GP and medical centres · Owner led · $1M to $20M
Fractional CFO for GP and medical centres
Business advice for GP practice owners on the numbers behind every booked room. We help you decide on the Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program, set service fees that keep good doctors, lift your medical practice profit margin and know what the practice is worth before you buy in or sell.
Who we work with
Owner led general practices and medical centres turning over $1M to $20M, from a mixed billing practice with a handful of doctors to a larger centre with nurses and allied health on site. Some owners are practising GPs who run the business between sessions; others are non clinical owners who rely on a practice manager for the day to day.
Either way, the owner carries the decisions on billing, service fees, rooms, staff and expansion, usually without a clear monthly view of what each one does to profit and cash. That view is what we provide.
We also work with dental practices and allied health practices, and the Healthcare Hub explains how practice economics differ.
The decisions we help with
Billing model and the bulk billing incentive
Whether to join the Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program, stay mixed billing or bulk bill selected patient groups. We model the choice on your own item mix, fees and patient numbers, for the practice and for each doctor, before anyone commits.
Service fees and doctor retention
What service fee covers your rooms, staff and systems, and what it does to each doctor’s take home pay. We set your fee against what the practice really costs to run, so a fee review is agreed with the doctors’ income in view.
Rooms and session utilisation
How many consulting room sessions are booked, how many sit empty and which hours earn least. Filling the right sessions often lifts profit more than adding another doctor.
Nurse and allied health revenue
Nurse led care and allied health in the building can add revenue and better care, or add cost. We show which services pay their way once nurse time, rooms and claiming are counted.
Buying in or selling
What the practice is worth, how a buyer will read your numbers and doctor arrangements, and whether an asking price is fair if you are buying a GP practice or a share of one. A medical practice valuation starts with clean, normalised earnings, and selling a medical practice goes better when that work is done early.
A second site
Whether a second location adds profit or spreads your doctors and management thin, and how to fund the fit out. We model the cash before you sign a lease.
Illustrative example · Six doctor mixed billing practice · Metropolitan
The bulk billing decision, modelled
A six doctor practice in a metropolitan suburb sees about 30,000 standard consultations a year. Seven in ten are already bulk billed and the rest pay a $100 fee. Doctors keep 65 per cent of their billings and pay the practice a 35 per cent service fee. The owner is weighing the Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program, which adds 12.5 per cent of the Medicare benefit on every eligible service, split evenly between the doctor and the practice, on condition that the practice bulk bills every eligible service for every patient.
Modelled on the standard consultation benefit of $45.05 and the $22.40 metropolitan bulk billing incentive that apply from 1 July 2026, switching today lowers the practice’s revenue by about $18,000 a year and its doctors’ income by about $106,000 between them. The incentive does not replace the private fees given up. The practice needs 2.3 per cent more consultations to stand still, and each doctor needs 7.6 per cent more, about two extra patients a day for a doctor seeing 24. The model gives the owner a test rather than an answer: switch only if the doctors can add those consultations without lengthening waits, and agree it with them first, because their income falls about three times as far as the practice’s in percentage terms.
2.3%
More consultations the practice needs to stand still
7.6%
More consultations each doctor needs
$106k
Doctor income at stake across the practice each year
$21k
Practice share of the incentive each quarter, paid in arrears
Run the same model for a practice already bulk billing 85 per cent of consultations at an $85 fee and it points the other way: practice revenue rises 7.7 per cent and doctor income 2.4 per cent. Neighbouring practices can reach opposite answers, and both can be right.
Illustrative example, modelled on standard consultations using public Medicare figures from 1 July 2026 and typical settings for a practice of this size. Not a client engagement. A full review uses your own item mix, fees, service fee and capacity.
Sources: MBS Online items 23 and 75870, fees from 1 July 2026; Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program page, program guidelines of 3 March 2026 and questions and answers of 7 April 2026. All checked 18 October 2026.
How an engagement runs
Every engagement starts with a diagnostic. In the first weeks we read your financial statements, billing and appointment reports, service fee agreements, rosters and payroll, and meet you and your practice manager. You get a clear view of what drives your profit, where cash sits and the three or four decisions that matter most this year.
The work then settles into a monthly rhythm: a short report on profit and cash, a rolling forecast and a meeting to decide what happens next. We work alongside your accountant, bookkeeper and practice manager and never replace them. Most of the work is virtual, with visits to the practice when they help, and the fractional CFO service page sets out the full scope.
Tools for GP practices
Bulk billing switch
What the incentive would mean for your practice and each doctor, on your own fees and volumes. Open the bulk billing switch.
Medical practice valuation
An indicative range for your practice, based on maintainable earnings after a market wage for every owner doctor. Open the medical practice valuation.
Practice budget template
A 12 month budget for your practice from a few plain questions, ready to download for Excel with its formulas. Open the practice budget template.
Also useful for practices:
- Indicative Valuation Range: a first view of what the practice could be worth before a sale or a buy in.
- Payroll to Revenue Benchmark: whether nurse, reception and management wages sit in a sensible range for your billings.
- Revenue per FTE Calculator: billings for each full time equivalent doctor and staff member.
- Debtor Days Diagnostic: how quickly private accounts and third party payers settle.
- Cash Runway Calculator and Buffer Check: how long cash would last if billings dipped or a doctor left.
Articles for GP practice owners
- The profit question behind every booked room
- The bulk billing incentive, one year on
- The payroll to revenue ratio most owners have never calculated
- Modelling the July wage increase before it lands
- How big a cash buffer the practice really needs
- The owner dependency discount buyers price in
- What your June 30 financials tell a future buyer
- Financing an acquisition without straining the business
Every article that mentions general practice is in the blog library’s general practice view.
Common questions
Do you replace our accountant?
No. Your accountant keeps the tax returns, BAS and year end accounts, and your bookkeeper and practice manager keep running the day to day. We add the forward looking work: forecasts, profit by service and by doctor, and the numbers behind decisions on billing, fees and growth. We share what we find with your accountant, so everyone works from the same figures.
What does it cost?
The fractional CFO partnership starts from $3,750 a month. Engagements usually stay at the starting price. Some need closer oversight or a deeper assessment, and the scope and fee rise to match. The pricing page explains how everything is sized, and Find your fit confirms your price from your practice’s details.
Do you work with practices outside Brisbane?
Yes. We work with practices across Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast, and further afield across Australia. Most of the monthly work happens over video calls and shared reports, with visits to the practice as each engagement needs, so distance changes little. The locations we serve page has the detail.
Can you help us decide on the bulk billing incentive?
Yes. We model the Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program on your own item mix, private fees, service fee and capacity, for the practice and for each doctor, and show how many extra consultations each would need to stand still. The program pays 12.5 per cent of the MBS benefit on eligible services, split evenly between doctor and practice, if every eligible service is bulk billed for every patient (health.gov.au/BBPIP, checked 18 October 2026).
What do you need from us to start?
Read only access to your accounting software, the last two years of financial statements, billing and appointment reports from your practice management system, and your service fee agreements. A first meeting with you and your practice manager covers how the practice runs. Nothing needs to change in your systems before we start.
Make your next billing decision with the numbers in front of you
A 45 minute discovery call is complimentary, and you will come away with at least one practical observation about your practice.