The Aged Care Access Initiative aims to improve access to primary care services for residents of Commonwealth-funded aged care facilities.

The Aged Care Access Initiative, announced in the 2008-09 Federal Budget, will support primary care provision for aged care residents through:

• A GP incentive payment to encourage GPs to provide increased and continuing services in residential aged care facilities; and
• A payment for Allied Health Professionals for clinical care services in residential aged care facilities, where these services are not covered by Medicare or other government funding arrangements

GP Aged Care Access Incentive
 
Eligible Providers and Key Points

• All GPs in practices participating in the Practice Incentives Program (PIP) will be eligible for an incentive payment once they have provided a predetermined number of Medicare-claimable services;
• Funding will be available on a two tiered model and payments will be made automatically by Medicare Australia once the predetermined Qualifying Service levels (QSLs) have been reached;
• Payment will be made available to the GP who provided the service rather than to the practice; and
• The Program only applies to services provided to aged care residents in Commonwealth-funded RACFs.

Operation

The GP component of the Aged Care Access Initiative aims to encourage GPs to provide increased and continuing services in RACFs.
Incentives payments will be based on a GP providing a predetermined number of Medicare services in RACFs over a financial year.
The incentive payment will be available to GPs in practices participating in the PIP. These practices are required to be accredited or registered for accreditation against the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Standards for General Practices.
There are two payment levels under the GP component. Payments will be calculated by Medicare Australia based on the number of relevant MBS items claimed in one financial year.

• Tier one provides a payment of $1,000 when the first qualifying service level (QSL1) of 60 services is claimed in 2008-09.
• Tier two provides a payment of $1,500 when the second qualifying service level (QSL2) of 140 services is claimed in 2008-09.
• The maximum payment any one GP can receive in one financial year is $2,500.

Once the prescribed number of MBS items has been claimed, Medicare Australia will make a payment automatically to the account nominated by the GP. While GPs do not need to apply to participate in the incentive, Medicare Australia will seek nominated bank account details from GPs eligible to receive the incentive.
Qualifying Service Levels for the 2009-10 financial year will be announced in July 2009

Eligible MBS items

Eligible services are those provided to aged care residents in Commonwealth-funded RACFs and Multipurpose Services.

MBS items that count towards QSLs include attendances in RACFs, Comprehensive Medical Assessments, contributions to Care Plans, Case Conferences, and Residential Medication Management Reviews.

A full list of MBS items that count towards the incentive appears below -

Medicare Benefits Schedule items

20, 35, 43, 51, 92, 93, 95, 96, 712, 731, 734, 736, 738, 775, 778, 779, 903, 5010, 5028, 5049, 5067, 5260, 5263, 5265, 5267.

This list may be revised from time to time to include other items.

Further enquiries about the GP Incentive can be directed to the PIP enquiry line on 1800 222 032 (8.30-5.00pm CST). Source: Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing
During the period July 2008 – June 2009 NWQPHC will offer the following services to RACFs within the Divisional boundaries:

East Coast:

• Audiologist

North West:

• Diabetes Educator
• Speech Pathologist
• Occupational Therapist

Central West:

• Podiatrist
• Physiotherapist
• Dietitian
• Speech Pathologist

For further information, please contact NWQPHC in your area.

Updated January 2012