Many practices want to employ an international medical graduate (IMG) but have never navigated the compliance that comes with it: supervision requirements, Medicare provider-number restrictions and AHPRA obligations. Get it wrong and a good hire becomes an expensive one. We act as your compliance partner from the first conversation to long after the doctor starts.
Before you commit to hiring, we audit your practice’s position: DPA status and MMM classification for your street address (checked on the Health Workforce Locator and dated), supervision capacity among your current doctors, and the obligations you would take on as an employer. You receive a clear written report, covering what works, what does not, and what to fix first, so the decision to hire is made with the facts in front of you.
An IMG cannot start without an approved principal supervisor, and not every senior GP qualifies or has capacity. We assess your existing doctors against the Board’s requirements, help arrange co-supervision where needed, and prepare the supervisor’s side of the paperwork so approval is not the bottleneck.
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Supervision plan renewals, level-change paperwork, progress reports and Medicare obligations: every date tracked, every document lodged on time, so nothing lapses while everyone is busy seeing patients. You receive plain-English reminders before anything is due, and we prepare the paperwork when it is.
If your practice has never employed an internationally trained doctor, the first time is the hardest. We walk your practice manager through the whole sequence, from position requirements, PESCI and supervision to provider numbers and start dates, and stay across it until your new doctor is seeing patients. The second hire is easy; we make the first one easy too.
We find doctors for practices, but only after the compliance questions are answered. Before any introduction we verify your street address against the current Distribution Priority Area and Modified Monash Model classifications on the Health Workforce Locator, record the date we checked, and assess each doctor’s section 19AB position against that location. You see only doctors you can legally engage. We do not promise timeframes: registration, exemptions and provider numbers are decided by Ahpra, the Medical Board of Australia and Services Australia, not by us.
Sources: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Distribution Priority Area, last verified 14 September 2026; Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Modified Monash Model, last verified 14 September 2026; Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, section 19AB, last verified 14 September 2026.
Tell us about the role. We verify your DPA and MMM status and the doctor’s 19AB position before we shortlist, so we never send you a doctor you cannot legally engage.
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The employment contract is signed. Then the practice discovers no eligible supervisor is available, and the start date slips indefinitely.
The doctor has arrived and cannot bill. Every week waiting on a 19AB exemption or provider number is revenue the practice never recovers.
A renewal or progress report slips past its date unnoticed, and a routine obligation becomes a compliance problem involving the Board.
Most accredited general practices can, provided three things line up: the practice location supports the doctor’s Medicare access (for a doctor subject to section 19AB, usually a Distribution Priority Area), an approved supervisor is available, and the doctor holds or can obtain the right AHPRA registration for the role. Our IMG-readiness audit checks all three in writing before you commit.
Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, section 19AB, last verified 14 September 2026.
A Distribution Priority Area (DPA) is a classification used by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing to identify GP catchments with lower access to GP services than a benchmark. Doctors subject to section 19AB generally need to work in a DPA location to access Medicare benefits during their moratorium. DPA applies to general practice; the older District of Workforce Shortage (DWS) classification still applies to non-GP specialists. DPA is assessed by GP catchment and reviewed annually, and it draws on the Modified Monash Model (MMM) remoteness classification.
Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Distribution Priority Area, last verified 14 September 2026.
A supervisor must be approved by the Medical Board of Australia, and every IMG holding limited or provisional registration must be supervised for as long as that registration lasts. The Board’s supervised practice guidelines set out who can supervise and at what level; in general practice this is commonly an experienced, vocationally registered GP with enough capacity at your practice for the level required. Not every senior doctor qualifies, which is why we assess supervision capacity before anything is signed.
Source: Medical Board of Australia, Supervision, last verified 14 September 2026.
Not necessarily. DPA is assessed by GP catchment, not by suburb. Areas classified MM 2 to MM 7 under the Modified Monash Model are automatically DPA, inner metropolitan MM 1 areas are not, and other MM 1 catchments are assessed against a billing benchmark each year, so some outer-metropolitan catchments qualify. We check both classifications for your exact street address as part of the readiness audit.
Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Distribution Priority Area, last verified 14 September 2026. Source: Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, Modified Monash Model, last verified 14 September 2026.
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Start with a readiness audit: a clear written picture of your practice’s position before you commit to anything.
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