Practice Incentives Program (PIP) eHealth Incentive
The PIP eHealth Incentive was announced as part of the 2008–09 Federal Budget, and started in August 2009. The Incentive encourages the use of electronic health systems in PIP practices. The PIP eHealth Incentive replaced the PIP IM/IT Incentive, which ceased in August 2009.
This Incentive aims to encourage general practices to keep up-to-date with the latest developments in eHealth.
The eHealth Incentive is incorporated into the PIP payments with a payment level of $6.50 per Standardised Whole Patient Equivalent (SWPE).
Payments are capped at $12 500 per practice per quarter, up to a maximum of $50 000 per year.
Payments are made by Medicare Australia to eligible practices as part of each quarterly PIP payment. The PIP eHealth Incentive has three components. Practices must meet the requirements of each of the components to qualify for payments through this incentive.
To be eligible for the PIP eHealth Incentive, practices must:
1. have a secure messaging capability, which is provided by an eligible supplier
2. have (or have applied for) a location/site Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) certificate for the practice and each practice branch, and make sure that each medical practitioner from the practice has (or has applied for) an individual PKI certificate
3. provide practitioners from the practice with access to a range of key electronic clinical resources.
An application form must be submitted by each practice, including practices which are already participating in the PIP.
The eHealth Incentive is a retrospective payment. Payments are made to practices that have met the requirements of the eHealth Incentive for the entire preceding PIP payment quarter and are assessed as being eligible at a ‘point in time’. The ‘point in time’ corresponds to the last day of the month before the next payment quarter. For example, in order to receive a payment in the November quarter, practices need to have met the requirements for all of August, September and October, and be assessed as eligible at the ‘point in time’ of 31 October.
The table below outlines the specific dates that practices must adhere to in order to receive an eHealth payment:
| PIP quarterly | Closing dates for eHealth applications | Maintain eligibility for entire period | Point in time |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | 31 October | 1 November–31 January | 31 January |
| May | 31 January | 1 February–30 April | 30 April |
| August | 30 April | 1 May–31 July | 31 July |
| November | 31 July | 1 August–31 October | 31 October |
Last updated: 19 March, 2010
