The best GP you can be
The Medical Board of Australia’s (MBA) August interim discussion paper on revalidation had several parallels with the work the RACGP had already undertaken to strengthen continued professional development (CPD) for general practice.
The 2017–19 Quality Improvement and Continuing Professional Development (QI & CPD) continues our approach of providing opportunities for GPs to reflect on their current knowledge and skill base, and make appropriate determinations on possible improvements in accord with their patient needs and that of their own professional pursuits.
The addition of a planning learning and need (PLAN) activity makes this possible in an electronic format the first time. A PLAN activity involves a comparison of individual skill and knowledge to that of the expected standard of the profession. PLAN and the revised QI&CPD program will be announced at GP16 in Perth.
The MBA’s initial proposals, should they be implemented, will have long-term consequences for the medical profession in Australia – many positive, but others requiring careful appraisal and reflection.
Revalidation has been gathering apace, most notably in Europe. Prior to 2000, only six of 18 European countries mandated a compulsory CPD system. That number has since increased to 16 out of the 18 countries. (The other two countries make use of an incentive-based program.)
Although a form of revalidation will bring us in line with our international contemporaries, the RACGP believes any proposal must reflect the unique Australian health provision environment.
The RACGP considers that prior to any change, a number of tenets of our existing system should be incorporated into the new revalidation approach, with a focus on continuous improvement life-long learning. The new system will need to provide:
- choice
- weighting of key areas and tasks
- self-reflection
- an incentive, rather than disincentive, focus
- a variety of learning modalities.
The RACGP supports an approach that focuses on continual improvement in a GP’s knowledge base, and skills cognisant of individual and community needs. We will argue that this approach must continue.
Being the best GP you wish to be means maintaining skills and knowledge to the level required by the profession for unsupervised general practice, and also having the opportunity to pursue knowledge and skills based upon practice and community need, and personal aspiration.
Dr Frank R Jones
RACGP President
Media Release
On Monday 12 September The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners re-activated its campaign against the Federal Government’s Medicare rebate freeze with new evidence showing patient out of pocket costs are increasing. Read more
shareGP has launched to all RACGP members
A new and innovative online platform, shareGP, was launched exclusively to RACGP members on Wednesday. There are a large number of GPs already active in this online community, engaging in topical debate, sharing blog articles and running poll discussions.
Log in now using your myRACGP credentials and find out for yourself what’s happening in shareGP.
RACGP member forum at GP16
The second RACGP forum will be held at GP16 in Perth, Friday 30 September, and will explore the member-selected topics ‘Revalidation’ and ‘Digital Disruption’.
The forum will be hosted by award winning journalist Ali Moore and includes panellists Dr Bastian Seidel, Dr Evan Ackermann, Dr Janice Bell, Dr Nathan Pinskier, Dr Marcus Tan and Professor Lambert Schuwirth. Places are limited and RACGP members are encouraged to register as soon as possible. More information is available on the GP16 website.
To add the forum to your conference schedule, log in to your GP16 registration and add the event to your booking. For RACGP members not attending the conference, the forum will be recorded and made available on the RACGP website.
The RACGP member forums were introduced earlier this year to increase engagement and encourage dialogue between RACGP members nationwide. Members are encouraged to submit questions for the panel to advocacy@racgp.org
Your feedback sought on Medicare Benefit Scheme Review Taskforce reports
As part of the Federal Government’s Healthier Medicare Initiative, the Taskforce is reviewing the Medicare Benefit Schedule (MBS) in its entirety, considering individual items and the rules and legislation that govern their application. A total of 23 MBS items were removed following the first review, released in 2015. An Interim Report to the Health Minister was released on 6 September 2016.
The Taskforce Clinical Committees have published six reports, and the First Report of the MBS Principles and Rules Committee for public consultation is available on the Department of Health website.
The RACGP is also seeking your feedback on the Taskforce recommendations. The RACGP consultation period closes on Wednesday 21 September 2016 and your feedback can be left at the RACGP Consultations page.
Have your say on the draft 5th edition RACGP Standards for general practices
Time is running out to have your say on the second draft of the 5th edition RACGP Standards for general practices (the Standards), which is open for consultation until 30 September 2016. The Standards are undergoing revision to ensure they remain relevant and reflect contemporary general practice. Member feedback is vital during this process to inform the final draft of the Standards, which will be launched in October 2017.
To review the draft Standards and have your say, please visit the RACGP website.
Clinical Pearl
Functional decline can be delayed
Although functional decline is a core feature of dementia, there are interventions that can help delay it. Regular exercise is an effective approach to maintaining independence in everyday activities. Occupational therapy can delay decline in everyday activities, and improve quality of life for the person with dementia. People with dementia living in the community should be offered referral to an occupational therapist. Maintaining nutrition levels through a healthy diet is also important and weight should be monitored to detect unintentional weight loss.
Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors can also delay functional decline. Prescription should take costs and side effects into account. Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors are commonly used to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Recent evidence suggests their use for Dementia with Lewy Bodies, Parkinson’s disease dementia, vascular dementia or mixed dementia.
For more information, visit the National Clinical Practice Guidelines for Dementia in Australia. These clinical practice guidelines were recently endorsed by the RACGP.
In Practice poll
Practice Incentives Program Shared Health Summary upload targets
July 2016 marked the end of the first quarter reporting period under the revised eligibility criteria for the Practice Incentives Program eHealth (ePIP). General practices are required to upload a shared health summary (SHS) to the My Health Record system for 0.5% of the practice’s standardised whole patient equivalent (SWPE) every quarter to receive their ePIP payment. Practices need to calculate the minimum SHS upload target for the current quarter using the previous quarter’s payment advice.
The revised ePIP requirement equates to about five shared health summaries per full-time equivalent GP per quarter (ie for a practice with five full-time equivalent GPs, it would equate to approximately 25 uploads per quarter). A practice can receive a maximum payment of $12,500 per quarter.
The RACGP does not support this change. Instead of SHS upload targets, the RACGP advocated for incentives that support data accuracy and quality, and the appropriate and timely sharing of data across the healthcare sector.
To inform the RACGP’s work in this area, you are invited to participate in the following poll to let us know if your practice has uploaded enough SHS to maintain their ePIP eligibility.