ACCHOs can redirect the GP share of the payment to the practice, but the government still recommends obtaining independent legal and accounting advice.
The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing has issued a fact sheet on how the Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Payment works in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations, where GPs are typically salaried employees.
The BB PIP was designed with mainstream GP practices in mind, where GPs tended to be either contractors or tenant doctors rather than employees.
Because of that, the quarterly payment was calculated and routed with the assumption that half would go to the GP directly and half to the practice.
According to the Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia, the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation had originally advised DoHDA to send the full payment to ACCHOs.
“While this advice was not adopted, the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing has confirmed that ACCHOs may redirect the GP’s share of the payment back to the service,” the council wrote in January.
“As independent businesses, practices and GPs retain discretion over how BBPIP payments are managed, including which bank account receives the funds and how they are allocated afterwards.
“If a GP redirects their BBPIP payment to the practice, the GP does not incur an income tax liability on that amount. Practices and GPs remain responsible for determining their own tax obligations.”
This week, DoHDA published a new fact sheet for ACCHOs and Aboriginal Medical Services with additional information.
“The 50/50 split describes the program’s standard payment calculation,” the fact sheet said.
“It does not, on its own, determine how funds are managed under a provider’s employment or contractual arrangements.
“In an ACCHO or AMS employment model, the GP proportion can be paid directly to the practices bank account, where this is consistent with the provider’s work arrangements and the service’s governance.
“The provider and practice should record how the GP proportion will be handled through their relevant employment, contractual and financial processes.
“Entering an account in HPOS is a payment instruction; it is not a substitute for those arrangements.
“Each practice and provider should obtain legal, employment, tax or accounting advice where required.”
Before a provider updated HPOS, it said, the practice should confirm the agreed payment arrangement, check the effect on other MyMedicare-related incentive payments, and confirm the provider was linked to the correct organisation site.
The nominated account applied to all MyMedicare Incentives for that Medicare provider number location, not only the BB PIP.
If valid banking details were not supplied after four payment quarters, the BB PIP payments for that period might be forfeited.
