The Recruitment & Retention of General Practitioners in Australia

This is a CORE BLOG and you can refer to related blogs in the FAQs at the bottom.

Need help understanding your pathway?

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Date Updated: 2026-07-02

How do you recruit a Doctor into your practice?

Before recruiting a Doctor, it is important to know what are the common restrictions in General Practice and what type of Doctors you can get into your clinic.

What are the restrictions?

There are 3 common restrictions within General Practice. These are 19AB, 19AA, and Area of Need:

• 19AB restricts International Medical Graduates and requires them to work in a Distribution Priority Area for a moratorium of 10 years in order to access Medicare Benefits. 
• 19AA restricts Australian Citizens and Permanent Residents who are not Fellowed and requires them to join a 3GA training program whilst preparing for Fellowship in order to be able to access Medicare. 
• Area of Need Certificates are required for General Practices employing a General Practitioner seeking Limited Registration (Area of Need). An Area of Need Certificate is based on the need for doctors in the area.

As a practice manager, you should also check if a GP has current AHPRA registration, whether they’re a Specialist in Australia, where they did their degree and their residency. This will tell you their restrictions. Here are some examples:

• A GP with General AHPRA registration does not require supervision.
• A Doctor who is not an Australian resident may require visa sponsorship.
• A Specialist won’t be required to participate in a training program.

What General Practitioner can you have in your practice?

We made a list on which Doctors you can have in your practice, depending on your DPA and MMM Classification. Please note that, in the list below, VR Doctors refer to those who hold Specialist AHPRA Registration while Non-VR Doctors do not hold Specialist AHPRA Registration.

*Note: Doctors that must be in a DPA include IMGs in GP Training, PFP participants, and RACGP PEP Specialist Pathway participants (except those from New Zealand).

MM 1 Non DPA

• Unrestricted Doctor (bills A1 Rates)
• Expedited Pathway Doctor with NZ MBBS (bills A1 Rates)
• *VR Doctor who has a 19AB Exemption (bills A1 Rates)
• *Non VR Doctor who is on a visa and has a 19AB exemption (bills A2 Rates):
  • Non VR Doctors cannot pursue Fellowship in a MM1 location unless they are either on a rural pathway exemption participating in AGPT, or gaining experience prior to Fellowship on PFP.
  • Non VR Doctors should leave the clinic if they start Fellowship training and/or gain permanent residency.

*Must be in a DPA: IMGs in GP Training, PFP participants, and RACGP PEP Specialist Pathway participants (except those from NZ).

*DPA Exemptions include: 

• Spousal 
• Academic
• After Hours
• Locum
• Replacement

MM 1 DPA

• Expedited Pathway (bills A1 Rates)
• VR Doctor (bills A1 Rates)
• NZ Doctor (bills A1 Rates)
• Non VR Doctor (bills A2 Rates):
  • Non VR Doctors cannot pursue Fellowship in a MM1 location unless they are either on a rural pathway exemption participating in AGPT, or gaining experience prior to Fellowship on PFP.
  • Non VR Doctors should leave the clinic if they start Fellowship training and/or gain permanent residency.

You can offer sponsorship for GPs that have a temporary resident visa.

MM 2 – 7 Non DPA

• Unrestricted Doctors
• VR Doctors who have 19AB Exemptions
• Non VR Doctors who are unrestricted by 19AB 

Note: Current guidelines have assigned DPA to all MMM 2 – 7 locations.

MM 2 – 7 DPA

• VR Doctor (bills A1 Rates)
• NZ Doctor (bills A7 Rates if Non VR)
• Non VR Doctor (bills A7 Rates):
  • Non VR Doctors will move to A1 rates once they’re on a GP Fellowship Training Program. 

You can hire many types of Doctors in a DPA rural area. These Doctors are similar with the ones in the DPA metro location, but they only differ in the rates they bill.

Find out if your practice is a DPA location or not at the Health Workforce Locator here.

How do you retain a Doctor in your practice?

A few of the important things to GPs in our experience are income and support. To encourage your GPs to stick around long term, promote work-life balance, support them in their billings, and ensure you’re giving them the training and back up services (such as nursing or admin support) that they need.

Here are some tips from interviewing GPs to retaining them in your practice:

1. Ensure they’re the right fit:
   • Make sure your culture, values, and team dynamics match theirs. A happy team is a tight-knit one!
   • Offer competitive perks and benefits tailored to their experience and qualifications, like supporting them with supervision guidance.
   • Highlight opportunities for professional growth and skill enhancement. Doctors appreciate practices that invest in their learning and development!
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2. Support their work:
   • Having a chat with them on a regular basis will keep the communication channels open and share areas of concern (from both sides!)
   • Invest in technology systems or hire a staff to help GPs with billing. If not, provide training and resources to help doctors understand billing procedures, coding requirements, and documentation standards. Let them focus on their patients, not paperwork!
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3. Keeping your awesome GPs happy:
   • Encourage balance and self-care by offering flexible scheduling, reasonable work hours, and adequate time off. Happy docs make happy patients!
   • Celebrate their wins. Who doesn’t love a round of applause? Acknowledge your doctors’ contributions and achievements through awards, incentives or even verbal recognition—it goes a long way.

We Can Help You

Here at People Medical Consulting, we have a passion for guiding medical practitioners through their career pathways to Australia. We have extensive experience in assisting medical facilities in recruiting doctors from local and overseas who will best suit their requirements.

We provide Document Assistance for those requiring support for their PESCI with IME, ACRRM or RACGP, registration and all other mandatory AHPRA requirements, fellowship program related forms and letters, application for Medicare provider and prescriber numbers, application for 19AB or 19AA exemptions and preparation of employment documents.

If you want to talk to someone about your pathway or practice management—book a consultation with us below, or if you need Recruitment or Document Assistance, contact us at help@peoplemedical.com.au or click the buttons below. We’d be glad to help you!

FAQs