eHealth Practice Incentive Payment

On Friday 13 March, 2009, DoHA advised all Australian general practices of a new eHealth Practice Incentive Payment scheme. The letter contained the eHealth PIP guidelines and the application form.

 

Requirements:

To qualify for the e-Health PIP practices must comply with the following three requirements:

1- Secure Messaging

In order to meet this requirement, practices must have a NeHTA compliant secure messaging capability that will allow patient clinical and medical information to be securely exchanged where possible.

As of 18 March 2009, the list of NeHTA compliant messaging providers is not available but is expected before the end of April.

2 - Individual & Location PKI

In order to meet this requirement, practices must have (or have applied for) a location/site PKI certificate. Each medical practitioner working at the practice must also have (or have applied for) an individual PKI certificate. Locums are exempt from this requirement.

3 - Clinical Resources

In order to meet this requirement, practices must provide all medical practitioners from the practice with access to the current editions of a range of key electronic clinical resources to improve the quality of prescribing, support quality care, and enhance health outcomes.

 

August Quarter Deadlines:

The following table highlights key compliance dates for the August Quarter.

Requirement	Comply by
1 - Secure Messaging	31 July 2009
2 - Individual & Locational PKI	30 April 2009*
3 - Clinical Resources	30 April 2009*

 

 

 

 

*NOTE: As with all PIP payments, practices must be compliant for a full three month period before claiming; hence the 30 April deadline for an August Quarter PIP payment. This is an ongoing arrangement so to be eligible for the November payment, practices must comply by 31 July, and so forth. If a practice has complied once it is assumed that it is compliant from then on, unless they inform Medicare is informated otherwise.

 

PKI registration:

Registration forms for individual and location/site PKI certificates are available from the Medicare Australia website at www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/pkiforms

Further information on PKI is available at www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/pki or phone: 1800 700 199 (select option 3)

 

Resources:

PIP Application Form

PIP Guidelines

 

Relevant websites:

Medicare's PIP website

NeHTA's eHealth PIP website.

NeHTA's compliant messaging providers list (NOTE: not available until April)

 

Examples Clinical Resources:

From Table 1
eTherapeutic Guidelines – cost $300 p.a. per GP ($150 renewal)
(http://www.tg.org.au/) http://www.tg.org.au/uploads/PDFs/order_form.pdf

Australian Medicines Handbook
(http://www.amh.net.au/) - cost $155

RACGP Red Book (incorporated into Doctors Control Panel, by the way) cost free
http://www.racgp.org.au/guidelines/redbook)

 

From Table 2
Journal of Evidence¿based clinical care
Bandolier; Clinical evidence - cost £142 p.a.
( http://clinicalevidence.bmj.com/ceweb/index.jsp)

Clinical resources
Immunisation: Myths and Realities - cost free
(http://www.immunise.health.gov.au/internet/immunise/publishing.nsf/content/uci¿mythsguideprov)

The Australian Immunisation Handbook - cost free
(http://www.health.gov.au/internet/immunise/publishing.nsf/Content/Handbook¿home)

Assessing Fitness to Drive – cost free
(http://www.austroads.com.au/cms/AFTD%20web%20Aug%202006.pdf)

Regulatory Resources
Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) - cost free
(http://www9.health.gov.au/mbs/search.cfm)

Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) - cost free
(http://www.pbs.gov.au/html/healthpro/home)