Practice Incentives Programme Teaching Payment Guidelines – December 2014
Introduction
The Practice Incentives Programme (PIP) is aimed at supporting general practice activities that encourage continuing improvements and quality care, enhance capacity and improve access and health outcomes for patients.
To be eligible to participate in the PIP, a practice must be accredited, or registered for accreditation, against the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners’ (RACGP) Standards for general practices. Practices must obtain full accreditation within 12 months of joining the PIP. Practices must maintain full accreditation to continue to be eligible for the PIP.
For more information on the incentives that the PIP offers and PIP overall eligibility, go to the PIP guidelines at humanservices.gov.au/hpforms
Definition of a GP
For the purposes of the PIP, GPs include general practitioners and/or non-specialist medical practitioners, known as other medical practitioners, who provide non-referred services but are not GPs. GPs include Fellows of the RACGP and the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM), vocationally registered GPs and medical practitioners undertaking approved training.
The PIP Teaching Payments
The Teaching Payments aim to encourage general practices to provide teaching sessions to undergraduate and graduate medical students who are preparing for entry into the Australian medical profession.
Quality teaching is important to make sure future GPs are appropriately trained and have experience working in a general practice.
GPs are expected to engage in 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.
For each three hour teaching session carried out on or after 1 January 2015, practices will receive $200 per session. Practices can claim a maximum of two sessions per GP, per calendar day.
If there is more than one student in a teaching session, practices can still only receive $200 for each session.
For teaching sessions carried out before 1 January 2015, practices will receive $100 for each three hour session.
Practices in rural and remote areas will have a rural loading added to their payment. The loading varies with the remoteness of the practice.
Eligible teaching sessions
An eligible teaching session must be:
•provided to a student enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate medical course accredited by the Australian Medical Council. The course must be at an Australian university that is preparing them for entry into the Australian medical profession and the teaching session must be part of the student’s core curriculum. The student must also be studying at an Australian-based campus
•provided by a GP who is responsible for the teaching session, including those sessions provided outside the practice, such as home visits and consultations in hospitals or aged care facilities
•provided by a GP from a practice participating in the PIP when the teaching sessions took place, and a minimum of three hours in length.
•Teaching sessions are not payable:
•for registrars and junior doctors, nursing, allied health or pharmacy students, and
•if the supervising GP is paid for teaching activities through other Australian Government funded teaching programmes, such as the John Flynn Placement Program.
Practices that receive payments or support via third parties that are funded by the Australian Government may still be eligible for Teaching Payments. We will consider these on a case-by-case basis.
Practices can receive PIP teaching payments if they also receive teaching payments from a state or territory government.
Applying
Practices that are already registered for the PIP don’t have to do anything to apply for this payment.
If your practice isn’t registered for the PIP, you can apply:
•through Health Professional Online Service (HPOS), at humanservices.gov.au/healthprofessionals then HPOS Logon, or by
•completing the PIP application form at humanservices.gov.au/healthprofessionals then Incentives and Allowances > Practice Incentives Program > Forms and guidelines.
Claiming
Health Professionals Online Services (HPOS) provides secure and convenient online services for health professionals and administrators.
Using your Medicare Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Individual certificate, you can update your practice details and submit your Teaching Payment claim through HPOS. Changes you make through HPOS are effective immediately. To register for a Medicare PKI certificate and to find out more about HPOS, go to humanservices.gov.au/hpos
While you are waiting for your Medicare PKI certificate to be issued, you can complete a Teaching Payment claim form and send it to us for manual processing. Please note that delays may occur.
Payments are paid retrospectively each quarter after the teaching sessions have taken place. Teaching sessions conducted after 1 January 2015 can be claimed at any time after the session has taken place. Sessions conducted prior to January 2015 must be claimed within 12 months of when the session was provided.
The claim form must be completed correctly, or we won’t be able to process your practice's claim. The form must have the:
•details of the practice providing the teaching session and be signed by the practice’s authorised contact person
•details of the university including university name and a university stamp and the full name and signature of a university staff member
•details of the session, including the student’s name, student ID number, the date of the session and the number of sessions, and
•number of pages associated with the claim.
The claim form can be completed by the university or the practice, but each form must be endorsed by the relevant university. Practices need to make sure the claim form is sent to us by the cut-off date in the table below to receive their payment in the following payment quarter.
Payment and cut-off dates for submitting claim forms
Form submitted by / Payment made24 January / February
23 April / May
24 July / August
24 October / November
Organising student placement
We don’t arrange student placements.
Practices should contact their nearest university medical school for information about hosting medical students.
Obligations
Practices must:
•be able to substantiate claims for payment using documentary evidence of the teaching sessions provided to medical students
•give us information as part of the ongoing audit process to verify that the practice has met eligibility requirements
•make sure information is correct, and
•tell us in writing of any changes to practice arrangements by no later than 7 days prior to the relevant ‘point in time’ date. For more information, go to the PIP guidelines at humanservices.gov.au/pip.
Practices must nominate an authorised contact person(s) who will confirm, on the practice’s behalf, any changes to information for PIP claims and payments.
Appeals process
The PIP has an established appeals process. To ask for a review of a decision, the authorised contact person or the owners of the practice must write to us within 28 days of the date on the decision notice. We will review the decision and advise the practice in writing of the outcome.
For more information
Online:humanservices.gov.au/pip
Email:
Call:1800 222 032* 8.30 am to 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday, Australian Central Standard Time
* Call charges apply from mobile and pay phones only.
Disclaimer
These guidelines are for information purposes and provide the basis upon which Practice Incentives Programme (PIP) payments are made. While it is intended that the Australian Government will make payments as set out in these guidelines, the making of payments is at its sole discretion. The Australian Government may alter arrangements for the PIP at any time and without notice. The Australian Government does not accept any legal liability or responsibility for any injury, loss or damage incurred by the use of, reliance on, or interpretation of the information provided in these guidelines.