

Please put the exact address in the search bar and select the ‘Districts of Workforce Shortage Layer’ (second layer). Click ‘Search’ to get the details of DWS status for that location.

Warning: Please note that there are many recent changes to Medicare provider number legislations including introducing new 3GA programs and cessation of few 3GA programs. Please consider the information on this page for general purpose only. For any up to date information about 19AB, DWS, 19AA, 3GA, RLRP,MDRAP, PEP, AMDS etc, please refer to Medicare and Department of Health website as they are the best sources to get up to date information.

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Tags: 19ab exemption, 19ab restriction, dws, medicare provider number, medicare provider number eligibility