Health professional weekly hours in the Workforce Incentive Program (WIP) - Practice Stream 012-11070020

A WIP - Practice Stream payment is calculated using the:

• Standardised Whole Patient Equivalent (SWPE) value
• type of eligible health professional employed or engaged, and
• average weekly contracted hours the health professional works at the practice (including additional practice branches) over the payment quarter

SWPE value

Most of the incentive payments are calculated based on the size of the practice. This is known as the SWPE value.

The SWPE value is based on the Medicare and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) services a practitioner gives to patients at the practice.

For more information about the SWPE value, see Payments for PIP and WIP - Practice Stream.

Types of eligible health professionals

A practice must employ or retain the services of:

• a nurse practitioner
• a registered nurse
• an enrolled nurse. Note: enrolled nurses must work under the direct or indirect supervision of a nurse practitioner, or registered nurse. This is in accordance with the requirements in the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia’s Enrolled Nurse Standards for Practice. See Resources for a link to the standards
• a midwife
• an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Worker
• an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioner
• other eligible allied health professionals as defined by the program guidelines

See Resources for a link to the WIP - Practice Stream guidelines for a list of eligible health professionals

Average weekly contracted hours

A practice needs to calculate the average weekly hours worked per quarter for each eligible health professional.

The average weekly hours is the sum of the total hours worked by the health professional for the entire payment quarter divided by 13 weeks.

Average weekly hours (AWH) should be reported using HH:MM (Hours:Minutes) format. AWH may be reported in decimal format. The WIP – Practice Stream system will only accept AWH in HH:MM format.

The Resources page contains a table for converting decimal hours to hours and minutes.

An enrolled nurse (EN) must work under the direct or indirect supervision of a nurse practitioner or registered nurse (RN). This is a requirement of the Nursing and Midwifery Board Enrolled nurse standards for practice.

Direct supervision is when the supervising nurse practitioner or RN is actually present and personally observes, works with, guides and directs the EN

Indirect supervision is when the supervising nurse practitioner or RN:

• works in the same facility or organisation as the EN being supervised, but does not constantly observe their activities
• is available for 'reasonable access' - reasonable depends on the context, the needs of the person receiving care, and the needs of the EN being supervised
• usually has the same employer as the EN

If a nurse practitioner or RN and EN work for the same employer at different locations, they must have:

• a structured indirect supervisory arrangement, and
• regular communication

If a nurse practitioner or RN and EN work for different employers at the same location, then the:

• employers must clearly document the arrangements, including:
• details of the supervision arrangements (including insurance), and
• how the nurse practitioner or RN will be available for 'reasonable access'
• nurse practitioner or RN and EN must support the arrangements

When a nurse practitioner or RN directly/indirectly supervises an EN during the quarter, the practice must:

• calculate the average supervision time over the entire quarter, even for as little as 30 minutes, and
• claim the actual average weekly hours in the Quarterly Confirmation Statement (QCS)

Practice payments may be withheld if a nurse practitioner or RN does not supervise an EN,

Practice payments may be zero if nurse practitioner or RN supervisory hours are not reported for an EN. For EN hours to be included in a WIP – Practice Stream payment calculation, supervisory nurse practitioner or RN hours must be reported by the practice.

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia’s Enrolled Nurse Standards for Practice has more information. The Resources page has a link.

A practice can amend their previously recorded health professional details through one of the below:

• Health Professional Online Services for the current payment quarter only if the amendment is made before the current point in time date
• Letter or email which must include:
• practice ID
• practice name
• practice address
• amended eligible health professional details. This includes full name (optional), health professional type, AHPRA or HPI-I identifier number (if applicable), and actual average weekly hours worked
• payment quarter/s to be updated
• A revised Quarterly Confirmation Statement (QCS)
• A Practice Incentives Change of practice details form (IP005) for previous payment quarters only

A practice may need to amend these details because:

• they reported incorrect hours in a previous QCS
• the practice became PIP Consenting, or was reinstated to the program and was not issued a QCS
• a newly approved practice needs to change the details provided in their WIP - Practice Stream application

Do not amend the health professional details if there is an outstanding QCS. The practice must be advised to confirm the QCS in HPOS or return it for processing.

If the amended hours are:

• less than the previously confirmed hours:
• Escalate to the Local Peer Support (LPS) to see if a payment recovery is needed
• Program management (payments team) will confirm the recovery amount with the LPS
• more than the previously confirmed hours, escalate to LPS to see if an additional payment is needed
• Payments team will assess the changes and arrange for an adjustment payment if an additional payment is needed

A practice must be able to provide evidence of the hours worked by all of the eligible health professionals if required. This includes.

• contracted hours records
• payment summaries (pay slips)
• rostered hours records (formal rosters)
• time sheets
• other supporting documents that may be considered on a case by case basis

A practice must keep the evidence for a minimum of 6 years for audit purposes.

Services Australia and/or the Department of Health and Aged Care may conduct audits. If the practice can not substate their health professional hours, payments may be recovered.

The WIP -Practice Stream replaced the Practice Nurse Incentive Payment (PNIP) 1 February 2020. On this date PNIP Practices automatically transitioned to WIP – Practice Stream. The final payment under the PNIP was the February 2020 quarter.

If a practice submits a request to update practice or health professional details under the PNIP, escalate to Program Management via LPS.