The Strengthening Medicare: General Practice Grants Program (the Program) was introduced in 2023 as part of a commitment to support primary care and implement Medicare reforms over the next five years.

The program provided practices and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) access to $220 million in grants from 2023 to 2024 to make improvements to expand patient access and support safe, quality primary care. The grants were available to invest in one or more of three defined investment streams: digital capability uplift, infection prevention and control and accreditation.

The report describes the independent evaluation findings of the grants program and the six lessons learnt to improve and enhance program design and implementation processes in future.

Key findings

• The program was successfully implemented at a national level.
• It was valued by grant recipients.
• The program was effective in enabling early outcomes – supporting practices and ACCHOs to improve and expand access to high-quality, safe primary care. 

The accompanying report provided in Appendix D outlines the activities undertaken by the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) as part of the funding agreement. NACCHO worked closely with the Department of Health and Aged Care to co-design how the program would be rolled out to ACCHOs. ACCHOs also welcomed the grants to invest in innovation, training, equipment, and minor capital works to improve patient access and provide safe and more accessible quality primary health for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.