GPACI

The General Practice in Aged Care Incentive (GPACI) is an Australian Government program launched on 1 July 2024 to enhance the quality and continuity of primary care for older individuals residing permanently in residential aged care homes.

What is GPACI?

The General Practice in Aged Care Incentive supports eligible providers and practices to deliver health care to permanent residents of aged care homes.

The General Practice in Aged Care Incentive (GPACI) is available from 1 July 2024. Practices need to be registered in the Organisation Register, and providers need to be linked to their MyMedicare-registered practice.

Why is it important?

The General Practice in Aged Care Incentive will make it easier for older people living in residential aged care homes to receive regular visits and care planning services from their responsible GP and practice. This supports improved continuity of care and aims to reduce avoidable hospitalisations.

Incentive payments

GPs and practices will receive an incentive payment quarterly if they:

are registered with MyMedicare, and
meet the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive eligibility and servicing requirements.

Eligible GPs and practices will receive incentive payments for providing services to each of their registered patients in a residential aged care home rather than at their practice.

Patients must be registered with MyMedicare and identified by the responsible GP and practice to participate in the incentive.

Payments are:

$300 per patient, per year, paid to the responsible GP, and
$130 per patient, per year, paid to the practice.

The payments will be quarterly, in addition to existing Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) rebates for services delivered.

Rural loadings will apply to the responsible GP and practice incentive payments for Modified Monash Model (MMM) regions MMM 3 to MMM 7.

Eligibility

To receive incentive payments in any quarterly assessment period, GPs and practices must meet eligibility and servicing requirements.

Incentive payments will be:

assessed
calculated
paid according to processes outlined in the Program Guidelines and Services Australia processes.

Practice eligibility

Practices must be registered in MyMedicare (with banking details included) and the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive.

GP eligibility

GPs must be:

an eligible primary care provider as outlined in the Program Guidelines
linked to their eligible practice
declared as the responsible GP of eligible services to the registered patient, including coordinating services provided by the care team or practice.

Patient eligibility

Patients must:

permanently live in a residential aged care home, not including respite care
register with MyMedicare and link to an eligible practice and responsible GP
have the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive indicator selected on their MyMedicare profile by their practice.

Patients who are participating in the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive will be exempt from the MyMedicare requirement to visit their GP prior to registering for MyMedicare.

GPs or practices must:

link GPs and their MyMedicare patients to their practice
add in their bank details
select the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive indicator on their patients’ MyMedicare profiles
link patients to responsible providers in their practice.

Servicing requirements

Responsible GPs and practices are required to meet the servicing requirements to be eligible for incentive payments, including delivering:

Two eligible care planning services over a 12-month period  
Two eligible regular visits per quarter, each in a separate calendar month, delivering at least 8 regular services over a 12-month period.

Eligible services include a range of MBS and DVA items as outlined in the Program Guidelines. 

Quarterly visits

Services delivered are under the direction of the responsible GP.

To be eligible for payment, GPs and practices will be required to meet: 

all servicing requirements outlined in the Program Guidelines
individual servicing requirements for each assessment quarter.

At least one of the regular visits must be provided by the GP.

A second visit can be delivered by the GP or another member of the patient’s care team. This includes:

an alternate provider within the same practice
GP registrar
nurse practitioner
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioner or health worker.

Modified Monash Model areas MMM 4 to MMM 7

Practices will be able to provide 4 regular visits of eligible telehealth MBS items per 12-month period if registered patients are unable to attend a face-to-face service.

MyMedicare overview

The Gippsland PHN MyMedicare Overview is a valuable resource designed to support general practice by providing clear background information on MyMedicare and the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive. This comprehensive guide includes essential links to tools, key dates, guidelines, and recordings of past webinars. It is intended to assist both GPs and patients with the uptake and registration of MyMedicare.

Contact information

For further information please contact Gippsland PHN – info@gphn.org.au