Update on Incentive Payments for registrars from GPET
Written by Dr John Togno
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17 August 2010
GPET has recently been advised by the Department of Health and Aging that grand parenting arrangements will apply for GP registrars formerly under Rural Registrars Incentives Payments Scheme (RRIPS); that is, current AGPT registrars will continue to receive the higher incentives rates (in lieu of GPRIP) for RRIPS-eligible placements up until they fellow, reach the 3 year RRIPS cap, or until the end of the 2012 training year.
A summary of the change has been posted onto the Doctor Connect website - http://www.doctorconnect.gov.au/internet/otd/publishing.nsf/Content/program-registrar-factsheet.
Following receipt of this advise GPET has been working with the Department of Health and Aging to clarify the details of these arrangements.
At this time further clarity is being sought on exactly who the arrangements will apply to.
It is unclear from the fact sheet if this grandfather applies;
· only to registrars who have received RRIPS payments previously, or also
· to registrars that haven’t received RRIPS (prior to 1 July 2010) but entered AGPT when RRIPS was in place (e.g. 2010 cohort registrars in their hospital year in 2010).
GPET has also sought further information on how the payments will be processed in the 3 year cross over period, given the recent administrative changes introduced under the GPRIP scheme .
At this time we are advised that registrars covered by the grand parenting arrangements will be switched to GPRIP once they fellow, reach their 3 year payment cap or at the end of the 2012 training year, whichever is earliest.
We anticipate that we will receive final advice from the Department , particularly regarding eligibility, in the coming weeks . At that stage we will include the information in the GPET registrar and provider updates.
GPET has recently starting receiving a number of enquiries from Registrars on this matter seeking clarification of the matters outlined above. We appreciate that there is significant and growing interest in the incentives associated with the AGPT program , and I would ask both registrars and RTPs to keep watch for GPET updates and further information on the doctor connect website in the coming weeks.
