Written by chantellebrott 
Annual DWS update is due now, What to do ?
A district of workforce shortage (DWS) is a geographical area in which the local population has less access to Medicare-subsidised medical services when compared to the national average.If you are overseas trained doctor and within 10 year moratorium (10 year from the date of your first AHPRA registration), you can only work in District of Workforce Shortage (DWS) area for normal hours. If you are able to find after hours job in non-DWS area, you should be fine.
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.
You need to keep in mind that if you are talking to a practice for a possible job offer letter in DWS area, please request an offer letter as soon as possible. It is also advisable to communicate with the practice in writing (preferably via email or registered post). These proof of negotiation will be very useful for you if the practice loose its DWS status in this year’s update. For example, if you are negotiating with a practice in DWS now but do not have any proof of negotiation, you may not be able to get 19AB exemption if the practice is no longer in DWS tomorrow morning. On the contrary, if you have proof of negotiation with the practice (prior to practice loosing DWS status), it might be helpful for you to get 19AB exemption from Medicare/Department of Health at a later date.
DWS status is due now. It can be changed any second from now. Act quickly to not miss the opportunity.. It may be possible that DWS status is changed while you are reading this article. Check it now..
Below is the list of some of new GP jobs posted on our website that are falling within District of Workforce Shortage (DWS) location (*as of 24th August 2017)
[jobs_by_tag tag=”dws-jobs”]