The General Practice in Aged Care Incentive launched on 1 July 2024 and will replace the current Aged Care Access Incentive (ACAI) which ceased on 31 July 2024.
The General Practice in Aged Care Incentive aims to improve access to quality, proactive, planned and continuous care for people who permanently live in residential aged care.
This incentive is an important part of the Australian Government’s response to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and Strengthening Medicare.
Participation in the incentive is voluntary
Eligible GPs (i.e. responsible providers) and practices registered in MyMedicare will receive incentive payments for providing their MyMedicare registered patients who permanently live in residential aged care with regular visits, health assessment and care planning services. This incentive is designed to enable equity of access to high quality and continuous care across the South Eastern Melbourne PHN region.
Eligibility
To participate in the incentive practices, providers and patients must be:
Practice
Learn moreRegistered in:
- Organisation Register
- MyMedicare program and,
- General Practice in Aged Care Incentive
Responsible provider
- An eligible provider linked to their eligible practice in the Organisation Register
- Declared as the responsible provider of eligible services to the registered patient, including coordinating services provided by the care team.
Patient
- Permanently live in a residential aged care home
- Registered in MyMedicare with the eligible registered practice
- Have the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive indicator selected on their MyMedicare profile by their practice
- Have a responsible provider identified by the practice when a General Practice in Aged Care Incentive indicator has been selected.
Service requirements
GPs as responsible providers, care teams and practices must deliver at least 10 eligible services, from eligible Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) funded services, over a 12-month period including:
- 2 eligible care planning services delivered by the responsible provider
- 8 eligible regular services comprising of at least 2 per quarter, each in a separate calendar month.
In Modified Monash Model (MMM) areas 4–7, practices will be able to provide up to 4 regular visits per 12-month period by eligible telehealth MBS items where they are unable to provide face-to-face services. Telehealth services under any other circumstances do not qualify for the quarterly requirements.
Incentive Payments, Rural Loadings and Assessments
The General Practice in Aged Care Incentive offers incentive payments paid to the responsible provider and practice when service requirements are met.
These payments will be paid pro-rata across the 12-month period, in equal parts, on a quarterly basis on top of existing MBS and DVA funded services.
Rural loadings will apply to GP and practice incentive payments for Modified Monash Model (MMM) regions MMM 3 to MMM 7.
Resources
For all providers
- Fact sheet | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care
- Roles and contributions | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care (.pdf)
- Patient journeys | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care (.pdf)
- Person-centre care | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care (.pdf)
- Forecast eligibility for MyMedicare incentives as a provider | Services Australia (.pdf)
For primary care providers
- General Practice in Aged Care Incentive MBS user guide | PHN Cooperative (.pdf)
- GP and practices information kit | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care
- FAQs for GPs and practices | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care
- Incentive payment structure | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care (.jpg)
- Patient front sheet template | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care
- Care plan contribution template | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care (.pdf)
- Patient monitoring and tracking tool | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care
- Forecast eligibility for MyMedicare incentives for an organisation site/practice | Services Australia (.pdf)
For residential aged care home (RACH) providers
- RACH toolkit | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care (.pdf)
- FAQs for RACH providers | Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care
- Presentation slides for RACH staff| Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care
- Introduction to General Practice in Aged Care Incentive webinar - recording
- Introduction to General Practice in Aged Care Incentive webinar - slides
For consumers
Providing care to people who live in a residential aged care home but not accredited or registered for MyMedicare yet? More information on registration can be found on the Department of Health's GP ACI webpage.
South Eastern Melbourne PHN
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