The Mental Health Nurse Incentive Program (MHNIP) enables organisations (general practices, psychiatrists, Divisions of General Practice and Aboriginal health services) to provide mental health nursing treatment and care to people with a severe mental illness. Under this program, Medicare pays $240 to registered eligible organisations for each 3.5 hour session in which a Credentialed Mental Health Nurse provides services to 2 individual patients.
The MHNIP commenced in July 2007. Since that time, the session payment of $240 has not increased. Over the same period in Australia, wages have risen by 14.5% and CPI has risen by 12.4%. When the amount of the session payment was established in 2007, it was set at a level to provide pay parity with public sector mental health nursing wages at the clinical nurse specialist level.
The Australian College of Mental Health Nurses is concerned that lack of an increase in the $240 session payment will impact on the financial viability of the MHNIP. We are collecting information from Mental Health Nurses who deliver services under MHNIP to present the evidence to Government supporting an increase in the payment. Obviously this doesn't guarantee that there will be an increase but by completing this survey you can help the College put a strong case to the Government.
The survey is completely ANONYMOUS and CONFIDENTIAL and no information that could identify individuals will be collected.
It will take less than 10 minutes to complete this survey.
If you have any questions regarding the survey, please contact the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses by emailing anne.buck@acmhn.org or phoning 1300 667 079.