In reply: We thank Bailie and colleagues1 for highlighting the experiences of enrolling Indigenous Australians as part of the Practice Incentives Program – Indigenous Health Incentive (PIP‐IHI) initiative. The evaluation of the PIP‐IHI suggests that incentives linking practice enrolment with reduced patient medication costs were successful in engaging patients with the program, but that engagement with individual clinicians was less successful.2 Potential explanations for this disparate engagement include an enrolment process linking patients with practices (as opposed to their individual general practitioner), which may have failed to motivate clinician involvement, and financial incentives within the PIP‐IHI favouring the process of registration over the provision of ongoing care.
The full article is accessible to AMA members and paid subscribers. Login to read more or purchase a subscription now.
Please note: institutional and Research4Life access to the MJA is now provided through Wiley Online Library.
Michael Wright chairs the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Expert Committee on Funding and Health System Reform, chairs the Board of the Central and Eastern Sydney Primary Health Network, is the Chief Medical Officer for Avant Mutual, was a member of the Primary Health Care Advisory Group and has advisory roles with the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Roald Versteeg is employed by the RACGP.