QI incentives and the Heart Health Check

A brief summary of the PIP QI and the measures that relate to the Heart Health Check

The Heart Health Check is designed to assist in reducing the prevalence of heart disease by enabling assessment of CVD risk as a means of primary prevention.

PIP QI incentive

The Practice Incentives Program Quality Improvement (PIP QI) incentive introduced by the Australian Government in 2019 remunerates general practices who participate in quality improvement (QI) activities. Implementing the Heart Health Check provides multiple opportunities for practices to focus on QI processes.

To qualify for PIP QI incentive payments, your practice must meet two requirements:

1. Participate in continuous quality improvement, in partnership with your local Primary Health Network (PHN).
2. Provide the PIP Eligible Data Set from your clinical information software (CIS) to your local PHN (quarterly).

How does PIP QI relate to the Heart Health Check?

The specified improvement measures, as listed by the Department of Health, are:

1. Proportion of patients with diabetes with a current HbA1c result
2. Proportion of patients with a smoking status
3. Proportion of patients with a weight classification
4. Proportion of patients aged 65 and over who were immunised against influenza
5. Proportion of patients with diabetes who were immunised against influenza
6. Proportion of patients with COPD who were immunised against influenza
7. Proportion of patients with an alcohol consumption status
8. Proportion of patients with the necessary risk factors assessed to enable CVD assessment
9. Proportion of female patients with an up-to-date cervical screening
10. Proportion of patients with diabetes with a blood pressure result 

The key improvement measure relating to the Heart Health Check is No. 8. Since the Heart Health Check also involves reviewing CVD risk factors such as those highlighted above, it may influence other improvement measures.

More information

• PIP QI incentive guidance

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