Practice Incentives Program General Practice Immunisation Incentive

1. Practice Incentives Program General Practice Immunisation Incentive

2. Practice Incentives Program (PIP) The PIP aims to encourage continuing improvements in general practice through financial incentives to support quality care, and improve access and health outcomes for patients.

3. PIP Eligibility Criteria Practices must: • Meet the RACGP definition of a ‘general practice’ • Be accredited or registered for accreditation against the RACGP Standards for General Practices • Have current public liability insurance • Ensure that all practice GPs have current professional indemnity cover

4. PIP Incentives Payments are currently made through the PIP: • to encourage use of electronic health systems • to ensure patients have access to after hours care from a doctor • to support rural practices • to encourage rural practices to provide procedural services • to support practices to employ practice nurses • to encourage practices to provide teaching sessions for medical students • for participating in educational activities to improve prescribing behaviour • to encourage cervical screening • to ensure best practice management of patients with asthma and diabetes • to encourage practices in rural and remote areas to act as a referral point for women experiencing domestic violence • to encourage GPs to provide increased and continuing services in Commonwealth funded residential aged care facilities (RACFs)

5. PIP eHealth Incentive Requirement 1 – Secure messaging • Secure messaging capability provided by an eligible supplier Requirement 2 – Public Key Infrastructure • Location/site certificate for the practice • Individual certificates for each GP Requirement 3 – electronic clinical resources • Provide GPs with access to range of electronic clinical resources

6. PIP After Hours Incentive • Tier 1 – the practice must have formal arrangements for their patients to have access to 24 hour care from a doctor • Tier 2 – the practice must qualify for Tier 1 and, on average, provide 15 hours of after hours cover per week for practice patients (10 hours for smaller practices) • Tier 3 – the practice GPs must provide practice patients with cover 24 hours a day, seven days a week

7. PIP Teaching Incentive • Aims to encourage practices to host undergraduate medical students in order to provide actual experience of general practice • Practices can access $100 for hosting a 3 hour session with an undergraduate medical student.

8. PIP Quality Prescribing Incentive • Aims to encourage practices to keep up to date with information on the quality use of medicines. • The practice must participate in three educational activities recognised by the National Prescribing Service (NPS) per full time GP per year, one of which must be a clinical audit. • The NPS must be notified by 30 April each year of the number of educational activities undertaken by practice GPs. • Educational activities include: • clinical audit • case studies using distance learning • educational practice visits

9. PIP rural loading • Provides support to practices in rural and remote areas • 15% to 50% loading is applied to total practice payments • Service Incentive Payments (SIPs) do not attract a rural loading

10. PIP Diabetes Incentive • 3 components: • Sign-on payment • one off payment to practices that join the incentive and agree to use a patient register and a recall andreminder system for patients with diabetes • Outcomes payment • for practices where at least 2% of practice patients are diagnosed with diabetes and the practice has completed a cycle of care for 20% or more of patients with diabetes • Service Incentive Payment (SIP) to GP • for each completed cycle of care for a patient with diabetes

11. PIP Asthma Incentive • 2 components: • Sign-on payment • one off payment to practices that join the incentive • Service Incentive Paymentto the GP • for each completed Asthma Cycle of Care

12. PIP Cervical Screening Incentive • 3 components: • Sign-on payment • for practices that join the incentive and agree to have their practice details provided to the state/territory cervical screening registers • Outcomes payment • practice must screen at least 50% of the practices’ female patients between the ages of 20 and 69 • Service Incentive Payment to the GP • for each cervical smear taken on a woman between 20 and 69 years who has not had a cervical smear in the last 4 years

13. PIP Practice Nurse Incentive • PIP Rural Practice Nurse Incentive • provides support to practices in rural and remote areas to employ a practice nurse and/or Aboriginal health worker. • PIP Urban Practice Nurse Incentive • provides support to practices in urban areas of workforce shortage to employ a practice nurse and/or allied health worker and/or Aboriginal health worker. • All Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care Services can access support to employ an Aboriginal health worker, regardless of location.

14. PIP Procedural GP Payment • Tier 1 - GP in a rural or remote practice must provide any service in the six month reference period that meets the definition of a procedural service • Tier 2 - GP must meet Tier 1 and provide after-hours procedural services on a regular or rostered basis (15 hours/week on average) throughout the six month reference period • Tier 3 - GP must meet Tier 2 and provide 25 or more eligible surgical/anaesthetic/obstetric services in the six month reference period • Tier 4 - GP must meet Tier 2 and deliver 10 or more babies in the six month reference period or meet the obstetric needs of the community

15. PIP Domestic Violence Incentive • Aims to encourage general practices in rural and remote areas to act as a referral point for women experiencing domestic violence. • Practices must ensure that an appropriately trained and qualified practice nurse or Aboriginal health worker is available for the minimum number of sessions per week.

16. PIP Domestic Violence Incentive Lifeline Australia Training • For more information go towww.lifeline.org.au > Learn more > Lifeline training and education > RTO training > DiVeRT—Domestic Violence Response Training or email Kathryn White at kathryn.white@lifeline.org.au or phone 0411 821 031 Eligibility for training support payments • For information about eligibility for support payments go to www.generalpracticenursing.com.au > Practice Nurses and Aboriginal Health Workers as Domestic Violence Referral Points Project > Information regarding support payments or call 02 6228 0800

17. PIP GP Aged Care Access Incentive • Two payment levels: • Tier 1 provides a payment of $1,000 when the first qualifying service level (QSL1) of 60 MBS services is reached in a financial year • Tier 2 provides a payment of $1,500 when the second qualifying service level (QSL2) of 140 MBS services is reached in a financial year • The maximum payment a GP can receive in one financial year is $2,500 • Only services claimed using a Provider Number linked to a PIP practice, will count towards the QSL

18. PIP Indigenous Health Incentive Aims to support general practices and Indigenous health services to provide better health care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients, including best practice management of chronic disease.

19. PIP Indigenous Health Incentive • Commences in May 2010 • Three components: • Sign-on Payment • Patient Registration Payment • Outcomes Payment

20. PIP Indigenous Health Incentive Sign-on payment: • One-off payment of $1000 to practices that agree to undertake specified activities to improve the provision of care to their Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander patients

21. PIP Indigenous Health Incentive Patient registration payment: • Payment of $250 to practices for each eligible patient registered with the practice for chronic disease management for a calendar year

22. PIP Indigenous Health Incentive Health Checks: • MBS Item 715 (from 1 May 2010) • Important first step in ensuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients receive the optimum level of health care by encouraging early detecting, diagnosis and intervention for common and treatable conditions

23. PIP Indigenous Health Incentive Outcomes payment: • Payments to practices for each registered patient for whom a target level of care is provided by the practice in a calendar year • Tier 1, payment of $100 per patient • Tier 2, payment of $150 per patient

24. PBS Co-payment Measure • The Government will subsidise the cost of PBS medicines for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander patients with, or at risk of, chronic disease. • Commences July 2010 • Eligible patients who would normally pay the full PBS co-payment will pay the concessional rate • Those who would normally pay the concessional rate will receive their PBS medicines without needing to pay a PBS co-payment.

25. General Practice Immunisation Incentive (GPII) Provides a financial incentive to practices to monitor, promote and provide appropriate immunisation services to children under the age of seven years.

26. PIP - Further Information Sources • PIP enquiry line 1800 222 032 • www.medicare.gov.au/provider/incentives/pip • Quarterly payments and statements from Medicare Australia • Quarterly PIP ‘News Update’

27. GPII - Further Information Sources • GPII enquiry line 1800 246 101 • www.medicare.gov.au/provider/incentives/gpii • Quarterly payments and statements from Medicare Australia