Practice amalgamation for Practice Incentives Program (PIP) and Workforce Incentive Program (WIP) - Practice Stream 012-10010020

The definition of amalgamation for the PIP and WIP - Practice Stream:

'Two or more practices coming together into one common location and sharing access to all patient records, belonging to each of the previously individual practices. The remaining original locations will close'.

Definitions

Current location - the practice location that is remaining open. This is indicated as the current practice address in the practice details section of the Practice Incentives Change of practice details (IP005) form.

Amalgamated location - the practice location that is closing and merging their patient records with the current location. This is indicated in the amalgamation section on the IP005 form.

To notify a practice amalgamation the practice must submit:

• The Practice Incentives Change of practice details (IP005) form
  • All pages of the form must be received
  • The declaration must be signed by an owner of the practice registered on the practice profile
  • See the Process page > Table 1 to assess the IP005
• The Practice Incentives Individual general practitioner or nurse practitioner details (IP003) form
  • For all practitioners who join the practice or change locations as part of the amalgamation. All practitioners must have a provider number associated with the current location. An IP003 is not required for any practitioners who are already registered on the current practice profile
  • See the Process page for more information
• An Accreditation certificate showing the current location:
  • within 6 months of the amalgamation, the amalgamation can be actioned without the updated accreditation certificate. Practice payments will be placed on hold until an updated accreditation certificate is provided. For more information, see Effect of practice amalgamation on practice accreditation
• A letter from at least one owner of the current location and amalgamated practice(s):
  • confirming they have amalgamated with the other practice(s). The letter must include the names of the practice(s) involved in the amalgamation
  • signed by a practice owner registered on the practice profile
  • which additional practice branch(es) are to be transferred to the current practice address (if applicable)

The Process page has more information about requirements, assessing and processing.

There must be at least one general practitioner registered at the current location to complete the amalgamation. There is no requirement for general practitioners from the amalgamating (closing) location to move to the current location. A practice can amalgamate with all new general practitioners or a combination of general practitioners from the amalgamated (closed) location and/or current location.

To be eligible for Procedural GP payments the practice must register for the payment if:

• the current location has never applied for the Procedural GP payment, and
• GPs from the amalgamating locations have indicated ‘Yes’ to the Procedural GP questions in the IP003 form

The practice will not be entitled to any Procedural GP back payments.

A practice can use the Practice Incentives Change of practice details (IP005) form to notify of multiple changes to practice details. An amalgamation may be notified with:

• a relocation
• a change of bank account details
• a change of authorised contact persons
• ceasing a general practitioner or nurse practitioner, and/or
• updating health professional details

If a practice relocates and amalgamates with a non-PIP practice, see the Relocation scenarios table for more information on document requirements.

Practice relocation for PIP and WIP - Practice Stream has more information about assessing and processing a relocation.

If a practice changes ownership as part of the amalgamation, the Practice Incentives Change of practice ownership form (IP010) and supporting documents must also be submitted. Update practice changes in order of when they occurred. If the changes occurred on the same date, process the change of ownership first. For more information see Change of practice ownership for PIP and WIP - Practice Stream.

The Process page has more information about processing an amalgamation including other changes.

Existing current location

If practices are amalgamating at a location that is:

• already accredited, there is no need for the current location to go through the accreditation process. The practice will maintain their current accreditation cycle
• an unaccredited practice not accredited and not part of the PIP and WIP - Practice Stream), the current location becomes accredited (if applicable) or the closing location's practice accreditation must be transferred to the new location

Practices may be eligible for the additional time remaining on their 12-month period to achieve accreditation if they are:

• registered for accreditation
• amalgamating, and
• transferring their accreditation to an unaccredited practice location

Escalate to Program Management (Policy team) via Local Peer Support (LPS) for an assessment.

New current location

Practices must arrange with their accreditation agency to transfer one of their current accreditation certificates to the new current location If:

• practices amalgamate and move to a new location, and
• the new location is transferring the accreditation of one of the amalgamating (closing) practice(s)

The practice must provide evidence of accreditation in the new location. Evidence must be in the form of an accreditation certificate issued by the accrediting agency, which indicates the current location’s address. If existing accreditation is not transferred, the new current location must complete the accreditation process.

Where all practice locations are unaccredited, a new practice application is required if the amalgamated practices want to participate in the PIP and WIP - Practice Stream.

Practice accreditation for PIP and WIP - Practice Stream has more information about accreditation certificate requirements and eligibility.

The Resources page has more information about amalgamation and accreditation.

Change of practice name

If the practice name changes as part of the amalgamation, a new accreditation certificate with these details is needed. See Practice accreditation for Practice Incentives Program (PIP) and Workforce Incentive Program (WIP) - Practice Stream for more information. Do not put practice payments on hold if this is the only information required.

Amalgamating practices will retain the Standardised Whole Patient Equivalent (SWPE) value of all practices at the current location if these practices are all within the same local area. The SWPE value of the amalgamating practices will be the sum of the SWPE values for each practice location.

If all practices being amalgamated are not within the same local area the SWPE value for the closing practice(s) may not be transferred to the amalgamated practice.

Escalate to Program Management (Policy team) via Local Peer Support (LPS) for an assessment.

The Resources page has more information about amalgamation and SWPE values.

If a practice notifies an amalgamation for a previous payment quarter, there is no requirement to recover payments made to the closing practice if all other eligibility conditions were met.

The SWPE value will not be recalculated for the current location to include the amalgamated practice’s historic data. The amalgamated SWPE value and incentives eligibility will apply from the first quarter after the profiles have been amalgamated.