Specialist Medical Services in Australia - Industry Market Research Report

Good diagnosis: Greater demand for industry services has aided revenue growth

Australia's ageing population and a rising incidence of chronic disease are driving demand for the Specialist Medical Services industry. Greater demand, along with moderate growth in fees, has boosted industry revenue growth over the past five years. The Federal Government supports qualified specialists through Medicare, which funds a schedule fee that covers part or all of a specialist service. Medicare also provides safety nets to ensure that the annual accumulation of gap payments does not place an excessive financial burden on patients. Medicare rebates per service have been boosted by higher schedule fees, but constrained by the Federal Government's Medicare indexation freezes which took place between 2013-14 and 2019-2020. Overall, benefits paid per service have increased over the past five years, but have lagged behind costs leading to falling profit margins. Industry revenue is expected to rise at an annualised 2.0% over the five years through 2023-24, to total $15.5 billion. Revenue is anticipated to grow by 1.8% in the current year.

The industry includes registered medical practitioners (including medical clinics or group practices) that provide specialist medical services (other than pathology and diagnostic imaging specialities) as a private company, or for government agencies or non-profit organisations.

This report covers the scope, size, disposition and growth of the industry including the key sensitivities and success factors. Also included are five year industry forecasts, growth rates and an analysis of the industry key players and their market shares.