Information Management/ Information Technology Practice Incentives Program

From 1999, incentives have been made available to general practices through the PIP IM/IT Incentive for:

• Providing data to the Commonwealth
• Using electronic prescribing software to generate the majority of scripts and
• Using a computer connected to a modem to send and/ or receive clinical information.

From November, 2006, the PIP IM/IT Incentive aims to encourage practices to maintain electronic health records and implement more secure IM/IT practice systems in order to facilitate efficient and widespread information transfer and storage. To be eligible for the PIP IM/IT Incentive, a practice must:

• Participate in the PIP and
• Meet the requirements of the Tier for which the practice is applying.
  • Tier 1- Basic:
    • The practice maintains electronic patient records, which include clinical data on allergies/ sensitivities for the majority of active patients; and
    • The practice implements appropriate information security measures (eg. virus protection, firewall, backup and recovery, access control and practice procedures to support/ maintain appropriate information security). The practice also uses appropriate security (eg. encryption systems) when patient information and/ or clinical data are transferred electronically.
  • Tier 2- Enhanced:
    • The practice qualifies for Tier 1; and
    • The practice uses electronic patient records to record and store clinical information on the majority of active patients, including current and past major diagnoses and current medications.

The two levels of IM/IT activity recognised under the PIP IM/IT Incentive are Basic and Enhanced.

Activity	Tier: 1 Basic	Tier: 2 Enhanced
P.I.P	$4.00 (per SWPE)	$3.00 (per SWPE)
Notes	Payment is made to practices that maintain electronic patient records, which include clinical data on allergies/sensitivities for the majority of active patients. In addition, the practice implements appropriate information security measures (e.g. virus protection, firewall, backup and recovery, access control and practice procedures/processes to support/maintain appropriate information security). The practice also uses appropriate security (e.g. encryption systems) when patient information and/or clinical data are transferred electronically.	The practice qualifies for Tier 1 and uses electronic patient records to record and store clinical information on patients, including current and past major diagnoses and current medications for the majority of active patients.