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GP Recruitment in Australia Can Be a Challenging Process
Busy medical practices sometimes outsource the GP recruitment to recruitment agencies. It can be a lengthy and expensive process to outsource GP recruitment to a HR agency. GP recruitment process via recruitment agency can cost thousands of dollars and it might be difficult for a solo medical practice to allocate that kind of budget. How much does it cost to recruit a doctor will depends on the practice location, skills requirements and other factors. Practice manager need to have some background understanding of the process before engaging to a HR agency. Lack of prior knowledge and understanding of GP recruitment process can lead to poor outcome. Some practices choose to recruit a GP by themselves without involving the HR agencies. Some basic knowledge and understanding of medical board registration and Medicare provider number can help to recruit a GP without involving the GP recruitment agencies.
Posting GP jobs on a targeted GP vacancy website can be a first step towards recruiting a GP for your medical practice. Many websites charge couple of hundred dollars to post a one paragraph GP job advertisement. Some websites allow practices to post a GP job free of charge. Receiving CVs and inquiries from potential GPs will be the next step to follow. You might start receiving CVs from local or overseas trained GPs. In addition to checking the medical skills and background information (e.g. criminal background check, working with children check etc.. ), it is very important to know if the doctor will be able to get medical board registration and/or Medicare provider number for your practice.
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, SAPP, AMDS etc, please refer to Medicare and Department of Health website as they are the best sources to get up to date information.
It might be difficult to know which GPs will be able to get Medicare provider number of your practice and/or medical board registration. It is wise to refer to various clauses of Health Insurance Act, 1973 to decide GP’s eligibility to get provider for your practice location. Generally speaking, overseas trained doctors are restricted to work in District of Workforce Shortage (DWS) for the first 10 years of their medical board registration under section 19AB of the act. Similarly, some non-VR GPs who are permanent resident or citizen of Australia can only work in 3GA programs under section 19AA of the act. Detailed information about 19AB and 19AA of the Health Insurance Act can be obtained from Department of Health Website.
Once the eligibility for a GP to obtain medical board registration and Medicare provider number is confirmed, formal interview should be conducted to check the skills and documents for the doctor. Salary negotiation and employment contract should follow at the end to finish the recruitment process. Complete process of GP recruitment starting from posting GP jobs to a recruitment can take up to two to six months.