More incentives to GPs to help patients with mental health problems

The Australian Government has abolished the annual limit on the number of Service Incentive Payments that can be claimed by a general practitioner for completing the 3 Step Mental Health Process, the Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Christopher Pyne, announced today.

"Removing the cap will encourage more GPs to take part in the Better Outcomes in Mental Health Care Program. This will help increase community access to quality primary mental health services," he said.

The mental health incentive payment had been available to GPs through the Practice Incentives Program for the past four years. About 20 per cent of GPs undertook additional mental health education and training and registered with Medicare Australia to participate in the program.

"The 3 Step Mental Health Process is a key component of the Better Outcomes in Mental Health Care Program. This promotes a structured and evidence based approach to the provision of mental health care by GPs," Mr Pyne said.

"The 3 Step Mental Health Process requires GPs to: undertake initial mental health assessments of their patients; develop written mental health plans; and review the progress of their patients against the mental health plans. In addition to the normal Medicare consultation payments, on completion of the third step, GPs received a Service Incentive Payment of $150.

"A cap of 67 Service Incentive Payments per GP per year was intended to encourage a large pool of GPs to provide mental health services, rather than creating a group of GPs specialising in this area. While only a small number of GPs have reached the cap, the government, in consultation with key mental health stakeholders, has decided to remove it to support GPs who are focussing on mental health care and to encourage more GPs to consider this important area of primary medicine," Mr Pyne said.

As well as the 3 Step Mental Health Process, the Better Outcomes in Mental Health Program includes:

education and training of GPs to provide quality mental health care;
focussed psychological strategies, which enable appropriately trained GPs to deliver specific psychological therapies;
access to Allied Psychological Services through projects operated by Divisions of General Practice; and
support to GPs from psychiatrists through the GP Psych Support service and case conferencing items for psychiatrists.

Source: Federal Government Department of Health and Ageing

Date: 24/02/06