Practice Incentives Program (PIP)
- What's new in PIP
- Forms and guidelines
- Entry and eligibility
- Change practice details
- Payments and calculations
- Quarterly news update
- Statistics
What is the Practice Incentives Program (PIP)?
The Practice Incentives Program (PIP) is aimed at supporting general practice activities that encourage continuing improvements, quality care, enhance capacity, and improve access and health outcomes for patients.
Administered by the Australian Government Department of Human Services (Human Services) on behalf of the Department of Health and Ageing
(DoHA), PIP is part of a blended payment approach for general practice.
PIP Incentives
Currently PIP is made up of 11 incentives, and practices can apply for as many of the following incentives as they are eligible for.
Quality Prescribing Incentive (QPI)
The PIP Quality Prescribing Incentive (QPI) aims to encourage practices to keep up to date with information on the quality use of medicines. The PIP QPI rewards participation by practices in a range of activities recognised or provided by the National Prescribing Service (NPS).
The NPS aims to assist GPs to achieve more effective, quality prescribing through a range of education, support and prescribing information. The NPS is a professional organisation, run independently of the Australian Government with broad GP representation and leadership.
Go to the Quality Prescribing Incentive guidelines
Diabetes Incentive
The PIP Diabetes Incentive aims to encourage GPs to provide earlier diagnosis and effective management of people with established diabetes mellitus.
Go to the Diabetes Incentive guidelines
Cervical Screening Incentive
The PIP Cervical Screening Incentive aims to encourage GPs to screen under-screened women (i.e. women aged between 20 and 69 years who have not had a cervical smear in the last four years) for cervical cancer and to increase overall screening rates.
Go to the Cervical Screening Incentive guidelines
Asthma Incentive
The PIP Asthma Incentive aims to encourage GPs to better manage the clinical care of people with moderate to severe asthma.
Generally, patients must meet the following criteria to be assessed as having moderate to severe asthma:
- symptoms on most days OR
- use of preventative medication OR
- bronchodilator use at least three times per week OR
- hospital attendance or admission following an acute exacerbation of asthma.
Go to the Asthma Incentive guidelines
Indigenous Health Incentive
The 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.
This incentive is a key part of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) National Partnership Agreement on Closing the Gap: Tackling Indigenous Chronic Disease.
Go to the Indigenous Health Incentive guidelines
eHealth Incentive
Important note: from 1 February 2013, the PIP eHealth Incentive eligibility requirements will change. Four new requirements will be introduced, with a fifth requirement to be introduced from 1 May 2013. For more information go to What’s new in PIP.
The PIP eHealth Incentive aims to encourage practices to keep up to date with the latest developments in eHealth.
To be eligible to receive the eHealth incentive, until 31 January 2013, practices must:
- have a secure messaging capability provided by an eligible supplier listed with the National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA)
- have, or have applied for, a location/site Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) certificate for the practice and each practice branch
- make sure each practice GP has, or has applied for, an individual PKI certificate (excluding locums), and
- provide all GPs at the practice with access to the current editions of key electronic clinical resources as detailed in the eHealth Incentive Guidelines.
This incentive has been developed in consultation with the NEHTA, and aligns with the directions set out in the Australian Government’s National eHealth Strategy.
The PIP eHealth Incentive will encourage the adoption of new eHealth technology as it becomes available, to assist practices to improve administration processes and the quality of care provided to patients.
Go to the eHealth Incentive guidelines
After Hours Incentive
The PIP After Hours Incentive aims to encourage general practices to ensure their patients have access to quality after hours care from a GP.
The payments are intended to help resource a quality after hours service and compensate practices that make themselves available for longer hours, in recognition of the additional pressures this entails. This includes practices that have no choice but to provide all of their after hours cover themselves (such as rural practices).
For the purposes of the PIP, after hours refers to:
- any time outside 8.00am to 6.00pm weekdays
- any time outside 8.00am to 12 noon on Saturday
- all day on Sunday and public holidays.
Go to the After Hours Incentive guidelines
Teaching Payment
The PIP Teaching Payment aims to encourage general practices to provide teaching sessions to undergraduate and graduate medical students preparing for entry into the Australian Medical profession, to make sure the practitioners of tomorrow are appropriately trained and have actual experience of general practice.
Practice GPs are expected to engage in (more or less) normal consultations when the student is present. Payments are intended to compensate practices for the reduced number of consultations due to the presence of the student.
Go to the Teaching Payment guidelines
Rural Loading Incentive
Practices participating in the PIP with a main practice location situated outside capital cities and other major metropolitan centres are automatically paid a rural loading. The rural loading recognises the difficulties of providing care, often with little professional support, in rural and remote areas. The PIP rural loading is higher for practices in more remote areas, in recognition of the added difficulties of providing medical care.
Go to the Rural Loading Incentive guidelines
Procedural GP Payment
The Procedural GP Payment aims to encourage GPs in rural and remote areas to maintain local access to surgical, anaesthetic and obstetric services.
Go to the Procedural GP Payment guidelines
GP Aged Care Access Incentive
The PIP General Practitioner Aged Care Access Incentive (ACAI) aims to encourage GPs to provide increased and continuing services in Australian Government funded residential aged care facilities (RACFs).
Go to the GP Aged Care Access Incentive guidelines
Glossary
- AGPAL
- Australian General Practice Accreditation Ltd
- DVA
- Department of Veterans' Affairs
- FTE GP
- Full Time Equivalent General Practitioner
- GPA PLUS
- General Practice Accreditation Plus
- GPFG
- General Practice Financing Group
- GPSRG
- General Practice Strategy Review Group
- GPII
- General Practice Immunisation Incentives
- MBS
- Medicare Benefits Schedule
- NPS
- National Prescribing Service
- PIP
- Practice Incentives Program
- PNAHW
- Practice Nurse / Allied Health Worker/Aboriginal Health Worker
- QAS
- Quality Assurance Services
- QPI
- Quality Prescribing Initiative
- QSL
- Qualifying Service Levels
- RACFs
- Residential Aged Care Facilities
- RACGP
- Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
- RCTI
- Recipient Created Tax Invoice
- RRMA
- Rural, Remote & Metropolitan Area
- SWPE
- Standardised Whole Patient Equivalent
- WPE
- Whole Patient Equivalent
Last updated: 27 September, 2012