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

Signatory requirements

Table 1

Ownership type	Signatory requirements
Individual proprietor	The full name of the individual owner of the practice Be signed by the individual owner of the practice If the applicant is a company with a sole director who is also the company secretary, only one person can sign the form. The owner must identify themselves on the form as the sole director and company secretary of the company
Partnership	The full names of at least 2 partners who are owners of the practice Be signed by the 2 named partners The signing partners must identify their role in the partnership (for example director, company secretary)
Associateship	The full name of at least one associate of the ownership of the practice Be signed by the named associate(s) The signing associate(s) must identify their role in the associateship (for example senior associate, company secretary)
Body Corporate	The company name of the body corporate The full names of at least 2 representatives of the ownership of the practice Be signed by at least 2 representatives that are either: authorised to act on behalf of the body corporate, or represent the body corporate The authorised representatives must identify their role in the body corporate (for example director, company secretary)
State or territory government or other public body (including Aboriginal Medical Services)	The full names of at least 2 officers of the government or other public body Be signed by at least 2 officers that are authorised to act on behalf of the government or other public body The authorised representatives must identify their role in the government or other public body (for example director, trustee, committee member)

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:

AGPAL Group of Companies Incorporating: Australian General Practice Accreditation Limited (AGPAL) and Quality Innovation Performance Limited (QIP)
Quality Practice Accreditation Pty Ltd
The Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS)

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.

Accreditation certificates

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.

Practice Branch Accreditation

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

Withdrawn or closed practice applications

When processing a new application for a previously withdrawn or closed practice the:

earliest GP start date is the day after the closure/withdrawal date of previous practice
practice must be accredited - they are not entitled to an additional registered for accreditation period
practice is not entitled to sign-on payments at the new practice if they were paid at the previous practice and it has been less than 12 months since the practice was closed/withdrawn
escalate to Local Peer Support (LPS) via the Incentives Escalation Database to advise that any calculated sign-on payments are to be withheld if there is less than a 12 month gap

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 for that State confirming the coverage.

The letter should include the:

practice name
insurance policy number
expiry date

If there is no policy number or expiry date, the letter will need to stipulate this.

State government professional indemnity insurance

If a practice is operated by a State government department and the practitioner has indicated that their professional indemnity insurance is covered by that State government, Services Australia requires a letter from the relevant department for that State confirming the coverage.

The letter must include the: