Aged Care Access Initiative
Heather Campbell August 08
DoHA recently announced the introduction of the Aged Care Access Initiative (ACAI), which replaces the Aged Care GP Panels Initiative.
The ACAI has two distinct components:
- Incentive payments for GPs for service provision in RACFs based on the number of MBS items claimed in one financial year. This will be paid through the PIP.
- A payment for clinical care provided by AHPs in RACFs. This component will be managed through the Divisions Network.
Key Factors
- All GPs whose practices participate in the Practice Incentives Program (PIP) are eligible for the ACAI payment
- There are 2 payment levels for ACAI under the GP component. These will be calculated by Medicare Australia based on the number of relevant MBS items claimed by a GP in one financial year
- Payments will be made at the end of each quarter when the predetermined Qualifying Service levels (QSLs) have been reached. However the first payment under ACAI will not be made until February 09.
- Payment will be made available to the GP who provided the service, rather than to the practice itself
Payments
There are two payment levels or tiers under the GP component for ACAI:
- Tier one = $1000 for 60 services (Qualifying Service Level 1)
- Tier two = $1500 for a total of 140 services (including the 60 services above) - (Qualifying Service Level 2)
The maximum payment any one GP can receive in one financial year is $2500.
Eligible MBS Items used in Residential Aged Care:
There are a number of eligible Medicare Benefits Scheduled Items that count towards the Qualifying Service Levels when provided to aged care residents in commonwealth-funded RACFs and Multipurpose Services. These include Comprehensive Medical Assessments, contributions to Care Plans, Case Conferences and Residential Medication Management Reviews.
The full list of eligible MBS items is: 20, 35, 43, 51, 92, 93, 96, 712, 731, 734, 736, 738, 775, 778, 779, 903, 5010, 5028, 5049, 5067, 5260, 5263, 5265, 5267.
More: DoHA's info on the Qualifying Service Levels and the Medicare Items that count towards them
This article is available online at http://bddgp.org.au/article/2008/08/acai
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