Online Services for Practice Incentives Program (PIP) and Workforce Incentive Program (WIP) - Practice Stream 012-10130040

Services Officers should explain how to use the online services and their benefits. For example, when a customer queries how to perform a task manually.

The benefits of using PIP/WIP - Practice Stream Online are:

• Secure and streamlined interaction
• More convenient
• A customer can interact with Services Australia at a convenient time for them
• No time waiting in telephone queues
• Significantly reduces staff time needing to prepare and submit paperwork
• Reduces the need for paper forms and their storage
• Changes are visible immediately, in most cases

To access PIP Online or WIP – Practice Stream Online, the user must:

• register for Provider Digital Access (PRODA)
• link HPOS to their PRODA account
• link their Registration Authority (RA) number to their PIP and WIP – Practice Stream profiles

Provider Digital Access (PRODA) is an online authentication system used to access online government services.

PRODA is digital, portable and does not need extra hardware or software.

To access PRODA, all users must have an individual PRODA account.

The Resources page contains a link for how to register for an individual account on the Services Australia website.

The details used to log on to PRODA are:

• Username
• Password, and
• Verification code

There are several services that use PRODA. Once a user has a PRODA account, they must link the services they wish to access. HPOS is the service that is required to access PIP and WIP – Practice Stream Online.

See Health Professional Education Resource on the Services Australia website for more information.

• See also: Provider Digital Access (PRODA)

Health Professional Online Services (HPOS) is an easy and secure online service for health professionals. They use it to communicate with Services Australia.

Health professionals include:

• General practitioners
• Specialists
• Allied health professionals
• Practice managers, and
• Practice staff

Using HPOS a health professional can:

• create new provider numbers
• update bank account details
• submit claims
• view reports
• verify patient eligibility, including a patient 'care plan history'
• nominate delegates to do administrative tasks for them. Note: delegates cannot update practice details unless they are registered, on the PIP and/or WIP - Practice Stream practice profile, as an owner or authorised contact person
• view program statements, correspondence and subscriptions using the HPOS Messages

HPOS access will suspend when the account is inactive for 6 months. HPOS will stay active if a delegate performs a transaction on another person’s behalf.

To reactivate an account, a practice must:

• log in to their PRODA account, and
• select Reactivate Access to HPOS

If an account suspends, Registration Authority (RA) numbers will stay linked in the PIP and the WIP - Practice Stream Online. The practice will need to reactivate their account to access PIP and WIP - Practice Stream Online.

See Health Professional Education Resource on the Services Australia website for more information. The Resources page has a link.

See also:

• Health Professional Online Services

A RA number is system generated and is used to access PIP/WIP - Practice Stream Online within HPOS.

A RA number for an individual must be linked to their practice profile to grant them access to PIP and WIP - Practice Stream Online.

If a practice has not previously had access to PIP or WIP – Practice Stream Online, an:

• owner, or
• authorised contact person must contact the Incentives Processing team to link their RA number to the practice profile

Once linked, this owner/authorised contact person can then grant access to PIP or WIP – Practice Stream Online other practice staff.

A RA number can be updated using:

• HPOS
• various Practice Incentive forms
• written correspondence via HPOS messaging, letter or email
• verbally over the phone

Written correspondence must include:

• Practice ID
• Practice name
• Practice address
• Name of the owner of the RA number
• RA number to be added or removed

See the Process page for more information and how to search and view a PRODA account.

Service Officers have the discretion to update RA numbers, where there is a name discrepancy. See the Resources page for more information on RA number overrides.

Individuals can find their RA number by:

• Accessing HPOS through their PRODA account
• Selecting Profile from the HPOS Home Page
• The individual’s details will show (user name, email, date of birth, gender and RA number)

See Manage the PIP and WIP – Practice Stream Online on the Services Australia website for more information. The Resources page has a link.

Access is through HPOS when the person signs in as an individual, not as an organisation (if they have organisation access).

To access PIP/WIP - Practice Stream Online, a person must:

• be a registered owner or an authorised contact person on the practice profile
• have access to HPOS via PRODA, and
• link their RA number to the practice profile

See the Resources page for a list of functions that can be updated by an authorised contact person or owner with online access.

See also:

Enquiry management for PIP and WIP - Practice Stream

The Incentives Processing team get HPOS notifications via the mailbox when a practice makes the below updates:

• Relocation
• Amalgamation
• Change of practice ownership

All PIP and WIP - Practice Stream practice payments will automatically go on hold while the practice's details are being checked.

Tell the practice they need to lodge the below forms:

• Relocation and amalgamation, Practice Incentives Change of practice details (IP005) form
• Change of practice ownership, Practice Incentives Change of practice ownership (IP010) form

The Resources page has a link to the forms.

Practice payments may need to stay on hold until the practice submits these documents.

See also:

• Practice relocation for PIP and WIP - Practice Stream
• Practice amalgamation for PIP and WIP - Practice Stream
• Change of practice ownership for PIP and WIP - Practice Stream
• Payments for PIP and WIP - Practice Stream

HPOS messages is used to send and receive secure notifications. It is not an email account.

Practices can use HPOS messages to:

• securely communicate with program areas
• receive statements and notifications about programs that practices are registered for
• manage notifications

PIP and WIP – Practice Stream registered users do not need to request access to any of the mailboxes. It is automatic.

Access to the mailboxes is universal and does not depend on the role allocated to users in PIP or WIP – Practice Stream. If an authorised contact person or owner has an RA number allocated to them on PIP and WIP – Practice Stream, they automatically receive access to:

• their own My Mailbox
• Practice Organisation Mailbox
• Statements and Subscriptions Mailbox

The communication preference in PIP and WIP – Practice Stream must be set to ‘online’

See Using HPOS Messages on the Services Australia website for more information. The Resources page has a link.

Notifications are sent to a user’s personal email address to alert them to new mail received in HPOS Messages.

To receive notifications, a user must provide an email address and set their frequency of notifications. They can choose to have notifications delivered:

• immediately, as new mail arrives in HPOS
• daily
• weekly

When a user first logs into HPOS, they will be asked to set up notifications. They can also set up or change their notifications later.

Users need to manage their HPOS messages notifications to ensure that they are alerted of incoming mail, outstanding statements and payment advices.

See Health Professional Education Resources on the Services Australia website for more information on HPOS. The Resources page has a link.

See also:

• Health Professional Online Services

Practices can submit their PIP and WIP – Practice Stream forms online using the secure form upload function in HPOS.

This function confirms forms have been received and stops postal delays and costs.

Practices will need to access HPOS using their PRODA account.

The Resources page contains the list of PIP and WIP – Practice Stream forms that can be uploaded via HPOS.

See Health Professional Education Resources on the Services Australia website for more information on HPOS Form Upload. The Resources page has a link.

See also:

• Upload forms in HPOS on the Services Australia website for more information. The Resources page has a link.