Earlier this month hearings into the state government's rural health inquiry wrapped up after starting more than a year ago.

Throughout the duration of the hearings the committee has heard of a decline in services across Riverina hospitals, with staffing issues creating barriers to care and leaving volunteers to fill gaps in the system.

The committee has also heard of cancer patients in regional areas turning down treatment due to high costs and difficulties associated with travel and accomodation.

"The rural health crisis and community frustration expressed through the recent NSW parliamentary inquiry is now out in the open," Dr Mara said, as hearings wrapped up.

"It is now incumbent on politicians and bureaucrats to act."

Dr Mara, a rural doctor and VMO for almost 40 years in Gundagai and Tumut, said a first step to reforming the healthcare workforce is recognising the "true nature of the problem".

He argues that Australia has "almost more doctors per head of population than any developed country", but thousands of general practices must compete with each other - and hospitals - for doctors because "anyone can open a new medical practice, anywhere".

"This hypercompetition coupled with the way in which we engage our doctors [under services contracts] has created the perfect workforce storm, driving up the cost of doctors for general practices and increasingly the cost of locums for rural hospitals and remote health services," Dr Mara said.

He is proposing that a licensing system is implemented for private medical practices to ensure new owners demonstrate the skills and capacity to run their practice, and that it will not only meet minimal standards but that "there is a community need that the practice will meet".

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Dr Mara would also like to see a compulsory third year of training in a rural or remote area mandated for all graduates.

"This initiative would have an immediate impact with around 3,600 doctors each year spending time gaining valuable training and experience in a community based practice and providing workforce support and relief for hundreds of rural and remote communities," he said.

Dr Mara's ideas were put to the Minister for regional health Bronnie Taylor in Wagga last week, who said she is "really happy to discuss with people solutions".

"This is a long-standing issue that we have been heading towards and when we talk about doctors in rural areas, this is something that we are seeing Australia wide," Minister Taylor said.

"So we have to look at different models of care and we have to talk to communities about that, their expectation, what they see going forward will work for them, and I'm really keen to do that."

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