General Practice

General practitioners play an integral role in promoting and facilitating advance care planning.

The long-term relationship between the general practitioner and the patient means ACP can begin early.

MBS items supporting ACP in general practice

Changes made to the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) Level E consultation items on 1 November 2023 mean that GPs and other medical practitioners are better able to support their patients with advance care planning.

For more information refer to the Statewide Office of Advance Care Planning’s document, When is advance care planning supported by Medicare? (PDF 150 kB)

Level E consultations

Level E consultations of 60 minutes or longer enable the time to support patients with their advance care planning and improve care outcomes.

For more information refer to Advance Care Planning Australia's Guidance on the use of Medicare Benefits Schedule Items.

Other resources

• Advance care planning in general practice (Advance Care Planning Australia)
• The Advance Project General Practice Training and Resources (The Advance Project)
• Position Statement, Quality End-of-Life Care – Part 1. Essential elements for quality, safety, and appropriate clinical care at end of life (Australia New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine)
• Prompts for End-of-Life Planning (PELP) Framework—guides proactive, quality end-of-life care across all care settings