Medicare policy changes to primary health care funding for Australia's indigenous Peoples 1996-2023: a scoping review.

Background: The Australian Government began implementing Medicare policies in the late 1990s aiming to improve Indigenous Peoples' access to the primary care. No aggregate central list of what policies have been implemented exists. The aim of this review was twofold: first to perform a scoping review to identify any literature mentioning a policy implemented between 1996 and 2023 regarding Indigenous Peoples' access to Medicare or the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme for primary care, and secondly to synthesise and describe any policies to enable learning from past successes and failures.

How can GPs drive software changes to improve healthcare for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders peoples?

Background: Changes to the software used in general practice could improve the collection of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status of all patients, and boost access to healthcare measures specifically for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples provided directly or indirectly by general practitioners (GPs).

Objective: Despite longstanding calls for improvements to general practice software to better support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, little change has been made. The aim of this article is to promote software improvements by identifying desirable software attributes and encouraging GPs to promote their adoption.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health assessments - barriers to improving uptake.

Background: This study investigated the reasons for low uptake of Medicare Benefits Schedule rebated health assessments for Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders in mainstream general practice in the Australian Capital Territory region.

Method: Surveys gauging attitudes to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health issues were completed by 145 general practitioners, practice and division staff, and semistructured interviews were conducted with 16 staff members from nine general practices.

Results: Survey responses indicated concerns about introducing routine identification processes for all patients.