The Lancet, Volume 373, Issue 9677, Page 1736, 23 May 2009

Nicola Roxon—Australia’s Minister for Health and Ageing—has taken some pioneering steps in announcing the country’s health budget. Midwives in Australia will, from 2010, be able to prescribe subsidised drugs and bill their services to Medicare, the nation’s health safety net. Nurse practitioners will also be granted further prescribing rights and Medicare access. These changes represent a big step towards reducing the now blurred boundaries between doctors and nurses. Diversifying the workforce and getting better value for money can only, argues Roxon, improve patient care. Other winners in the budget include rural health, with funding to attract doctors extended to 500 additional remote communities. Maximum retention bonuses for doctors in the most remote locations will be nearly doubled. And Indigenous health services will receive a AUD$200 million (US$151 million) boost, to help close the health inequity gap.