Issue 212 - 23 January 2025
Welcome to Practice Connect, a fortnightly update for practice managers, principals, nurses and administration staff on relevant issues, upcoming events and education.
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It’s time to prepare your general practice for changes to Chronic Conditions Management (CCM) MBS items. Chronic Conditions Management (CCM) MBS item changes recommended by the MBS Review Taskforce are ‘the first major change to chronic disease management in 20 years, and are scheduled to come into effect 1 July 2025’. Change is a dish best served in small, manageable bites! Australian general practices are well versed in continuous quality improvement methods and Plan – Do – Study – Act cycles that support change in busy environments, safely and sustainably whilst measuring results. To help your practice prepare to transition to CCM with small, manageable changes WA Primary Health Alliance invites your practice to participate in our CCM activation series of high impact change activities with your practice team and patients to implement new chronic conditions management items, strengthening the connections that patients have with your practice through MyMedicare. To get started, Activity 1 aims to engage patients returning to your practice for Chronic Disease Management Plans and team care arrangements in MyMedicare, and regular reviews in the future. The next activity in the series will be released in February 2025 (Activity 2) and will aim to raise awareness among your practice team of MyMedicare, Chronic Conditions Management changes, and support your team to explore their roles in both MyMedicare and Chronic Conditions Management. We look forward to supporting you through this CCM activation series!
As the new year rolls around, many of your existing patients with chronic disease management plans will be due for a new chronic disease management plan and team care arrangements. Patients and practices often time chronic disease management plans with the start of the calendar year, when allied health items available through team care renew (items 10950 to 10970 and 81100 to 81125). This presents your practice with an opportunity to reduce your future workload, and take essential small and easy steps toward preparing for Chronic Conditions Management (CCM) MBS item changes. Two of the major changes signaled include MyMedicare Registration, and more regular reviews for patients with chronic conditions. The following activities therefore focus firstly on strengthening patient-practice relationships by registering Chronic Disease Management Patients for MyMedicare, and routine scheduling of patients for Chronic Disease Management Reviews. There are a range of ideas outlined below for you to use to tailor and modify to develop your own plan for change at your practice. We suggest you document your plan for each Activity Idea below using a Plan-Do-Study-Act Template. Ensure responsibility for each activity is allocated to a member of your practice team with a timeline for completion.
Did you know that the Department of Health and Aged Care provide financial incentives to help general practices with the cost of engaging nurses, midwives, allied health professionals and or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers and practitioners? The WIP-PS aims to assist practices to meet the increasingly complex health needs of their patients, encouraging multidisciplinary and team-based models of care and strengthening existing services. WIP-PS payments assist general practices with the cost of engaging eligible health professionals. They are not intended to cover the whole cost of engaging eligible health professionals. A practice may be eligible to receive incentive payments of up to $130,000 per year (before applying any applicable rural loading). Services Australia administers the WIP-PS. The amount paid to each eligible general practice is calculated on several factors which are outlined in Practice Stream incentive payments .
You can apply for the WIP-Rural Advanced Skills payments up to three times between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2025. You can apply up to 3 times anytime before 30 March 2026 for services provided since 1 January 2023.
Doctors providing primary care and emergency and/or advanced skills in Modified Monash (MM) 3-7 locations can claim up to $21,000 each year.
If you are a doctor that received a WIP-Rural Advanced Skill payment for services provided in 2023, you can apply again for a second payment for services provided in 2024. You can apply as soon as you have completed the service levels required for the maximum payment in the twelve month period.
For more information regarding your eligibility, please refer to the WIP - Rural Advanced Skills Guidelines on the Department of Health and Aged Care’s website.
For information regarding Australian Government funded incentives and supports that are available to doctors practicing in MM3-7 locations, please refer to the relevant Fact Sheets on Incentives and support for GPs and general practices in Modified Monash locations 1-7.
To get you started for 2025, the Primary Care Navigator team have created a General Practice 2025 Year Planner that has been created as a fillable PDF that allows you to customise it to your practice needs. The General Practice 2025 Year Planner includes important dates to remind you of just some of the following:
The General Practice 2025 Year Planner has recently been updated to include upcoming live demonstrations for Clinician Assist WA events throughout 2025. Learn more about the Clinician Assist WA live demonstrations in our events section of this newsletter.
Health professionals can easily refer patients experiencing perinatal depression or anxiety to the highly effective MumMoodBooster and Mum2BMoodBooster programs via a secure Clinician Portal. These free, evidence-based e-treatments help women experiencing depression during pregnancy or after the birth of their baby, providing personalised Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) sessions. By registering for the portal, clinicians can access unique referral codes, additional screening tools, and regular summary reports to monitor their patients’ progress and mood. These programs can be used independently or alongside in-person care, ensuring flexible and comprehensive support for women across Australia.
The Islamic month of Ramadan is expected to take place from the evening of Friday 28 February to Sunday 30 March 2025 (dates may vary slightly). During this time many Muslim people abstain from eating, drinking and taking medication from sunrise to sunset. Although some people with diabetes will choose not to fast, those who choose to fast may be at risk of unstable glycaemic control and hypoglycaemia. Most people with type 2 diabetes can fast safely with appropriate medical advice and management before and during fasting. However, people with type 1 diabetes need special attention. Pregnant women with diabetes are advised not to fast. RACGP and Diabetes Australia have informative resources advising GP’s and patients on how to discuss and manage their patients with Diabetes safely during their fast.
From 3 February 2025, the NIP will provide a free RSV vaccine (Abrsyvo) to eligible women at 28 to 36 weeks of pregnancy. As we know, RSV is a highly infectious virus that is the most common cause of respiratory infections in children, with almost all children being infected at least once in their first 2 years of life. RSV vaccination is particularly important in pregnancy. Research shows that maternal vaccination reduces the risk of severe RSV illness in infants under 6 months of age by around 70%. States and territories will offer an RSV immunisation product to eligible infants and children in the coming months. The maternal RSV vaccine can be co-administered (given on the same day) with whooping cough and influenza vaccines. To prepare for the NIP maternal RSV vaccine program commencement, we suggest:
Further information and the following resources will be available on the Department of Health and Aged Care immunisation website from the program commencement.
From early 2025, infants across Australia will benefit from new respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) protection programs, including a nationally-funded vaccination program for pregnant women and state and territory funded long-acting monoclonal antibody programs for infants. This National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance(NCIRS) webinar will explore RSV disease and prevention and expand on the new funded RSV programs. The panel of leading experts will present on:
To register and for more information, click here.
Upon enrolling children in school, parents would have been required to show a copy of the child’s immunisation status. Western Australia has “No jab, No Play” legislation. A child’s current Australian Immunisation Record (AIR) immunisation history statement can be accessed at any time by the parent/guardian through:
For an up to date immunisation schedule click here.
Immunisation providers should report to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) all vaccines they give to their patients at the time of vaccination. They should also record those given overseas onto AIR if they have access to appropriate documentation. It is important that information on the AIR is accurate and up to date so that:
If your practice software does not automatically report vaccinations to the AIR, you will need to report these vaccinations directly using the AIR website. Information about sending or receiving immunisation data from the AIR is available here or you can contact the immunisation team via Practice Assist on 1800 2 ASSIST (1800 2 277 478) or 08 6278 7900 or via email practiceassist@wapha.org.au.
One in three people will get shingles in their lifetime, and the symptoms can be debilitating. Older people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and those with weakened immune systems are at greater risk of developing complications from shingles. A two-dose course of the shingles vaccine Shingrix® is free under the National Immunisation Program (NIP) for :
It’s important to remind patients that vaccination is the safest and most effective way to protect against shingles and its complications. Shingrix® vaccines are available to order through your usual vaccine ordering channels. You can find clinical advice, a podcast, videos, fact sheet and other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander specific resources here.
The Australian Government is implementing a National Lung Cancer Screening program in partnership with the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, (NACCHO). The program will offer eligible people aged between 50 and 70, a free low-dose CT scan, with a referral from their general practitioner. Eligible people must have no signs or symptoms suggestive of lung cancer. Eligibility will also depend on smoking history. Primary care, in particular general practitioners, will play a key role in the program. We encourage practices to prepare now so they are ready to promote the program with eligible participants and make referrals from July 2025. Here are 3 things that you can do now:
With all this sun and heat we have been having recently, it is timely to remind patients on spotting skin cancers. Did you know that when found early, there is a 95% chance of successful treatment for skin cancer? Patients should be advised to be familiar with their skin and and to look out for new spots, or spots that are changing in size, shape or colour. Also look out for non-healing sores. These are some changes to look out for when checking your skin for signs of any cancer:
Advise your patients to note any changes and to make an appointment with the GP for a review as soon as possible. Further information here.
In alignment with the updates to the National Cervical Screening Program (NCSP) Guidelines new education modules have been released by the Australian Centre for Prevention of Cervical Cancer.
NCSP Training Modules (live on 13 Jan on the ACPCC website):
From 2 January 2025, the Department of Health and Aged Care Vaccination Operation Centre (VOC) will be the main point of contact for matters relating to the National COVID-19 Vaccine Program (NCVP) for primary care providers. PHNs, including WA Primary Health Alliance, will no longer have responsibility for provider onboarding, offboarding and dealing with queries regarding the NCVP. This change is part of the planned transition of COVID-19 activities to align with other Australian Government funded vaccine programs. New sites wishing to onboard onto the National COVID-19 Vaccine Program (NCVP) will now need to contact VOC directly to register their expression of interest. Existing sites wishing to offboard will also be required to contact VOC directly to finalise their participation in the Program. Queries related to the NCVP should also be directed to VOC from this date. Any new, recommencing or offboarding sites should contact VOC at COVID19VaccineOperationsCentre@health.gov.au or by telephone at 1800 318 208.
The COVID-19 JN.1 vaccines were included in the National COVID-19 Vaccine Program from 9 December 2024. The vaccine comes in a range of presentations such as single-dose, multi-dose and pre-filled syringe (PFS), dependent on the vaccine type. Please check out the last Provider Bulletin (10DEC24) for more information regarding the JN.1 vaccines.
Video consultations provide many benefits for general practices, such as enhancing accessibility to care for patients and reducing transportation barriers for patients and GPs. Implementing video consultations at a practice can create a more connected and responsive healthcare environment while preserving the standard of care provided during face-to-face consultations. Dr Amanda Villis shares her insights of using telehealth in general practice in a recent webinar. Dr Villis discusses key benefits of video consultations, why they are preferred over phone telehealth and provides some advice on how GPs can integrate video consultations into their practice day. You can view this webinar here: GP Telehealth Webinar | WA Primary Health Alliance For more information or support with video telehealth queries please contact the Practice Assist Help Desk on 1800 2 ASSIST (1800 2 277 478) or 08 6278 7900 or via email practiceassist@wapha.org.au.
The Western Australia Department of Health (DOH) is inviting GP practices to take part in an assessment of the effectiveness of our nirsevimab immunisation program in reducing GP attendances for acute respiratory infection (ARI) among infants this past winter. Hospitalisation data show that the impact of the program on severe RSV illness among children less than 12 months of age was profound, with more than 500 infant hospitalisations prevented. While the effectiveness of nirsevimab in preventing hospitalisations is well established, little is known about its impact on primary care. WA is now ideally positioned to help address this gap in our knowledge.
With your practice’s consent, data will be extracted from your practice management software using the SmartVax tool. SmartVax staff will then send de-identified patient data to the WA Department of Health. Please click here for more information about the project. If your practice has further questions, please feel free to contact the WA DOH project lead, Dr Alison Brown at alison.brown3@health.wa.gov.au or 9222 2262, or Dr Paul Effler at 9222 2131.
Clinician Assist WA is a secure website providing GPs and other health professionals with guidance for assessing, managing and referring patients across Western Australia. It has replaced HealthPathways WA, offering the same trusted local guidance, features and functionality and remains available at no cost. The Clinician Assist WA team will run online demonstrations facilitated by a GP Clinical Editor throughout 2025 to support users. These sessions will demonstrate how to maximise integration of Clinician Assist WA into your clinical practice. Learn key functionalities of the website and how to access condition specific tools and resources, Referral Access Criteria (RAC) (where available), GPbook Specialist Directory and visiting specialist rosters. Sessions have been approved for 1 CPD Educational Hour with RACGP and will be held online on the following dates:
Demonstrations are open to general practitioners, general practice staff and other health professionals registered to practice in WA.
Presented by WA Primary Health Alliance Multiple Dates & Times
WA Primary Health Alliance (WAPHA) is providing GPs in WA with paid online Initial Assessment and Referral Decision Support Tool (IAR-DST) training, designed to help practitioners and clinicians recommend the most appropriate level of care for a person seeking mental health support. GPs and GP registrars who attend the two workshops will be remunerated $300 and CPD hours are available. For the latest IAR-DST training dates and registration links, visit the WAPHA IAR-DST webpage.
The GP Management of Patient Depression and Suicidality course, developed by Rural Clinical School of WA general practitioners, in collaboration with Psychiatrist Dr Mat Coleman, is designed to enhance the skills of GP’s in treating depression and suicidality. The program is made up of two modalities:
Presented by South Metropolitan Health Service & WA Voluntary Assisted Dying Statewide Navigator Service Friday 7 March 2025 (9.00am to 5.00pm The Hub, Bentley Technology Park, Bentley)
Join South Metropolitan Health Service and the WA Voluntary Assisted Dying Statewide Care Navigator Service for a day of shared learning, insights and updates in Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) relevant to health professionals caring for people exploring and accessing VAD in diverse settings.
This free event is catered and suitable for all health professionals, including:
Mark your calendars for the WA Rural Health Conference, Pan Pacific Perth on Saturday 22 to Sunday 23 March 2025. Early bird registrations are now open! This year’s theme, “Strengthening rural WA: One connection at a time,” brings together a diverse range of rural health professionals including:
The preliminary program is now available, which includes sessions that focus on collaboration, connection, and community impact. For full details and to take advantage of early bird rates, please visit www.waruralhealthconference.com.au For any inquiries, please contact the Events Team at warhc@ruralhealthwest.com.au or call 08 6389 4500.
Acknowledgement WA Primary Health Alliance acknowledges and pays respect to the Traditional Owners and Elders of this country and recognises the significant importance of their cultural heritage, values and beliefs and how these contribute to the positive health and wellbeing of the whole community.