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MyMedicare and General Practice in Aged Care Incentive (GPACI) General Practice in Aged Care Incentive (GPACI)

About

The Australian Government is funding the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive (GPACI) to support aged care residents to receive quality primary care services from their regular GP and practice. The incentive aims to improve continuity of care and reduce avoidable hospitalisations.

As of July 2024, eligible providers and practices registered with MyMedicare and GPACI will receive incentive payments to provide regular visits and care planning to older people living in a Residential Aged Care Home, rather than at their practice.

The incentive payments are made on a quarterly basis, on top of existing Medicare Benefits Scheme (MBS) and Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) rebates for services delivered.

Payments are:

  • $300 per patient, per year to responsible providers.
  • $130 per patient, per year to registered practices.

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 can be registered by their GP or general practice for the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive.  

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.   

GPs or practices must: 

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

The latest version of the General Practice in Aged Care (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.  

How to use this 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:  

  1. Responsible Provider Only- where a single GP delivers all care to the resident.  
  2. Responsible Provider + Alternative Provider- where other members of the practice team also deliver care to the resident including other GPs, prescribed medical practitioners and nurse practitioners. 
  3. Responsible Provider + Other care team members – where other members of the practice team also include visits delivered by practice nurses 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 -15) 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:  

  1. 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. 
  2. Review your historical billing practices for Residential Aged Care Home patients and use the guide to develop a QuIK Cycle to identify any improvements you could make to billing and care practices. 
  3. 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. 
  4. Meet with your practice team to reflect on the guide, and identify opportunities for practice nurses and other doctors to support or deliver care. For example, could practice nurses  work alongside doctors at aged care visits to work up care planning and make the visit more efficient for your practice, residential aged care homes, and patients you care for that are residents of aged care homes? 

Visit the DOHAC website for the latest resources including: 

Resources for residential aged care 

Visit the DOHAC website for the latest resources including: