The GP bulk-billing rate is continuing to rise, with the number of doctors taking up general practice also increasing.
More than a million extra trips to the doctor have been bulk-billed since November, with Australia's bulk-billing rate rising 3.4 per cent to 79 per cent in May, according to seven months of Medicare billing data.
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The increase is being realised across all states and territories, with GP clinics around the country making the shift back to bulk billing.
Health Minister Mark Butler said the structural issues leading to the decline of doctors choosing general practice couldn't be instantly fixed, but progress was being made.
"I'm glad that we've seen an increase of almost 20 per cent this year," he told reporters in Canberra.
"That's going to take some years to work through the system.
"This structural decline that we've seen for years now. It can't be turned around overnight but we are starting to see the green shoots of recovery."
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said emergency departments being used by people needing care had resulted in record demand and wait times.
"But the reality is, NSW hospitals are shouldering the burden of people holding off seeing a doctor while their conditions deteriorate to a point where they need to present to an emergency department," he said.
Medicare payments for doctors in major cities who bulk bill for a standard consult had increased by 34 per cent, while rural and regional doctors had received an extra 50 per cent, Mr Butler said.
The GP bulk-billing rate measures the proportion of all GP visits under Medicare that involve no patient payment.
States that historically have had lower bulk-billing rates have had the largest increases, with an 8.1 per cent rise in Tasmania, and a 5.5 per cent increase in the ACT.
NSW has the highest bulk-billing rate and is the only state to achieve more than 80 per cent, while the ACT has the lowest at 57 per cent.
The bulk-billing rate in all other states and the Northern Territory is in the 70s.
Families with children under 16, pensioners and other concession cardholders are finding it easier to see a bulk-billing doctor, the government said.
Together, these patients make up more than three out of five visits to a GP.
