General Practitioner Component
The general practitioner component of the General Practice Rural Incentives Program (GPRIP) aims to recognise, reward and retain long-serving general practitioners (GPs) in rural and remote communities experiencing significant difficulties in retaining GPs.
GPs who bill Medicare services do not need to apply as eligibility is automatically assessed and payments made by Medicare Australia. GPs will receive notification of eligibility from Medicare Australia and will be requested to supply relevant details in order to receive the payment.
GPs who do not bill Medicare services (for example, Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) or Aboriginal Medical Services (AMS)) will need to contact the Rural Workforce Agency in their state or territory and make arrangements to be assessed under the Flexible Payments System.
Incentive payments are scaled according to:
- location (the practice’s Remoteness Area (RA) location)
- practise time (length of time medical services have been provided in rural and remote locations)
- clinical workload (number of services).
GPs are eligible for payments when they meet a qualifying period of continuous service and progress by completing active quarters in categories of eligible rural and remote locations, with varying qualifying periods which are dependant on the location (as shown in the table below).
| ASGC-RA | Period of time (years) in a rural location | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classification | 0.5 | 1 | 2 | 3-4 | 5+ |
| Inner Regional (RA2) | - | $2500 | $4500 | $7500 | $12 000 |
| Outer Regional (RA3) | $4000 | $6000 | $8000 | $13 000 | $18 000 |
| Remote (RA4) | $5500 | $8000 | $13 000 | $18 000 | $27 000 |
| Very Remote (RA5) | $8000 | $13 000 | $18 000 | $27 000 | $47 000 |
Payments for the GP component can be made through two systems:
- a Central Payments System administered by Medicare Australia which assesses eligibility based on Medicare Australia’s data on doctors’ services and locations.
- a Flexible Payments System jointly administered by the Department of Health and Ageing, Medicare Australia, and the state and Northern Territory-based Rural Workforce Agencies. This assists long-serving GPs who do not receive an equitable level of payments under the Central Payments System because their services and locations are not adequately taken into account (for example, where particular services are provided outside Medicare —including Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) or Aboriginal Medical Service (AMS).
Last updated: 24 September, 2010