Fed: Doctors add 1pct to GDP - ABS

AAP General News (Australia)
12-18-2003
Fed: Doctors add 1pct to GDP - ABS

CANBERRA, Dec 18 AAP - Doctor businesses added more than one per cent to Australia's
economic growth, new figures showed.

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that medical practices
employed nearly 102,000 people in 2001/02, generating more than $10.3 billion income.

Although GP practices employed more people - 56,911 - they generated a smaller proportion
of total income, $4.4 billion, than specialists.

Specialist practices employed 45,046 people and generated $5.9 billion in income.

The ABS said GP practices had a pre-tax operating profit of $1.1 billion, which represented
an operating profit margin of 26.4 per cent, while specialist practices recorded a profit
of $1.6 billion, giving them a profit margin of 28.1 per cent.

"The lower profitability levels for GP practices can be partly explained by the higher
incidence of bulk-billing," the ABS said.

The Medicare rebate made up 51.7 per cent of all income for GPs and 23.8 per cent for
specialist practices.

The total industry value added (IVA) from all practices was $7.4 billion, contributing
1.1 per cent to Australia's gross domestic product, the ABS said.

AAP so/sb/cjh/jlw

KEYWORD: PRACTICES

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