Practice application for Practice Incentives Program (PIP) and Workforce Incentive Program (WIP) - Practice Stream 012-11020000

System application status meanings

Table 1

Application status	Description
Initial	Application has been started in the system but not submitted.
Awaiting verification	Application has been submitted in the system.
Awaiting Information for Verification	Application has been submitted in the system but further information is required from the practice prior to progressing the application to the next stage.
Awaiting Approval	Application has been submitted, assessed and verified in the system.
Awaiting Information for Approval	Application has been submitted, assessed and verified in the system but further information is required from the practice prior to progressing the application to the next stage.
Approved	Application has been approved for the program/s.

Accreditation information

Table 2

Item

Details

Accreditation

This is the independent recognition that a practice meets the requirements of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioner (RACGP) Standards for general practices.

Accreditation agencies

The following agencies are approved to assess general practices to the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Standards for general practices:

Australian General Practice Accreditation Limited (AGPAL)
Quality Practice Accreditation Pty Ltd (QPA) - formerly General Practice Accreditation Plus (GPA)
The Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS)
Global-Mark Pty Ltd (GMARK)

Registered for Accreditation

When a practice first applies for accreditation, they are Registered for Accreditation until they have undertaken all the necessary steps with their accreditation agency to achieve full accreditation. The practice’s accreditation certificate will state Registered for Accreditation in these circumstances.

Accredited

This is independent recognition that a practice meets the requirements of the RACGP Standards for general practice.

Accreditation certificate address

If the street number provided on the accreditation certificate is slightly different to the practice application (for example, the application has 124-130 Main St and the Accreditation certificate is 126 Main St) this is acceptable.

Questions about address variances are to be escalated to LPS for review and advice.

Practice Branch Accreditation

Practice branches do not need to be independently accredited until they are providing 3,000 or more MBS services per year.

At the point of processing the application, a practice branch can be registered without accreditation.

It is up to the practice to review their statements to confirm the number of services they provide from the practice branch location and determine whether or not they need to proceed with accreditation.

New applications for closed/withdrawn practices

Practices reapplying for the program/s after being closed or withdrawn must be accredited before submitting their application. Practices cannot reapply while registered for accreditation.

The exception is where the practice changed ownership after it was closed or withdrawn. These applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis. In most cases, the new owners can apply with a registered for accreditation certificate.

Practices reapplying after being closed or withdrawn will be approved under a new practice ID. These practices will not carry over their SWPE value from the old practice ID. They must rebuild their SWPE under the new practice ID.

If there are general practitioners who have remained at the practice, their start date on the new practice profile will be the day after the closure/withdrawal date of the old practice.

State government public liability insurance

If a practice is operated by a State government department and has indicated that their public liability insurance is covered by that State government, Services Australia requires a letter from the relevant department of that State confirming the coverage.

The letter should include the: