Financial incentives
The Australian Government has developed incentive schemes to promote careers in rural medicine and address the shortage of GPs in rural and remote Australia.
Like the AGPT, the incentive schemes will use the ASGA-RA classification scheme from 1 July 2010. The map of districts shows the RA2 – 5 areas which attract the incentives.
The General Practice Rural Incentives Program
GPRIP takes effect on 1 July 2010. It consolidates the Rural Retention Program (RRP) and the Registrars Rural Incentive Payments Scheme (RRIPS), and introduces a relocation incentive grant.
The Registrar component, formerly RRIPS, provides incentive payments to Registrars in the Australia General Practice Training program. Payments will be lower than under RRIPS, but time served as a GP Registrar will be considered when transitioning to the GP component of the scheme if the continuous service requirements of maintaining 4 active quarters in every 8 are met.
Incentive payments are based on the length of time a GP Registrar is placed in an ASGC-RA category, on a sliding scale.
| ASGC-RA | Period of time (years) in a rural location | ||||
| Classification | 0.5 | 1 | 2 | 3-4 | 5+ |
| Inner Regional (RA2) | - | $2,500 | $4,500 | $7,500 | $12,000 |
| Outer Regional (RA3) | $4,000 | $6,000 | $8,000 | $13,000 | $18,000 |
| Remote (RA4) | $5,500 | $8,000 | $13,000 | $18,000 | $27,000 |
| Very Remote (RA5) | $8,000 | $13,000 | $18,000 | $27,000 | $47,000 |
HELP/HECS Reimbursement Scheme
Participants in this scheme, who undertake training or provide medical services in designated rural and remote areas of Australia, have had one fifth of their HECS medical fees reimbursed for each year of service. The scheme applies to Australian medical graduates who choose to undertake postgraduate training, or provide medical services for 12 months or longer in designated rural and remote areas.
As well as the change to the ASGA-RA classification scheme from 1 July 2010, some participants in the scheme will receive a higher level of reimbursement and recover their fee payments over a shorter period of time. Participants will be scaled by remoteness of the locality they are training in or providing services.
| ASGC-RA | No. of years to receive full reimbursement entitlement |
| 2 | 5 years |
| 3 | 4 years |
| 4 | 3 years |
| 5 | 2 years |
More information – fact sheet and FAQs.
Application forms for HELP/HECS reimbursement are available from Medicare Australia 1800 010 550.
