The new rates of global sum and GP contract payments published by NHS England earlier this year have different implications for healthcare accounting for practices in different parts of the country.
When the new payment rates were published, GPonline had a pair of medical accountants compare the implications for practices in inner cities and in the Home Counties suburbs.
Some of the main changes made to GP payments from April 2019 included:
• Global sum increased from £88.96 to £89.88 per weighted patient.
• Value of QOF point increased from £179.26 to £187.74.
• Out-of-hours adjustment reduced from 4.87% to 4.82%.
For their calculations, the medical accountants used a Home Counties suburban practice with just over 10,000 registered patients and 9,386 weighted patients.
This was compared to an inner city practice with a weighted list of 10,409 patients, and a registered list of 9,881.
Impact on healthcare accounting for GP practices
The analysis found that the Home Counties practice could expect to see total core funding of £1,133,292 in 2019-20, up from £1,101,345 in 2018-19.
This includes an extra £8,635 of global sum payments, an increase of over £6,400 in QOF funding, and more than £16,000 more in enhanced services.
Meanwhile in the inner city practice, total core funding rose from £1,406,552 to £1,419,515, including £9,576 more in global sum, £4,258 in QOF and nearly £18,600 in enhanced services funding.
This equates to a 2.9% increase in total funding for the suburban practice, but just 0.92% for the inner city GP practice GPonline looked at in their analysis.
Impact on GP practices’ employee pay
A significant factor in the analysis was whether the funding increases would allow both GP practices to offer the 2% increase in employee pay recommended by NHS England and the GPC for 2019-20.
The medical accountants calculated that after deducting the extra staff costs, the inner city practice would be left with just 0.4% more in funding, while the Home Counties practice would be left with a net increase of 2%.
As a result, GP practices regardless of location must pay close attention to healthcare accounting over the remainder of this financial year, in order to be able to offer employees the recommended pay rise while still achieving a net gain in funding at the end of 2019-20.
Do you work for or own a dental practice? Crawfords Accountants are well versed in all aspects of healthcare accounting. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you.
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