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Primary Care Impact Grants​
The Primary Care Impact Grants Round 4 – are now closed.
In 2025, 48 grants were awarded to North Coast Primary Care providers, totalling near $2.35 million.
Throughout 2026, more grant rounds will be held including the existing grant streams of Multidisciplinary Team Care and Chronic Disease Prevention, plus other specialised conditions or regions in focus through more tailored offerings.
We are excited to announce the Round 1 and Round 2 Primary Care Impact Grants Awardees. Click below to view the full list of successful applicants.
Applications are currently paused to complete the awarding of the first three rounds, and to review the process to date. The grant information will remain online, and applications will reopen later this year for round four.
Our team remains available to provide guidance on your proposal or application via the contact form at the bottom of this page.
If you would like to be notified via email when the grant applications reopen, please add your details to the form.
Primary Care Impact (PCI) Grants - Supporting Chronic and Complex Disease Management
Healthy North Coast (HNC) is offering grants to support better care for chronic diseases, which are long-term conditions with lasting effects on individuals and communities. These diseases are a leading cause of disability and death in Australia, but nearly 40% of their burden could be prevented by addressing modifiable risk factors and improving disease management.
To support these efforts, Healthy North Coast’s Primary Care Impact Grants provide significant funding for local healthcare providers. These grants focus on two critical areas:
- Proactive prevention: Reducing the risk of chronic diseases through early intervention and health promotion.
- Team-based management: Empowering multidisciplinary care teams to deliver comprehensive, patient-centered support.
The PCI Grants launched in 2025 with three highly competitive rounds. The details of previous winners are here:
Round Four grant programs are closed.
The Multidisciplinary Team Care grants will return for more applications later in 2026.
Round 4 – applications closed March 13th. Applicants will be notified of the outcome from May 2026 depending on application volume.
Primary Care Impact Grants - Program Details
Chronic and complex disease
Previously successful applicants for MDT or CDP grants are unable to apply for another CDP grant in Round 4 but are eligible to apply for a Capacity Building in Skin Cancer Early Intervention Grant.
During the evaluation process, if we believe your application may be better suited to a different grant program, we will communicate with you directly.
The Chronic Disease Prevention Grants Program is open to primary care providers working in and around the North Coast region of NSW.
- General Practices/Medical Centres
- Allied health providers (such as physiotherapists, occupational therapist, speech pathologists,
exercise physiologist, podiatrist, dietitian, social worker, psychologist) - Nurse led services
The Capacity Building in Skin Cancer Early Intervention Grant is open to primary care providers that provide skin cancer services, such as general practices. The applicant must be based on the North Coast of NSW, delivering services to the North Coast communities.
For both grants, it is mandatory for eligible general practice applicants that they participate in the Lumos program. Details about the Lumos program are available here. The data gathered and connected via Lumos is invaluable in understanding the effect of interventions in a patient’s health journey. Allied Health Providers and Aboriginal Medical Services are not yet eligible to participate in Lumos and therefore this criteria does not apply.
The Chronic Disease Prevention Grants Program – From a total funding of $1,650,000 (excl. GST), organisations will be able to apply for $20,000 – $50,000 (excl. GST) per grant to support an initiative designed to prevent the future burden of chronic disease and improve health related quality of life in our community.
For the Capacity Building in Skin Cancer Early Intervention Grants, a total funding of $150,000 is available for eligible primary care providers can apply for grants of $10,000-15,000 (excl. GST).
Applications are currently closed.
HNC will undertake an evaluation of EOIs, and if necessary, enter into negotiations with the preferred
Participants. The following evaluation criteria will be applied:
Mandatory Evaluation Criteria
Completion of all questions in the application form (Section B: Participant Return Schedules).
These will be evaluated against the Evaluation Rubrics included in Addendum 1 of the Expression of Interest documents
- Financial capacity;
- Required insurances;
- Conflict of Interest details; and
- Signed Acceptance and Declaration
- Read Standard Terms and Conditions
Primary Care Impact Grants - Region specific information to support your application
What are priority conditions?
Healthy North Coast’s Health Needs Assessment has identified the following chronic conditions as the most prevalent in our region:
- Anxiety
- Osteoarthritis
- Asthma
- Depression
- Osteoporosis
- Chronic Heart Disease
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
- Atrial Fibrillation
- Inflammatory Arthritis
- Stroke
- Renal Failure
- Chronic Kidney Disease
Other high prevalence chronic conditions (such as chronic  pain and cancer) are also eligible for these grant programs, as are interventions targeting multimorbidity or polypharmacy.
What are priority populations?
Priority Populations are groups that are at risk of poorer health outcomes. Healthy North Coast’s identified priority
populations are:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
- Culturally and linguistically diverse populations
- People with Disabilities
- LGBTQ+
- People exiting prison
- People experiencing domestic and family violence
- Â People experiencing homelessness
As per the evaluation rubrics, it is not compulsory that your program is targeting a priority population to be eligible, but
programs that are seeking to address known health care inequity are likely to be marked higher.
What are financially disadvantaged communities?
While chronic conditions are prevalent across the whole region, there are areas that for multiple possible reasons have a higher prevalence of chronic conditions. Particular regions of concern are those with lower socioeconomic status, higher proportions of priority populations or higher average ages of the residents.
Our Health Needs Assessment has identified the following LGAs as those whose residents experience high rates of social
and economic disadvantage:
- Kempsey
- Nambucca Valley
- Richmond Valley
- Clarence Valley
- Kyogle
As with Priority Populations, it is not compulsory to run a program in the area of highest possible need, but evaluation
criteria will mark programs higher that are meeting a need in a location with poorer population health outcomes.
Small General Practice List
For the Multidisciplinary Team Grant, the practice where the service is delivered must be a solo/small general practice or an AMS. This is a requirement of the Commonwealth funding. Below is a list of the practices in our region with 4000 or less active patients and is considered solo/small for the purposes of the MDT grant.
- AB Surgery
- Almeda Healthcare
- Ananda Clinics
- Ballina Health Centre
- Ballina West Medical Centre
- Banora Shopping Village Medical Centre
- Bawrunga Medical Clinic Macksville
- Bawrunga Medical Clinic Nambucca Heads
- Bellingen Family Medical Centre
- Bellingen Healing Centre
- Bowra GP Clinic
- Brunswick Heads Medical Centre (BHMC)
- Bulgarr Ngaru Medical Aboriginal Corporation
- Bullinah Aboriginal Health Service
- Cabarita Beach Health Centre
- Cabarita Beach Medical Centre
- Camden Haven Medical Centre
- Casuarina Health & Medical
- Central Pottsville Medical Centre
- Chinese Herbal Medicine of Byron Bay
- Clarence Medical Centre (Clarence Med)
- Clifton Medical Centre
- Coffs Doctors
- Coffs Women’s Health Centre
- Crescent Head Medical Centre
- Doctors at Ballina Fair
- Dorrigo Health & Wellbeing Service
- Dr Castagna Surgery
- Dr Lerm's Surgery
- Dunoon General Practice
- Durri Aboriginal Corporation Medical Service
- East Port Medical Centre
- Evolve Medical Centre
- Five Star Medical Centre
- Galambila Aboriginal Health Service
- Gum Tree Family Medical
- King Street Medical Centre
- Kingscliff Doctors
- Macksville Medical Centre
- Maclean Medical Centre (Macmed)
- McKay Street Surgery Practice
- Mitchell Street General Practice
- Moon Street Medical Practice
- Mount View Medical Centre
- Nambucca Plaza Medical Centre
- Nimbin Medical Centre
- North Coast Medical Centre
- Ocean Drive Family Practice
- OPlus Health Grafton
Plaza Medical Centre - Rekindling the Spirit Health Service
- Restore Medical and Skin Cancer Centre
- Riverside Family Practice
- Riverside General Practice
- Rocks Medico Family Practice
- Seascape Medical Centre
- Sinamed Family Practice
- South Kempsey Medical Centre
- Subbiah Family Practice
- The Bright Side Clinic
- The Clinic East Ballina
- The Family Practice at Yamba
- The Good Shepherd Medical Centre Laurieton
- The Good Shepherd Wauchope
- The Grange Family Medical Centre
- The Health Lodge
- Three Rivers Health
- Tintenbar Medical Centre
- Total Health Pottsville
- Tweed Coast Medical
- Tweed Mall Medical Centre
- Tweed Surgery
- Union Street Family Medical Practice
- Wauchope Family Practice
- Webster Medical Centre
- Werin Aboriginal Corporation
- Wollumbin Street Medical Centre
- Woolgoolga Medical Centre
- Wooli Medical Centre
- Yamba Doctors
- Yamba Medical
- Yamba Private Clinic
- Your Family Practice
Attend the Industry briefing.
For more information about the grants, attend the industry briefing on 18 February 2026 at 1pm. The one-hour session includes a short program and application presentation followed by Q&A. Register to attend.
Watch the Information Session webinar.
Chronic Disease Prevention Program
The Chronic Disease Prevention Grants Program is open to primary care providers working in and around the North Coast region of NSW.
From a total funding of $1,650,000 (excl. GST), organisations will be able to apply for $20,000 – $50,000 (excl. GST) per grant to support an initiative designed to prevent the future burden of chronic disease and improve health related quality of life in our community.
Initiatives must target primary and/or secondary prevention of chronic diseases that is prevalent in a community, or priority population. There should be good quality evidence in support of the intervention, and a plan to measure the impact in the community through clinical outcomes, PROMs and/or PREMs.
The initiative can be new or an expansion of existing chronic disease prevention program. The grant is intended to help establish or expand, and not to provide ongoing funding after the initial grant award. Outlining your plan to make the initiative financially sustainable to support the community into the future will be required as part of the evaluation criteria.
When completing your grant budget, ensure your requested items align with your program’s aim. The following categories can be used as a guide, with a dollar amount attached:
- Clinical Staff Costs (what staff, how many hours per week/month)
- External Clinical Staff Costs (which providers and their role in your program, how many hours per week/total)
- Staff Education Costs (courses or materials, education must be related to program aims)
- Equipment Costs (including consumables, diagnostic and treatment equipment related to this program. Please provide specific costs for more expensive items >$1000.)
- Coordination (for locating, calling, booking patients, plus recording and reporting of patient outcomes)
- Administration (usually a small percentage of the grant value for accounting, paperwork, supervision etc)
Ineligible Items:
- Accreditation expenses
- Capital works (building, renovation etc)
- Expenses not related to delivering the grant program (eg. unrelated staff training, equipment not linked to program)
For examples of suitable programs, please review the Chronic Disease Prevention Grants: Previous Awardees.
It is also required to read the Standard Terms and Conditions prior to submitting your application.
To apply for a Chronic Disease Prevention Grant, please complete this application form.
A general practice notices a high rate of smokers in their patients and poor accessibility to smoking cessation support in their area.
They identify a practice nurse who is interested and capable of running a smoking cessation program in their practice with the support of resources from NSW Health and Quitline.
An exercise physiology practice wants to start a group cardiovascular disease prevention program as there are no public services in their vicinity.
Multidisciplinary Team Care Program
The Multidisciplinary Team Care grants are designed to facilitate multidisciplinary team (MDT) care in small/solo general practices or Aboriginal Medical Services in areas of need.
This grant is part of the Department of Health and Aged Care’s Strengthening Medicare program based on the recommendations of the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce Report. Encouraging Multi-Disciplinary Care was identified as one of the four priority reform areas and Healthy North Coast is committed to supporting these reforms.
The grants are available for applications from general practices seeking to bring in allied health professionals, or to allied health professionals seeking to connect with general practices. Eligible organisations can apply for one-off grants ranging from $50,000 to $75,000 (excluding GST).
The grant should be used to establish and facilitate a model of care using MDT principles centred in the patient’s location of usual care, their GP clinic. The model of care can be delivered face-to-face or combined with virtual care/telehealth, and in an individual and/or group setting. The model of care should be appropriate for your target condition and population.
The aim of this program is to develop sustainable models of care, utilising MBS items to minimise the cost to patients. This could be through eligible consultation items, allied health services under Medicare or case conferencing item numbers or a combination of the above. A service with a high out of pocket cost to patients may be more financially sustainable, but it is likely to score lower on equity of access.
Services are to be delivered for a minimum period of 12 months. There may be an opportunity at the end of the 12-month period to re-apply for another grant under this program, but it is expected that there will be work underway to making the services self-sustaining. The grant is not designed to fund a service indefinitely. Â
As with the Chronic Disease Prevention Grant, there should be a plan to measure the impact in the community through clinical outcomes, PROMs and/or PREMs. Additionally for this program it is a government requirement of the program that participants complete the EQ-5D-5L outcome measure.
It is also required to read the Standard Terms and Conditions prior to submitting your application.
A multidisciplinary allied health practice has identified a high number of referred patients with diabetes travelling to their practice from a small general practice in a rural town two hours west of their clinic.
The allied health team propose a dietician and exercise physiologist from their team travels to this general practice once per month and
sees these patients at their general practice.
A general practitioner and a practice nurse working in a solo GP practice have a high number of older patients with chronic conditions with many struggling to manage their medications.
The nearest pharmacy is one hour drive away and patients have difficulty getting there. The GP reaches out to the pharmacist, and proposes the pharmacist attends their practice once a fortnight to participate in case conferences with the GP and nurse and
do individual medication reviews with patients.
Capacity Building in Skin Cancer Early Intervention Grant
The Capability Building in Skin Cancer Early Intervention will award one-off grants to primary care providers to increase their capacity to deliver skin cancer early intervention in the North Coast region.
For the purposes of this grant, early intervention is detecting and/or treating skin cancer at an early stage before it becomes advanced or metastatic. Proposed activities must align with current clinical practice guidelines.
From a total funding of $150,000 (excl. GST), organisations will be able to apply for a grant of $10,000-$15,000 (excl. GST).
Providers previously awarded a Primary Care Impact grant (either a Chronic Disease Prevention or Multidisciplinary Team Care grant) are eligible to apply for this program.
Examples of suitable initiatives:
- Clinical staff capacity building through relevant education or training
- Purchase of diagnostic equipment such as dermatoscopes and/or supporting software
- Subscription to dermatology services or resources
- Implementation of innovative models of care, such as community outreach services to high risk population locations
Funding could be used to additionally support the above through:
- Subsidise staff time to participate in professional development (such as shadowing specialists)
- Quality improvement activities such as data recording, cleansing and evaluation
- Community engagement, advertising or promotion of new service offerings.
Funding cannot be used for:
- Activities that fall outside secondary prevention of skin cancer, such as ongoing treatment for diagnosed skin cancers or other skin conditions
- Subsidising individual patient consultations or medications
- Paying staff time to recall patients
- Completing capital works
- Activities not supported by clinical practice guidelines.
This grant is not designed to replace or subsidise existing Medicare or private billing items for patient consultations.
Providers will be required to report on the outcomes of their grant funded activity after six months.
An evaluation rubric with weighted criteria for community need, equity, effectiveness and efficiency and sustainability and feasibility will be used to assess and award successful initiatives. Providers will be required to explain their current level of skin cancer early intervention services, and how the grant funds will be used to support those services.
To apply for a Capacity Building in Skin Cancer Early Intervention Grant, please complete this application form.
