New GP incentive to support veterans’ mental health

The RACGP has welcomed a new GP incentive item to support the provision of mental health care to veterans, describing it as a ‘smart move’ by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA).
 
Introduced on 1 July, new Veteran Mental Health Incentives will support GPs and psychiatrists ‘to deliver more proactive, ongoing and connected care for veterans experiencing mental health conditions’.
 
For GPs, a $99.30 incentive item can now be co-claimed with an attendance item for the development of a Better Access GP Mental Health Treatment Plan or a time-tiered consultation (of 20 minutes and above) where the attendance is for review of a mental health treatment plan and provision of ongoing mental health care, the DVA announced.
 
The incentive can be accessed up to four times per year.
 
The investment is backed by $58.3 million in funding over three years, and $21 million per year as ongoing funding, and comes in response to recommendations from the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.
 
GP and DVA Chief Health Officer Dr Steph Davis said mental health care is a significant concern within the veteran population and it is important that GPs are ‘appropriately incentivised’ to undertake this work.
 
‘We know that the vast majority of mental health care within the Australian context takes place in primary care, and that’s usually the first place where veterans will have an interaction around their mental health,’ she told newsGP.
 
‘It’s really important that GPs are appropriately incentivised to spend that time with their veteran patients … what we’ve tried to do with these incentives is to keep them as simple as possible.
 
‘We hope really it incentivises and rewards GPs for spending that amount of time, because we know that good quality mental health care does take time, and we want to ensure that veterans have access to that with their trusted primary care practitioner.’
 
Anyone with a veteran card is eligible for this incentive, Dr Davis adds.
 
‘They don’t have to have mental health care as an accepted condition by DVA, and that’s because DVA has non-liability mental health care,’ she said.
 
‘For anyone who is categorised a veteran, who has served one day or more within the Australian defence forces, a GP is able to bill these items under their existing veteran card arrangement.
 
‘It’s important to always remember to ask your patients if they’ve served, because that does open up incentives like this too.’
 
Dr Davis said the DVA hopes the new incentives will also support GPs’ ongoing care and connection with veteran patients.
 
‘We hope it will increase uptake of mental health planning items and that process of mental health care planning with their patients,’ she said.
 
‘We also hope, because the incentive is available four times per year, that it will encourage a call back, bringing patients back to provide that continuity of care and check in of how they’re going and try and provide that overall care coordination.’
 
RACGP President Dr Michael Wright described the new incentives as ‘good news for DVA patients and their GPs’.
 
‘It’s a smart move that’s positive because it’s really prioritising mental health care, which is incredibly important for veterans,’ he told newsGP.
 
‘We know that mental health issues are a real core issue for veterans, but increasingly they’re an issue for the majority of Australians and the care that we provide in general practice.
 
‘Since the removal of many of the mental health consultation items, I hear from many GPs who’ve said they just can’t afford to provide the long consultations under the current attendance item structure, and that either GPs can’t provide that care or they’re having to introduce out-of-pocket costs.
 
‘I’m really pleased to see that DVA has recognised this problem and is stepping in for DVA patients.’
 
However, Dr Wright adds that this needs to be introduced more broadly for the benefit of all patients with mental health concerns.
 
‘We need to make sure that mental health care is prioritised so that GPs can keep people well, that patients who need more time with their GPs can get that, and the GPs are paid properly for providing that care,’ he said.
 
‘That’s why the college continues to call for increased Medicare rebates, particularly for longer consultations, which we know is what is needed for providing mental health care and complex care.’
 
The DVA said there is no additional training needed by GPs and psychiatrists to claim these incentives, however providers are encouraged to undertake training from the Veterans’ Health eLearning Platform (VETs HeLP) within MedCast.
 
Dr Davis also welcomes feedback on the new items from GPs.
 
‘We’ve got a couple of months where we can gather feedback on these before it’s locked into the [Services Australia] system,’ she said.
 
‘It does provide us with a couple of months where we can take feedback around how the items are working in real life ... and we will certainly speak to the RACGP around that.’
 
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