Financial incentives for medical practitioners to work in rural and remote areas of Australia

The WIP - Doctor Stream provides medical practitioners with financial incentives to practice in rural and remote areas of Australia.

Overview

The WIP - Doctor Stream aims to encourage medical practitioners to practice in regional and remote communities and to promote careers in rural medicine through the provision of financial incentives. The program aims to retain these medical practitioners in regional and remote locations by providing incentives to continue to work in these areas.

There are two payment systems used for the WIP - the CPS and the FPS:

• medical practitioners who bill Medicare for eligible services receive automated payments made by Services Australia through the CPS
• medical practitioners who provide eligible non-Medicare services and/or undertake GP training can apply to receive payments through the FPS

What are the eligibility criteria?

To be eligible, medical practitioners must:

• provide a minimum amount of eligible primary care services in eligible locations and/or undertake eligible general practice (GP) training under an approved training pathway
• meet the required number of active quarters for payment
• have an eligible current Medicare provider number
• have provided your current bank account details in the required timeframe

How do you apply?

You can find out more about eligibility and how to apply at Workforce Incentives Program (WIP) - Doctor Stream.