If you’re a GP working in Australia — or planning to move here from overseas — two acronyms will follow you through almost every conversation about where you can work and what you’ll be paid: DPA and MM. They sound similar, they’re often mentioned in the same breath, and they get mixed up constantly. But they measure two completely different things, and understanding the difference matters for your Medicare billing rights, your visa options, and your take-home pay.
Here’s what each one actually means.
Modified Monash Model (MMM): how remote is this place?
The Modified Monash Model is a geographical classification system that answers one question: how remote is this location?
It sorts every part of Australia into seven categories, from MM1 (major cities) through to MM7 (very remote):
- MM1 – Major cities
- MM2 – Regional centres
- MM3–MM5 – Large, medium and small rural towns
- MM6 – Remote communities
- MM7 – Very remote communities
The model is based on a mix of geographical remoteness and town population size, using Australian Bureau of Statistics categories. It’s reviewed roughly every five years, in line with the national Census, though individual locations can occasionally be reclassified between reviews.
MMM matters because a huge number of workforce incentives are pegged directly to it — rural bulk-billing incentive loadings, relocation grants, and various rural workforce programs all scale with how remote your MM category is. Broadly speaking, the higher the MM number, the greater the financial incentive attached to working there.
Distribution Priority Area (DPA): does this place actually need more GPs?
Distribution Priority Area status answers a different question: does this specific location have a shortage of GP services right now?
DPA replaced the old District of Workforce Shortage (DWS) system for GPs back in 2019 (DWS still applies to non-GP specialists). Rather than being a geography-only measure, DPA is calculated from real workforce and demand data across 824 distinct GP catchments nationally, using:
- Medicare-billed GP service levels in each catchment over the latest calendar year
- Community demographics — age, gender, and socio-economic indicators (SEIFA)
- How those figures compare to a benchmark level of GP service need
If a catchment’s GP service levels fall below that benchmark, it’s classified DPA. If it’s sitting at or above benchmark, it isn’t.
How the two systems overlap
This is where most of the confusion comes from, so it’s worth being precise:
- MM2 to MM7 locations are automatically classified DPA. If you’re outside a major city, you’re very likely in a DPA area by default.
- MM1 is split into inner-metropolitan and outer-metropolitan. Inner-metropolitan MM1 areas can never be DPA. Outer-metropolitan MM1 areas can be DPA if the data shows genuine GP undersupply — and a growing number are, particularly in fast-growing outer-suburban corridors of major cities.
- A location can be MM5 and non-DPA, and a location can be MM1 and DPA. The two classifications are calculated independently, so don’t assume one from the other. The only genuinely automatic rule is MM2–7 → DPA; everything else needs checking.
- The Northern Territory is treated as DPA by default, regardless of MM classification.
Why this actually matters: Section 19AB
The reason GPs pay such close attention to DPA status comes down to Section 19AB of the Health Insurance Act 1973.
Under 19AB, certain doctors are restricted in where they can access Medicare benefits — most importantly, International Medical Graduates (IMGs) and Foreign Graduates of Accredited Medical Schools (FGAMS). These doctors can generally only bill Medicare while working in a DPA-classified location. Australian-trained doctors with a bonded return-of-service obligation are also generally directed toward DPA locations to fulfil that obligation.
In practice, this means:
- An IMG can only access Medicare rebates for their patients if their practice sits inside a DPA catchment
- A practice outside a DPA area generally cannot recruit or bill for a 19AB-restricted doctor, even if they desperately need the workforce
- MM classification, on the other hand, determines what incentive payments and loadings apply on top of standard billing — it doesn’t govern Medicare access itself
So: MM tells you how remote somewhere is and what incentives attach to it. DPA tells you whether Medicare access is possible there at all for a restricted doctor.
