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

Item

Scenarios and documents needed

1

Relocation notified via form, email or HPOS

The practice will need to provide:

• Practice Incentives Change of practice details (IP005) form
• Practice Incentives Individual general practitioner, nurse practitioner or health professional details (IP003) form
• This confirms procedural GP details for all practitioners
• Accreditation Certificate with the relocation address
• The practice must provide this within 6 months of relocating
• Practice payments stay on hold until it is received

The fax or email must state that the practice:

• Has moved location, and
• Is set up as a business at the new premises

Health Professional Online Services (HPOS)

To notify of a relocation via HPOS, the practice updates the practice address in PIP/WIP-Practice Stream online. This will put the practice payments on hold. The system will return a warning message advising the IP005 must be submitted.

Check that the practice:

• Has moved location, and
• Is set up as a business at the new premises

Check PaNDA for the required forms. If no forms have been submitted, send the Request for more information for the PIP and the WIP - Practice Stream (z1736) to request the necessary forms.

A practice can update practitioner details in HPOS but not Procedural GP details.

2

Practice relocates and amalgamates with a non-PIP/WIP - Practice Stream practice

The practice will need to provide:

• Practice Incentives Change of practice details (IP005) form
• Practice Incentives Individual general practitioner, nurse practitioner or health professional details (IP003) form. This form will:
• Confirm procedural GP details for all practitioners, and
• Add practitioners from the non-PIP practice
• Accreditation Certificate with the relocation address
• The practice must provide this within 6 months of relocating
• Practice payments stay on hold until it is received

PIP Procedural GP

The practice must apply for the procedural GP payment if:

• the practice that is staying open has never applied for the payments, and
• GPs from the closing practice have indicated Yes at Question 14 of the IP003 form

To apply for the payment, the practice submits the:

• Practice Incentives Procedural General Practitioner Payment application (IP004) form

They will not get the payments until this is approved.

The practice will not get any PIP Procedural GP back payments.

3

Practice relocates and changes ownership at the same time

The practice will need to provide:

• Practice Incentives Change of practice details (IP005) form
• Practice Incentives Individual general practitioner, nurse practitioner or health professional details (IP003) form
• This confirms procedural GP details for all practitioners
• Practice Incentives Change of practice ownership (IP010) form
• an accreditation certificate with the new address
• The practice must provide this within 6 months of relocating
• Practice payments stay on hold until it is received

If accreditation was not included:

• The new owners must reapply for the program(s). They lodge a Practice Incentives Application (IP001) form

When a practice is accredited, they cannot return to a status of 'registered for accreditation'.

4

Address update

This is when the practice does not physically move premises. The change is due to a council rezoning etc.

The practice does not complete a form. They send:

• A signed letter or email from the practice owner(s)
• Documents to support the change, such as a letter from the council
• An accreditation certificate that shows the address

The provider may not be given a new provider number. The provider number address will need to be amended.

5

Address correction

The practice says that the address is incorrect. This is due to an administrative error.

This notice may be on:

• The PIP Annual Confirmation Statement, or
• The WIP - Practice Stream Quarterly Confirmation Statement, or
• Notified by the practice

This update can be actioned.

6

New provider number is not issued

This can occur when the practice relocates within the same shopping complex.

The practice will move premises, but they do not move out of the shopping complex.

The provider may not be given a new provider number. The provider number address may be amended. This is decided by Medicare.

This is assessed as a relocation but actioned as an address update. Providers do not need to complete IP003s if a new provider number has not been issued.

7

HPOS relocation notification updated as an additional practice branch

A practice may set up a new practice location in error when attempting to notify a relocation using HPOS.

If this happens the practice must submit all required forms for a relocation. The forms and supporting documents will be assessed as a relocation.

Once assessment is complete, the additional practice branch is made the main location and then the previous practice location is closed. A comment must be added to the profile to explain.

See Practice location amendments for PIP and WIP - Practice Stream for more information.

8

Temporary relocation

The practice has advised they will be temporarily operating from a different location. This may be due to:

• Building works requiring the practice to temporarily vacate the permanent location
• A natural disaster or other damage rendering the permanent location temporarily unusable
• The existing location needing to be vacated before a new permanent location is available

Practices requesting a temporary relocation must provide the following information in writing:

• details of the temporary location
• reason for the move
• expected date of return to the permanent location, or expected time frame at the temporary location
• confirmation the accrediting agency has been informed of the temporary relocation
• confirmation there is no change to the practice’s compliance with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Standards for general practices
• the practice continues to meet the RACGP’s definition of a general practice for the purposes of accreditation
• how the practice is communicating the changes to their patients
• the practice has undertaken a risk assessment of changes to the practice and the likelihood of patient harm and put in place mitigating strategies to address these risks

Practitioners at the practice must either:

• get a provider number for the temporary location, or
• have their existing PDS address updated to reflect the temporary location

Requests to use a provider number linked to the vacated address must be approved by the Department of Health and Aged Care (DoHAC). Requests for a temporary relocation must also be approved by DoHAC if the practice is not transferring their accreditation.

Program Management (Policy) will seek a determination from DoHAC based on the information above. These determinations will be assessed by DoHAC on a case-by-case basis.

The practice main location will not be updated on the profile to reflect the temporary relocation. The temporary location can be recorded as the postal address if there is no separate postal address.

Practitioners obtaining provider numbers for the temporary location will need to submit an IP003 to be added manually. In most cases the system will not allow the provider numbers to be added via HPOS.

Policy team will provide details of the updates required to the practice profile.

Practices should be managed as a standard relocation if they are providing evidence showing:

• the accreditation has been transferred to the temporary location
• all practitioners have obtained provider numbers for the temporary location