Practice Incentives Program (PIP)
The Practice Incentives Program (PIP) replaced the Better Practice Program on 1 July 1998 following a series of recommendations made by the General Practice Strategy Review Group.
The program aims to recognise and provide financial incentives to general practices that provide comprehensive quality care and that are working towards meeting the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Standards for General Practices. Payments made through the program are in addition to other income earned by the general practitioners and the practice, such as patient payments and Medicare rebates. There are five broad elements to the payments:
- Information management
Practices receive incentives for providing data to the Australian Government, using electronic prescribing and for having a capacity to send and receive data electronically. - After hours care
PIP payments are available for ensuring patients of the practice have access to 24-hour care or where 24-hour care is provided within the practice. - Rural status
Rural loadings are payable depending on the geographical size of the region of the practice location and the remoteness of the practice. - Teaching
An incentive payment is available for general practices that host undergraduate students for teaching placements. - Targeted incentives - Quality Prescribing Initiative
The Quality Prescribing Initiative is intended to assist practices to remain current with information on the quality use of medicines.
Medicare Australia assesses all applications from general medical practices for participation in the program. The Department of Heath and Ageing
manages the program policy development, including eligibility criteria.
In line with the Practice Incentives Program Review Group recommendations, access to the PIP is available only to practices that are fully accredited or new practices that are registered for accreditation and must be fully accredited within 12 - months of joining.
What is the Practice Incentives Program?
The PIP aims to recognise general practices that provide comprehensive, quality care, and which are either accredited or working towards accreditation against the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners' (RACGP) Standards for General Practices.
The PIP is part of a blended payment approach for general practice. Payments made through the program are in addition to other income earned by the general practitioners and the practice, such as patient payments and Medicare rebates.
The PIP aims to compensate for the limitations of fee-for-service arrangements. Under these arrangements, practices that provide numerous quick consultations receive higher rewards than those that take the time to look after the ongoing health care needs of their patients. High throughput of patients is also associated with unnecessary prescribing, tests and referrals.
Payments focus on aspects of general practice that contribute to quality care. These include the use of IM/IT, provision of after hours care, student teaching and better prescribing. A rural loading is paid to practices in rural and remote locations.
PIP payments are mainly dependent on practice size, in terms of patients seen, rather than on the number of consultations performed. More information is provided in the Formula section of this site.
Practices may spend their payment as they wish, though the usual taxation rules apply (including GST).
The PIP grew out of the Better Practice Program in response to a series of recommendations made by the General Practice Strategy Review Group (GPSRG) that reported to the Government in March 1998.
The GPSRG recommended that PIP payments target specific aspects of general practice. The basis for the new PIP payment formula was developed in consultation with the General Practice Financing Group (GPFG). The GPFG is a negotiating body comprising the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Australian Medical Association, Rural Doctors Association of Australia, Australian Divisions of General Practice, and the Australian Government.
2001-02 Federal Budget
In the 2001 - 2002 Federal Budget, the Government announced five new incentives relating to diabetes, asthma, cervical screening, practice nurses and mental health. The new incentives were introduced from November 2001. Each incentive was developed in close consultation with the General Practice Memorandum of Understanding Group, other professional representatives, expert advisory groups and community and consumer groups. Practices that apply will have their ‘sign on’ payments made in the PIP payment run following notification. To be eligible for a service incentive payment or an outcomes payment for any of the incentives, a provider/practice must belong to a PIP practice that has registered for the relevant ‘sign on’ payment.
New incentives
MedicarePlus
In November 2003, the Australian Government announced a range of initiatives to protect and strengthen Medicare into the future, known as MedicarePlus.
Asthma Cycle of Care
The Asthma Cycle of Care replaces the Asthma 3+ Visit Plan and has been developed in direct response to ideas provided by respiratory physicians, general practitioners and consumers on how the Asthma 3+ Visit Plan could be improved.
The Asthma Cycle of Care is a tool for general practitioners (GPs) and people with moderate to severe asthma to work together to improve asthma management and quality of life through an ongoing cycle of best practice asthma management.
The Asthma Cycle of Care has been developed by respiratory physicians and general practitioners and is based on the latest knowledge about how to treat asthma most effectively.
Practice Nurse/Allied Health Worker Incentive
The Practice Nurse and Allied Health Worker initiative aims to build on the current PIP Practice Nurse incentive by providing additional practice nurses and allied health workers to work in PIP general practices. This initiative will allow for an additional 457 full time practice nurses and/or allied health workers by 2007 funded through PIP grants in areas of urban workforce shortage, as defined by the Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA).
This incentive has been designed in consultation with the nursing and general practice professions, including the General Practice Memorandum of Understanding Group (comprising the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, the Rural Doctors Association of Australia and the Australian Divisions of General Practice), the Royal College of Nursing Australia and the National aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations.
PIP payment for rural and remote procedural GPs
One of the new Medicare initiatives measures provides a Practice Incentives Program (PIP) payment for procedural general practitioners in rural and remote practices. This initiative acknowledges that GPs in rural and remote areas are often required to deliver a wide range of services such as obstetrics, surgery and anaesthetics which in urban areas are typically the province of a specific referral based specialty.
For a practice to be eligible for the PIP payment it must participate in the PIP, be located within the target area – Rural, Remote and Metropolitan Area classification (RRMAs) 3-7, and have at least one GP that provides one or more of the procedural services described in the definition of a procedural GP.
Procedural GP Documents
- Procedural GP Payment Guidelines [PDF, 152Kb]
- Procedural GP Payment Application Form [PDF, 145Kb]
- Procedural GP Payment Questions & Answers [PDF, 80Kb]
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
- IM/IT
- Information Management / Information Technology
- MBS
- Medicare Benefits Schedule
- NPS
- National Prescribing Service
- PIP
- Practice Incentives Program
- QAS
- Quality Assurance Services
- QPI
- Quality Prescribing Initiative
- 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
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Last updated: 28 May, 2008