General Practice in Aged Care Incentive

, Western NSW Primary Health Network
, Western NSW Primary Health Network

Supporting aged care providers with the GPACI

, Western NSW Primary Health Network

The General Practice in Aged Care Incentive (GPACI) is designed to support general practices in delivering consistent, proactive care and services to older Australians residing in residential aged care homes. 

This incentive helps you to maintain and improve the health of elderly residents while promoting regular, comprehensive care planning. By participating in GPACI, practices not only meet the needs of this vulnerable population but also benefit from quarterly payments for their efforts.

If your practice was participating in the Practice Incentive (PIP) General Practice (GP) Aged Care Access Incentive (ACAI), we encourage you to register for the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive.

, Western NSW Primary Health Network
, Western NSW Primary Health Network
, Western NSW Primary Health Network

About the GPACI

, Western NSW Primary Health Network

The General Practice in Aged Care Incentive replaces the Practice Incentives Program (PIP) General Practice (GP) Aged Care Access Incentive (ACAI), which concluded on 31 July 2024. This incentive encourages practices to deliver high-quality care to aged care residents, ensuring they receive timely and necessary services.

Incentive payments

, Western NSW Primary Health Network

Eligible practices can receive the following payments:

  • $300 per patient, per year, paid to the responsible provider.
  • $130 per patient, per year, paid to the practice

These payments are made quarterly, in addition to existing Medicare Benefits Scheme (MBS) and Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) rebates for services delivered.

In any given assessment period (quarter), to be eligible to receive incentive payments, providers and practices must meet both eligibility and servicing requirements.

, Western NSW Primary Health Network

Eligibility criteria for practices

, Western NSW Primary Health Network

To qualify, practices must meet specific eligibility requirements, including:

  • Registration in the Organisation Register.
  • Active participation in the MyMedicare program.
  • Registration in the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive program.

Eligibility criteria for providers

, Western NSW Primary Health Network

To be eligible, providers must be:

  • Declared as the responsible provider of eligible services to their eligible patient, including coordinating services provided by their care team.
  • Linked to an eligible practice.
  • An eligible provider.
Click here for steps required for the program
, Western NSW Primary Health Network

GPACI practice registration process

, Western NSW Primary Health Network

To register for the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to PRODA and access HPOS.
  2. Register for MyMedicare.
  3. Add practice bank details.
  4. Add MyMedicare GPACI.
  5. Add the Incentive indicator and link the Responsible Provider to your patient’s MyMedicare profile.

If you’re a provider, you’ll need to add bank account details to the MyMedicare program by accessing HPOS as an individual.

Patient registration process

, Western NSW Primary Health Network

Residents can register online, or by filling in a form and submitting it to your practice. Use these resources to communicate with residents about MyMedicare.

Be sure 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.
View this step-by-step guide to get started

MBS User Guide

, Western NSW Primary Health Network

The General Practice in Aged Care Incentive (GPACI) User Guide includes after-hours MBS item numbers and an example of triple bulk-billing benefits. PHNs across the country have collaborated to design this user guide and continue to work as a connected network to support local change management for MyMedicare.

This resource provides a quick reference guide for General Practices with examples of how to use MBS items to meet quarterly and annual service delivery requirements for GPACI.

View the MBS User Guide
To use the guide in your practice, simply select the Sample Schedule and Example Annual Cycle billing scenario that best suits your practice team and setting. There are three main general practice Sample Schedules (pages 3-8) reflected in this user guide:
  • Responsible provider only – where a single GP delivers all care to the resident.
  • Responsible provider and alternative provider – where other members of the practice team also deliver care to the resident including other GPs, Prescribed medical practitioners and Nurse practitioners.
  • Responsible provider and other care team members – where other members of the practice team also include visits delivered by practice nurses or Aboriginal Health Workers, in addition to other GPs, Prescribed medical practitioners and Nurse practitioners.
The guide incorporates a variation of sample schedules that describes how telehealth items could be billed for practices in MMM 4 – 7. The guide also includes Example Annual Cycle including estimated billings (pages 11 -14) to support your practice to deliver the proactive and regular planned care required to meet the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive. On page 15 there is an example of triple bulk billing incentives.

There are a range of ways your practice could use the guide including:

  • Identify the Sample Schedule and Example Annual Cycle billing scenario that best suits your practice team and setting. Print these or share them with your practice team to inform care planning for the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive.
  • Review your historical billing practices for Residential Aged Care Home patients and use the guide to develop a quality improvement activity to identify any improvements you could make to billing and care practices.
  • Plan care for your residential aged care patients 3 – 6 months ahead by booking appointments for residential aged care visits each month using the Example Annual Cycle as a guide. Consider how you can group visits to a residential aged care home in your practice booking system to maximise efficiency of clinician time.
  • Meet with your practice team to reflect on the guide, and identify opportunities for practice nurses, Aboriginal health workers and other doctors to support or deliver care. Could practice nurses collaborate with doctors during aged care visits to assist with care planning, improving efficiency for your practice, residential aged care homes, and the patients that you share?
  • Services Australia | e-learning module regarding how to access detailed payment information in HPOS
  • Services Australia | Infographic for practices providing a quick summary of how to search for and view payment information
  • Services Australia | Infographic for providers providing a quick summary of how to search for and view payment information
  • Services Australia | More resources can be found in the MyMedicare tile on Services Australia’s Health Professional Education page
, Western NSW Primary Health Network

Further information and support

, Western NSW Primary Health Network

For general advice regarding the registration process contact our Digital Health Team. For in depth assistance please contact Services Australia on 132 150 and select option 2 for Organisation Register support, or email Organisation.Register@servicesaustralia.gov.au.

, Western NSW Primary Health Network