29 January PIP payments for those affected by bushfire January 29, 2020 By Danielle Cranefield RACGP 0 A number of measures have been implemented to support general practices and other healthcare services directly touched by bushfires. In addition to the physical damage caused by the devastating fires, general practices, Aboriginal medical services and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations may also be indirectly financially impacted. A suite of temporary measures under the Department of Health’s (DoH’s) Practice Incentives Program (PIP) and Practice Nurse Incentive Program (PNIP)/Workforce Incentive Program (WIP) have been designed to make it easier for healthcare services adversely affected by the bushfires to recover and continue providing quality care to their communities. Payments will proceed as usual for practices located within bushfire-affected regions that were compliant with requirements in the previous 1 August – 31 October 2019 PIP payment quarter and were unable to meet the requirements for the current payment quarter (1 November 2019 to 31 January 2020). Read more (Source: RACGP) Related Articles New Medicare items coming to support those affected by bushfires New Medicare items coming to support those affected by bushfires $5 million for bushfire related health research The Government will provide $5 million in total from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) under an open and competitive grant round. Department of Health: Almost 3.5 million P2 masks provided for bushfires The Australian Government is providing an additional 576,000 P2 masks to South Australia, Tasmania and Australian Defence Force personnel to support bushfire-affected communities. Conclusion of payments for National Bowel Cancer Screening Forms General practitioners and specialists that have previously received a payment for submitting a Program form to the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program have been sent a letter about the conclusion of information payments in 2020. Workforce Incentives for Doctors and Practices More than 5,000 practices and 7,000 medical practitioners will be eligible for incentive payments under the new Workforce Incentive Program (WIP). Department of Human Services : Upgrading their digital health and aged care channels In the 2017-18 Budget, DHS received funding to enhance, stabilise and consolidate the existing health and aged care payments channels. Comments are closed.