HCCA has recently met with Ex-Service Organisations (ESOs), Totally and Permanently Incapacitated Veterans ACT (TPI ACT) and RSL Canberra to talk about access issues for Veterans who use Gold Cards and White Cards to access GPs, Specialists and other primary health care.
One of the key focus areas for advocacy reported by these organisations is that there are very few GPs in Canberra that will accept new DVA Gold/White Cards, and more frequently Veterans who have previously been able to use their Gold/White Card are have been told they are no longer accepted for payment. This is creating barriers for Veterans to access primary health services. Reasons cited for a drop in the use of DVA Gold and White Cards for payment include:
- Financial strain – DVA fees do not cover the cost of care, and there are no mechanisms for incentives or bundling like in the bulk billing system.
- Complexity of the paperwork, forms, and administrative processes taking a lot of time and effort that is not adequately funded.
- The payment system is complex and payments to GPs for services are not timely.
- Lack of awareness and understanding of the DVA systems and Veterans entitlements.
HCCA introduced the ESOs to Capital Health Network to jointly discuss this issue and as a result CHN put a survey out for Veterans in their ‘My Say’ hub to collect some first had information from Veterans. A summary of their findings is at the website Capital Health Network | April focus - Veterans' health
HCCA have also helped CHN to develop an education webinar for GPs about the different DVA funding options for Veterans under the ‘Coordinated Veterans Care’ Program. This will be presented by GPs from YourGP Denman who are subject matter experts. This has been a positive step forward in our advocacy efforts and we hope as a result of this collaboration more GPs will understand and utilise the DVA funding for Veterans. | 
