Updated General Practice in Aged Care Incentive (GPACI) Guidelines
October Payment Update
There will be a delay in the 1 July – 30 September 2025 quarter payment, which was due by the end of October. We expect payments to be made in mid-November. Please see point 2 below for more details on the reason for this delay.
Updated GPACI guidelines
The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing have heard your concerns and are removing barriers to participate in the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive (GPACI).
The guidelines have changed in appearance and have the following two eligibility changes. There are no other policy changes in these new guidelines:
Eligibility - BBPIP accreditation exclusion
Practices that receive a Bulk Billing Practice Incentive accreditation exemption are not eligible to participate in the GPACI.
Practices that wish to participate in GPACI are required to meet MyMedicare accreditation requirements set out in the MyMedicare Guidelines. This includes being covered by one of the MyMedicare accreditation exemption for non-accredited practices who deliver general practice services entirely through mobile and outreach models.
12-month exclusion period removed
The Department has removed the exclusion period for responsible providers who did not meet the 12-month care plan eligibility requirements.
As you are aware, if a patient did not receive two eligible care planning services by the end of their 12-month period and a care planning service was not subsequently provided in the next quarter, the practice and provider would be ineligible for GPACI payments for that patient for the remainder of the patient’s new 12-month period. This requirement has been removed, and the exclusion period will no longer be enacted.
The delay to the October payments is to enable system changes to be implemented to ensure payments will be made as usual if the patient received their 2 regular services in their Quarter 5, and to stop correspondence relating to the patient exclusion requirement.
You are required to continue to provide the 10 eligible services comprising of 2 care planning items and 8 regular visits each year (2 regular visits must be made in separate calendar months each quarter) to receive your quarterly GPACI payments, in addition to the Medicare Benefit Services and Department of Veterans Affairs rebates for your patients.
Accreditation reminder
Many practices registered for MyMedicare and the GPACI are currently ineligible due to lapsed accreditation. Practices must record and regularly update their accreditation status in the Organisation Register.
At the end of an accreditation period, practices must be re-accredited. If the practice participating in MyMedicare has not obtained accreditation or re-accreditation at the end of their accreditation period, the practice will be ineligible for MyMedicare and GPACI. Any GPACI services performed after accreditation has lapsed will not be eligible for payment.
New GPACI hints and tips document
There is a new Health Professional Education Resource available, which emphasises the relationship between practice, patient and Responsible Provider. The GPACI assessment and reassessment process looks for this relationship. Anything that changes the relationship will impact current and past GPACI payments. If patient details change, follow the steps outlined in this resource making sure you do not delete previous responsible providers: https://hpe.servicesaustralia.gov.au/INFO/MYMED/MYMEDINFO15.pdf.
Please reach out to MyMedicare@health.gov.au or please contact your Primary Care Engagement Officer or reach out to us on mymedicaresupport@mphn.org.au if you need assistance in updating your accreditation record or if you have any questions about the above.