GP & the Practice Incentives Program (PIP) : What do you need ?
The Practice Incentives Program (PIP) is an Australian government initiative aimed at supporting and improving the delivery of primary health care services in Australia. The program provides financial incentives to eligible general practices to encourage them to improve their services and engage in activities that benefit their patients and the broader community.
To be eligible for the Practice Incentives Program, your practice must:
● Be a general practice (as defined by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP))
● Be an open practice (as defined by the PIP)
● Be accredited as a general practice against the RACGP standards or registered for accreditation; and
● Maintain a minimum of $10 million in public liability insurance coverage; and
● Cover all general practitioners and nurse practitioners under professional indemnity insurance.
If your practice meets all of these requirements, you can apply for individual incentives. Each of these individual incentives has additional eligibility requirements.
What are the individual incentives available under the Practice Incentives Program?
The Practice Incentives Program offers a range of individual incentives, which are designed to support healthcare providers in delivering high-quality primary healthcare services to their patients. These incentives include:
● The Rural Loading Incentive, which provides additional payments to practices located in rural or remote areas to help offset the higher costs of providing services in these areas.
● The Procedural GP Payment ‘encourages GPs in rural and remote areas to maintain local access to surgical, anaesthetic and obstetric services’.[1]
● The Quality Improvement Incentive provides financial incentives to practices that take part in certain activities that improve outcomes for patients and assist with best-practice care.
● The eHealth Incentive (ePIP) which provides financial incentives to practices that use and keep up to date with certain eHealth technology.
● The After Hours Primary Care Service Incentive, which provides financial support to health care providers who offer after-hours primary care services to their patients.
● The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Incentive provides financial incentives to healthcare providers to improve health care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients.
● The Teaching Payment is for practices providing teaching sessions to medical students (undergraduate and graduate).
● General Practitioner Aged Care Access ‘encourages GPs to provide increased and continuing services in Australian Government funded residential aged care facilities’.[2]
How are the Practice Incentives Program payments made?
If your practice is successful in its PIP application, for as long as it remains eligible, practices will receive payments in February, May, August and November. This will be calculated based on the information you (as a practice) provide. Therefore, you must keep Services Australia in the loop if any practice arrangements change.
These payments must contribute to quality care, therefore, can be used to upgrade your facilities or equipment or increase pay for practitioners at your practice.
How can I apply for the Practice Incentives Program?
You can apply for the PIP online or manually. You can find more information about this application process and what information you may need to provide here.
You will need to manage incentives online and keep up to date with any changes here.
How is the PIP relevant to legal contracts for a medical practice?
In our experience, there are medical practices that incorporate PIP payments or a percentage of PIP payments into contracts with service providers or employees. There are different ways that practices can do this, and You Legal can provide legal advice or review or draft agreements for your medical practice that incorporate this. Feel free to reach out to the team at You Legal today: Contact Us.
This article was written for general information only. We recommend seeking further clarification on the Services Australia website and/or tailored advice should you wish to go down this path as a practice.