Do not miss your incentive
This incentive is intended to assist practices in keeping up to date with information on the quality use of medicines. It rewards participation in a range of activities recognised or provided by the NPS.

Recognised activities include:

• clinical audits of prescribing specific drug groups using materials approved or produced by the NPS (available to all practices four times a year)
• case studies using problem-based distance learning provided by the NPS (available to all practices six times a year)
• practice visit/s by a NPS facilitator working from a Division of General Practice. These ‘academic detailing’ visits provide a resource for GPs, and promote quality use of medicines.

Each activity is undertaken on an individual level, and the NPS will provide feedback to the individual GPs. Payment will only be made if the practice meets a minimum participation level, set at an average of three activities per Full Time Equivalent GP (FTE GP) per year. One of these activities must be a clinical audit, whilst the other two can be any recognised activity.

For example, a practice with 1 FTE GP will need to participate in 3 activities, including at least one clinical audit. The doctors in a practice with 5 FTE GPs would need to participate in at least fifteen activities between them, including five clinical audits, to receive payment. Some GPs in the practice may undertake more or less activities, so long as the practice as a whole averages 3 activities per FTE GP.

As with other PIP payments, the payment will be made to the practice. Payments are based on $1 per Standardised Patient Equivalent (SWPE). The average FTE GP sees 1,000 SWPEs annually. All relevant activities must be completed by 30 April each year.

To receive a payment under the QPI (paid annually in May) an eligible PIP practice must have completed the number of activities identified in the November statement. The required number of activities is also included in the February, May and August statements as reference.

Medicare Australia will calculate payments using information supplied by the NPS on the number of activities undertaken by each provider. To ensure your practice correctly receives its payment, please ensure each GP notifies the NPS of their provider and prescriber numbers when undertaking an activity.