Change of practice ownership for Practice Incentives Program (PIP) and Workforce Incentive Program (WIP) - Practice Stream 012-10010030

A change of ownership is where the controlling interest in a general practice is transferred from one entity to a new entity. An entity is defined as:

• Individual proprietor/ sole trader
• Partnership
• Company
• Trust
• Body Corporate
• State or territory government or other public body

A practice can update a change of practice ownership using one of the following:

• Health Professional Online Services (HPOS)
• The practice payments will automatically be placed on hold
• The practice must complete the Practice Incentives Change of practice ownership (IP010) form
• The IP010 form

As part of a change of ownership notification, the IP010 can be used to update:

• practice banking details
• authorised contact persons
• end date practitioners who have left the practice

New practitioners must be added using:

• HPOS
• the Practice Incentives Individual general practitioner or nurse practitioner details (IP003) form

Under the PIP and WIP - Practice stream guidelines, a practice changing ownership will keep the historical practice data, including the Standardised Whole Patient Equivalent (SWPE) value, provided the practice accreditation is part of the sale.

If accreditation is not included in the sale, the historical practice data and the SWPE value cannot be transferred. The new practice owner(s) will need to apply as a new practice for the program/s.

There are 2 types of practice ownership changes.

Partial change of ownership

This is when a sale of the practice has not occurred, or the ownership has not transferred to another person or entity. The practice ownership organisation is changing who is authorised to act on behalf of the organisation for the purpose of the PIP and/or WIP - Practice Stream.

The update may result from changes to:

• directors
• CEO, managing director, or other executive positions
• Partnership agreements - partners leaving/joining

Practices undergoing updates to office holders will retain the same company name and Australian Business Number (ABN). Changes will be limited to the owner’s names registered on the practice profile.

The practice must provide:

• the Practice Incentives Change of ownership (IP010) form completed as a partial change of ownership
• evidence to confirm the new owner/s are authorised to act on behalf of the ownership organisation

The practice does not need to provide an accreditation certificate.

If more information is needed to complete the update, only put practice payments on hold if there is a change to the practice bank details.

A practice owned by an individual/sole proprietor cannot undergo a partial change of ownership.

Full change of ownership

This is most commonly, but not always, due to a sale of the practice. The ownership legally transfers completely to another person or entity.

In most cases, all ownership details recorded on the practice profile will change.

A practice must provide:

• IP010 form completed as a full change of ownership
• Supporting documents to confirm the changes to the ownership
• Evidence to confirm the selected ownership type
• Current Accreditation certificate

If the forms need more details, place the practice payments on hold. This will avoid the payments being paid to the wrong owner.

Once the full change of ownership is finalised, request the release of any held payments.

See Payments for Practice Incentives Program (PIP) and Workforce Incentives Program (WIP) - Practice Stream for information on holding and releasing payments.

Changes to the business structure

Practices may notify changes to the structure of the practice ownership. These will often be notified as a partial change of ownership.

If the ownership type, company name and/or ABN have changed, this must be assessed as a full change of ownership.

The practice must provide:

• IP010 form completed as a full change of ownership (the Resources page has a link)
• written advice from a registered practice owner/s, outlining the changes to the business structure
• evidence to confirm the selected ownership type

Where the actual owners have not changed, a certificate of accreditation is not needed.

The Process page has more information.

Practices notifying a full change of ownership must submit evidence to confirm the changes to the practice ownership.

Acceptable evidence may include:

• a copy of the executed sale contract or bill of sale
• other legal documents
• a letter from the new owner/s or solicitor
• a letter from the old owner/s or solicitor

Evidence to confirm ownership changes must be signed by both parties and dated.

The practice owner/s must also provide evidence to confirm the practice ownership type. Acceptable evidence will vary depending on the ownership type selected.

If no other legal documents are available, a Commonwealth Statutory Declaration may be acceptable. Statutory declarations must be assessed by Program Management (Policy Team) to determine acceptability.

Note: state government statutory declarations are not acceptable.

The Resources page has more information on acceptable evidence and using statutory declarations.

A practice will keep the below when changing ownership, if the accreditation was included in the sale/transfer of the practice:

• Practice ID
• SWPE value

If the practice is issued with a new accreditation certificate number, it must re-apply for the program/s and establish a new SWPE value, see Practice application for PIP and WIP. The historical SWPE reference period will begin from the date of sale.

If the original owner establishes a new practice in the same local area, the original owner must apply for the program/s as a new practice. They are not entitled to keep the previous practice’s historical data or SWPE value.

See also:

• Payments for PIP and WIP - Practice Stream
• Practice accreditation for PIP and WIP - Practice Stream

Changes of ownership cannot be updated in PIP and/or WIP - Practice Stream online during a calculation month. The calculation months are:

• February
• May
• August
• November

Change of ownership notifications received during these months should be fully assessed. If the outcome of the assessment is that:

• the application can be processed: pend as 'FUTURE DATE' to the first day of month following the calculation month. Add a processing note to the PaNDA item confirming assessment of the documentation
• further information is needed: reject the form, advising the practice what additional information is required

See Payments in PIP and WIP - Practice Stream for more information.

The Resources page has more information on the payment quarters, reference periods and point-in-time dates.

The previous owners(s) will not get any payments after the change of practice ownership is finalised. Payments for the current payment quarter will be paid to the owner registered on the practice profile at the payment point-in-time date.

If there are held payments, staff must assess who is eligible to receive the payment/s and request the release of the held payments.

See Payments for PIP and WIP - Practice Stream for information on holding and releasing payments.

If the new owner(s) asks for the payments to be given to the old owner(s), this cannot occur. Payments can only be made to the recorded bank account details as advised by the owner/authorised contact persons at the point in time.

Do not recover any payments if the old owner(s) think they should receive the payment. It is the responsibility of the old owner(s) and the new owner(s) to resolve payment disputes between themselves. Services Australia will not get involved in these disputes.

If the date of change on the form does not match the date on the supporting evidence, use the date on the form. However, if the date discrepancy crosses a point-in-time date, the date of change must be confirmed by both previous and new owners.