General practice accreditation is designed to promote access to safe high quality primary health services. Approximately 75% of general practices in Australia participate in accreditation.
A national review of the administration of the Practice Incentive Program (PIP) conducted by the Australian National Audit Office, found that whilst an outcome of accreditation was access to the PIP, the Department of Health [and Aging] could not assure itself of the quality or consistency of general practice accreditation.
As a result, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (the Commission) embarked on a project to develop a governance and reporting framework for general practice accreditation in Australia.
The joint project aims to:
- identify issues general practices have with the existing accreditation scheme;
- maximise opportunities to enhance the safety and quality of patient care through the application of accreditation; and,
- identify options for the coordination of general practice accreditation, including an appeals mechanism.
Consultation with general practices has commenced and seeks to identify duplicative processes, variations in assessments and opportunities for improvement to enhance the accreditation scheme.
The project is expected to run through to 2015 with feedback being sought from practices and stakeholder organisations.
This project does not impact on the RACGP’s continuing role in developing and updating the Standards for general practices(4th edition).
One of the Commission’s roles is to lead and coordinate national improvements in safety and quality across all healthcare settings in Australia. The Commission is pleased to be working with the RACGP on this important work.