Payroll Tax, Doctor Contracts and Billing
PIP QI Rollout and Privacy Issues
Moderator:
Dr Trish Baker
Presenters :
Rod Felmingham, Associate Kennedys
Kelly Chard, Director, Growth MD
Archive for year: 2019
Practice Partners’ Reflections
/0 Comments/in NEWS & ARTICLES /by Richard HartTom Skotnicki *
David and Trina Gregory first met in 1987 as young ED registrars. David took the lead in setting up their first practice in Port Macquarie the following year while Trina had six children over the next few years. Both are still working as GPs, albeit in Canberra. But when Practice Matters asked them if they would do it again if they were starting out today there was a cautious reaction. They both agreed that the 1980s was a far simpler time for General Practice.
Read moreIs the PIP QI important?
/0 Comments/in NEWS & ARTICLES, PIP QI Posts /by Richard HartOliver Frank *
Practices participating in the QI PIP will receive 70 cents or less per consultation, if one divides the $5.00 per patient per year offered by the scheme by the average of seven visits per year that Australians make to general practice. For practices with more than 10,000 SWPEs (standardised whole patient equivalent), the payment per consultation is likely to be less than 70 cents, because the QI PIP payment is capped at $50,000 per practice per year. Apart from being able to receive this relatively small amount of money, are there any other reasons why GPs should or would see this new scheme as important?
Read moreWhere does General Practice fit in the overall Australian Health System?
/0 Comments/in NEWS & ARTICLES /by Richard HartNathan Pinskier *
AGPA has the potential to play a vital role in the future of Australian health policy development as the status of General Practice within the overall healthcare system has never been comprehensively defined. General practitioners have a clear role but does General Practice?
General Practice is not by definition a public healthcare service yet it provides a comprehensive range of services to the public. It is largely regarded as a private primary care service but is underpinned by federal dollars (Medicare, DVA, PIP etc..) and as a result is subject to some oversight and a level of control by the Federal Department of Health.
Read moreDo hospitals and hospital based specialists appreciate General Practice?
/0 Comments/in NEWS & ARTICLES /by Richard HartKaren Price
First of all let me precede my comments with a caveat drawn from social media, hashtag #notallspecialists.
I have on occasion heard hospital based specialists be incredulous that GPs do not have routine access to the eTG (therapeutic guidelines) and the inevitable “GPs should…..” statement followed. It seems that those who made the observation were blissfully unaware of the thousands of dollars an eTG subscription would cost the average General Practice in an economic environment of underfunding of primary care. Most hospital based specialists appear to have no appreciation of the cost of doing GP medical business. Another wondered whether the education provided to GPs should be at a final year medical student level? I subsequently wondered if our fellowship was invisible. I hear from those in my family who are in the hospital environment how often the hidden curriculum of “Just a GP” comes up in informal hospital settings and I wonder why?
Read moreLetter to GPs
/0 Comments/in NEWS & ARTICLES, PIP QI Posts /by Richard HartJohn Deery, Chair, AGPA
Some of you may be wondering why AGPA wrote directly to the profession last month calling for an end to the disrespect of General Practice by successive governments. The simple answer is that it was overdue.
The reality is that running a GP practice in Australia has become increasingly problematical in the face of issues such as the Medicare freeze, changes to rebate rates in various geographical areas, restrictions on the GP workforce, and the attempts to cut a sweetheart deal with pathology on co-location rentals. The cavalier attitude adopted to the legitimate fears over access to patient and practice data inherent in the PIP QI arrangements is just the latest example of a failure to listen to General Practice.
Read morePIP QI FAQ Update 1 October 2019
/0 Comments/in PIP QI FAQs /by Richard HartAs of 1 October 2015 there is a form available to apply for a Time Limited Exemption for compliance with the PIP QI. There is an updated fact sheet PIP QI Incentive Guidance here. The PIP QI exemption fact sheet is available here.
We are advised that if you have previously written to the Department requesting an exemption they will advise you of the existence of this form.
Your previous letter does not substitute for the DoH form
Key points:
To be eligible for the 31 October PIP QI payment, you must complete and submit the DoH form by 15 October. A copy of the form in pdf is here, and in word here.
Your PHN must also complete their section of the form.
You have 10 working days from 1 October to go through a two stage process. At this time there are no exceptions to the requirement for the PHN to also complete their section of the form prior to submission.
PIP QI FAQs
/0 Comments/in PIP QI FAQs /by adminThere is Fact Sheet available from DoH which is the basis for some of the information provided here.
Do I have to register with the PHN to get my PIP QI payment?
Yes, registration is required by 15 October to receive the 31 October payment.
Registration is made via your PRODA account.
See section 6 or 7 of the fact sheet
Do I have to allow the PHN to extract data using their data extraction tools?
No you do not have to use the PHN provided extraction tools:
Read morePIP QI Rollout and Privacy Issues
/0 Comments/in MEMBERS, PRESENTATIONS /by adminPIP QI Rollout and Privacy Issues
Moderator:
Dr Trish Baker
Presenters :
Dr Mukesh Haikerwal
Dr Nathan Pinskier
PIP QI – AGPA makes progress
/0 Comments/in NEWS & ARTICLES, PIP QI Posts /by adminThe PIP QI program went live on 1 August 2019.
The AGPA and a group of concerned Doctors reviewed the data collection arrangements for the program and determined that there were significant privacy issues for patient and Practice information.
The Department of Health has now released a new set of guidelines which addresses many of the issues raised by the AGPA.
A win for common sense.
About AGPA
The Australian General Practice Alliance was formed in 2016 to represent the interests of GP practice owners. While the initial trigger for the formation of the AGPA was the attacks on General Practice by the Australian Government and big business pathology, our aim is to address the issues that face principal led General Practices.
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Join AGPA
You can download a PDF application for Full Membership here.
You can Join and Pay Online here »