Background

Corporatised general practice has been around for up to 20 years but until recently, the marketplace has remained fairly static. During this period corporatisation was characterised by a slowly increasing level of medical centre ownership by corporations, individuals and doctors with and without a clinical practice.

During the last 12-18 months a sudden upsurge in general practice corporatisation activity has occurred. This reflects a culmination of an evolution of 20 years of government policy through regulation that has allowed GP rebates to increasingly decline against the cost of living rises and which has seen doctors lose ownership and control of their practices. The key AMA's concerns in relation to corporatisation can be summarised as the:

• potential loss of capacity of GPs ability to maintain clinical independence; potential for corporate priorities to influence the ethical standards of doctors;
• potential for corporate interests to influence the volume and direction of referrals; tension between the role of the profession (meeting the needs of patients) and the objectives of the corporation (meeting the needs of shareholders) and the implications for professional control of quality and standards.