Leading through change: 2025 Rural Practice Managers Conference

The 2025 Rural Practice Managers Conference, hosted by Rural Doctors Network (RDN), took place on 26 and 27 November at Hilton Sydney, as part of Rural Health Pro’s Rural Health Month. The two-day conference this year brought together 95 practice managers and administrative staff.

With an overarching theme of ‘change’, the Conference provided insight through presentations and panel discussions by various expert speakers with backgrounds in practice management and administration, human resources, recruitment, and digital and social media and law – displaying the multifaceted aspects of operating a rural practice.

“We had an amazing two days at the Rural Practice Managers Conference,” said Lucinda Coble, RDN’s Practice Support Lead.

“For practice managers, there has been a huge amount of change in the space, especially in the last six months, with the bulk billing changes and Chronic Disease Management (CDM) changes, so we made sure we were able to discuss these changes over the two days, while also having some other fresh topics too.

“This year we had some breakout sessions, where we had a few additional speakers and gave the delegates the option to decide which discussion or presentation they would like to attend. The highlight of the event was Binowee Bayles, who did the Welcome to Country, and then did a fabulous presentation about Western medicine working side by side with Aboriginal traditional medicine.”

The upcoming changes in general practice administration, notably the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners' (RACGP) 6th Edition Standards of General Practice, Medicare bulk billing and CDM reforms, AI and social media use in healthcare, were key topics of the extensive two-day conference.

General Practice Business Development Lead, Fallon Gray, of the Royal Flying Doctor Service South Eastern Section, spoke on the upcoming 6th Edition Standards, where she explained three key areas of the new regulations; AI use and regulation, environmental sustainability and responsibility, and provision of clinical and medical guides. Reflecting on the upcoming changes, Fallon accentuated the importance of team inclusion, understanding the requirements and how they apply to practice policies and procedures, regularly embedding process change, and seeking help and support when needed.

The Conference provided an opportunity for delegates to hear from each other about their own experiences and offer new lenses into the various concepts of general practice.

Mahlia Peachey, Senior Practice Development Officer at Western Primary Health Network in Dubbo, spoke of this experience at the conference: “Something that’s great about conferences like this is that you’re able to get practice managers from a various range of practices; whether that’s solo, corporate or large practices, and bring them into a room to discuss issues that we are all facing and experiencing. RDN are able to provide and bring in service providers or organisations that can give advice to everyone, so then all practice managers are on the same page – it’s consistent information sharing which is really important for a state as large as New South Wales.

“It’s nice to make connections with other practice managers, because it’s always nice to share how these other practices are doing things. For example, my background is Aboriginal Health and the main part of that is multidisciplinary models, so it’s easy for me to discuss and to understand how it works and how it should look, but I think for a lot of other practice managers, it is something new, so this conference is an opportunity to plant the idea in their heads, and take that information back to their practice.” Mahlia said.

HR in Health’s Founder and Director George Sortiris conducted an interactive session on the management of transition change in general practice, and how to strengthen team morale during these changes. George explained, “the goal is for managers to feel equipped to lead change proactively, not reactively, and to create a smoother experience for both staff and patients.

“The energy was upbeat and positive, the speakers were knowledgeable and inspiring and the networking opportunities were invaluable. I’ve learned so much over the last two days, and I’m leaving Sydney feeling motivated and equipped to share all of my learnings with colleagues at my practice!” Reflects Kempsey practice manager, Louise Ahearn.

The 2025 Rural Practice Managers Conference was sponsored by the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing’s National Lung Cancer Screening Program, Avant Practice Solutions and Avant Law, RACGP, Your I.T. Desk and the NSW Government.

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