Practice relocation for Practice Incentives Program (PIP) and Workforce Incentive Program (WIP) - Practice Stream 012-10010040

For a permanent practice location, the following requirements must be met:

• Current accreditation must be transferred to the new premises and accreditation status retained under the National General Practice Accreditation Schemes
• All current practitioners moving from the old practice location must obtain a provider number associated with the new practice address
• The old location is no longer operating as a medical practice.
  Note: this does not include where a new, unrelated practice operating under different ownership opens in the old location after the relocating practice has left the premises

A practice can relocate to any location regardless of distance. However, if the practice wants to transfer the historical Standardised Whole Patient Equivalent (SWPE) value, it must relocate within the same local area as the original location. See Effect of a relocation on the SWPE below for more information.

Relocating practices issued with a new accredited or registered for accreditation certificate must re-apply for the PIP and/or WIP - Practice Stream as a new practice.

Do not process a relocation during a calculation month. See Payments for PIP and WIP - Practice Stream for more information.

To notify a practice relocation, the practice must submit the following forms:

• Practice Incentives Change of practice details form (IP005):
• All pages of the form must be received
• The practice must complete the practice details, relocation questions and eligibility section. Other questions will depend on the changes being notified
• The declaration must be signed by an owner of the practice registered on the practice profile
• Practice Incentives Individual general practitioner or nurse practitioner details form (IP003):
• Must be for all practitioners who join the practice or move to new relocation address
• If only one IP003 is received, Services Australia can complete the relocation process. Tell the practice they must check that all current practitioners are added to the practice profile
• All current practitioners moving to the new location must get a provider number for the relocated practice address
  Note: all practitioners at the old address that have not been added to the relocation address will be end dated in the system. It is important to make sure that the practice has either added relevant practitioners or submitted an IP003 for them, as it could impact their payments
• Accreditation certificate:
• The practice must contact their accreditation agency to confirm that they still meet the rules for accreditation at the new location
• The practice must provide an accreditation certificate showing the relocated practice address within 6 months of the date of relocation
• Practice payments will be placed on hold until an updated accreditation certificate for the new location is provided

See also:

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

Practices can use HPOS to notify a practice relocation. The PIP and WIP - Practice Stream Online system will immediately place payments on hold. Payments will remain on hold until a Practice Incentives Change of practice details form (IP005) and supporting documents, including the relocated accreditation certificate, are submitted.

Practices using HPOS to notify a relocation will see a warning message, telling them practice payments are on hold and an IP005 must be submitted. If the practice is a PIP consenting WIP - Practice Stream practice, the automatic payment hold will apply to WIP - Practice Stream payments also.

Where a practice has correctly updated all current practitioners in HPOS as part of an online relocation, Practice Incentives Individual general practitioner or nurse practitioner details forms (IP003) are not required.

Practices in Rural, Remote and Metropolitan Areas (RRMA) classification 3-7 with procedural general practitioners (GP) need to submit IP003s to register or transfer procedural GP payment tiers to the provider number(s) at the new location.

The Resources page has scenarios about a practice creating an additional location in HPOS instead of relocating the main location.

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

• an amalgamation
• updating practice bank account details
• a change of authorised contact persons
• ceasing a general practitioner or nurse practitioner
• updating WIP - Practice Stream health professional details

If the practice notifies a relocation and amalgamation, the change with the earliest date must be assessed and processed first. For example, if the date of relocation is before the date of amalgamation, assess and process the relocation first. Then process the amalgamation. If they occurred on the same day, process the amalgamation first.

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

Practice amalgamation for Practice Incentives Program (PIP) and Workforce Incentive Program (WIP) - Practice Stream has more information about assessing and processing an amalgamation.

If a practice changes ownership as part of the relocation, the practice must also submit:

• the Practice Incentives Change of practice ownership form (IP010), and
• supporting documents

Action the practice updates in the order of when they occurred. If the changes occurred on the same date, process the change of ownership first.

The Process page has more information about processing a relocation including other changes.

An address update is different to a relocation. An address update is when the practice does not physically move premises.

The address change is due to:

• a rezoning/renumbering by the council
• the re-numbering of a shopping complex
• an administrative error made by the practice, or
• errors in the practice details in PIP/WIP - Practice Stream Online. For example, an address variance

The practice must provide a signed letter from the practice owner(s). It must include:

• practice name and practice ID number
• confirmation of the address update
• the updated practice address
• documents to support the change, such as a letter from the council
• the signature of at least one registered owner
• an accreditation certificate that shows the updated practice address

Practitioners do not need a new provider number. They must change the address linked to their provider number before submitting the update. To do this, they contact Medicare Provider Registration. Provider number addresses must be updated before the address update is actioned.

To update an address, escalate to Program Management via Local Peer Support (LPS). Do not escalate for an address update until all provider addresses have been updated to reflect the correct address.

In some cases, it may be that practitioners are issued with new provider numbers for the updated address. In these scenarios:

• A Practice Incentives Individual general practitioner or nurse practitioner details form (IP003) will be required from each practitioner that has been issued with a new provider number
• Once all supporting documents, including IP003s for each practitioner, have been submitted, escalate to Program Management via LPS
• Program Management will update the address for the practice and returns to Incentives Program Delivery for all other details to be updated on the practice profile

Do not accept a Practice Incentives Change of practice details form (IP005) for an address update, unless there are documents to support the change.

See also Forms for PIP and WIP - Practice Stream.

Moving to new premises within the same shopping centre is not an address update. The practice has physically moved to a new location. This must be assessed as a relocation. The practice must complete a Practice Incentives Change of practice details form (IP005) and provide supporting documents.

With this type of move, Medicare will often update the provider location address in the Provider Directory System (PDS) rather than issue a new provider number. Generally, this is acceptable. Escalate to Local Peer Support (LPS) if confirmation is required.

While this is assessed as a relocation, if new provider numbers are not issued, it must be processed as an address update. This is due to system limitations that will affect payment calculations.

A practice can transfer their Standardised Whole Patient Equivalent (SWPE) value when they meet the below criteria:

• The old location is not operating as a general medical practice
• The patient base is the same:
• all patient records are at the new location
• Both the original and new locations are in the same local area
• The practice accreditation has been relocated to the new practice address

A practice can relocate to any location, regardless of distance. To be able to transfer their historical SWPE value, they must relocate within the same local area as the original practice. The definition of 'local area' is assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Relocations to a different suburb or post code area must be escalated to Program Management via Local Peer Support (LPS) for assessment prior to any action being taken. Program Management (Policy) will determine eligibility to retain the historical SWPE.

Note: if a new practice opens at the location after the practice has relocated and is not associated with the original practice, the historical SWPE value can usually be transferred to the relocated practice. Escalate to the Program Management (Policy) via LPS for assessment. For more details, see Relocation scenarios on the Resources page.

A temporary relocation occurs when a practice moves to an interim location. This could be due to their premises being temporarily unusable, or an existing location needing to be vacated before a new permanent location is available.

Program Management (Policy) will refer all temporary relocation requests to Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (DHDA) for a determination on continued practice eligibility for the PIP and/or WIP - Practice Stream. DHDA will assess these requests on a case-by-case basis.

Accreditation requirements at the temporary location will depend on the reason for the temporary relocation. A practice impacted by a natural disaster, or other damage which renders the premises unusable, must notify their accrediting agency of the temporary relocation and confirm they continue to meet the accreditation requirements at the temporary location. They should discuss whether a relocation assessment is required for the temporary site.

Relocating practices that move to a temporary location before occupying their new permanent site must undergo a relocation assessment at the temporary location to remain eligible for the PIP and WIP - Practice Stream. A second relocation assessment will be required at the new permanent location.

If the practice cannot, or does not, access a relocation assessment at the temporary site, full details of the reason for this must be provided with their temporary relocation request. Any correspondence from the accrediting agency about assessments should be attached to the request.

Practitioners at the practice must either obtain provider numbers for the new location or have their existing provider address updated to reflect the temporary location. In very rare cases there can be exceptions to this rule, but that would require a determination by DHDA.

If a temporary relocation is approved by DHDA, the main practice location will not be updated to reflect the temporary address. Policy team will provide instructions on the information to be updated on the practice profile.