Medicare Locals need overhaul: AMA Peter Dutton. Photo: Sean Davey The Australian Medical Association has called for an overhaul of Medicare Locals, the 61 organisations set up to plan and co-ordinate primary care. Health Minister Peter Dutton announced on Sunday that Australia's former Chief Medical Officer, John Horvath, would oversee a review and report by next March. The AMA's submission to the review said the performance of Medicare Locals had been "patchy" despite additional funding. They had not engaged enough with GPs and had duplicated some services. Mr Dutton said the government wanted to ensure that the $1.8 billion in funding allocated to the organisations was being used ""as productively as possible."" During the election campaign Tony Abbott declined to guarantee the government would not close any Medicare Locals, but later said the government would not close any.