General Practice in Aged Care Incentive

The General Practice Aged Care Incentive supports general practices to deliver regular, proactive services and care planning to older people living in residential aged care homes. If your practice is already participating in the existing Practice Incentive (PIP) General Practice (GP) Aged Care Access Incentive (ACAI), you are encouraged to get ready to register for the General Practice Aged Care Incentive.

From 1 July 2024, eligible providers and practices registered with MyMedicare will be able to receive incentive payments. These incentive payments are for providing regular visits and care planning to older people living in aged care.

How to participate

To register and access the incentive your practice must be eligible and registered for MyMedicare. Your patients that are aged care home residents will also need to be registered for MyMedicare with your practice.

General Practices, and ACCHs/ACCHOs and other eligible practices will be able to start registering in MyMedicare for the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive from 1 July 2024, prior to the official commencement date on 1 August 2024.

Once your practice is registered for the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive, you will need to:

• Link your providers and your MyMedicare patients to your practice
• Select the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive indicator on your patients’ MyMedicare profiles
• Link patients to responsible providers in your practice

Steps your practice can take now to prepare for this new incentive:

• Register your practice for the MyMedicare Program.
• Encourage your patients in Residential Aged Care Homes to register for MyMedicare with your practice now using these resources to communicate with patients about MyMedicare.
• New information and videos about the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive will be released from 1 July 2024. Set aside time to learn about the incentive, register your practice and enroll your patients.
• Prepare your practice and team to consider these questions:
  • Which General Practitioners will be your Responsible Providers and have ongoing responsibility for visiting patients in Residential Aged Care Homes?
  • Will any other members of your practice team also provide some of the visiting services to your Residential Aged Care home patients?
  • How will visits be planned and coordinated with your practice team and the residential aged care home?
    • Will you schedule regular recurring visits to aged care homes into the calendars of your practice team?
    • How will you communicate with the residential aged care home to confirm appointments, or handle enquires from the home if care advice is required in between visits?
  • Will your practice be accepting new patients from Residential Aged Care Homes?
    • If so, consider contacting the aged care home to let them know and provide them with information they can share with patients about how to register with MyMedicare with your practice.

If practices and residents are registered for the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive before 30 September 2024, eligible MBS and DVA items delivered during the full assessment quarter (July 2024 to September 2024) will be used to calculate entitlements for incentive payments.

Upcoming resources to support you practice

A range of resources to support your practice will be released in the weeks and months ahead including:

• Videos and how-to guides on how to register your practice and your patients,
• Operational guidelines,
• An orientation toolkit to support participation in the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive, tips to support quality care delivery and information to raise awareness of how the incentives help to drive quality and coordinated care.
• Consumer resources and communication materials including standard fact sheets, information and resources to support awareness raising.

If you need any additional support, or have any questions, please contact your Primary Care Improvement Officer or email the PHN at info@thephn.com.au