The Australian health care system faces ongoing challenges including the provision of effective, equitable and coordinated care, an ageing population, workforce pressures, rising prevalence of risk factors (for example, Overweight and obesity and Insufficient physical activity), and the increased incidence of chronic disease and multiple chronic diseases (see Chronic conditions and comorbidity). Various initiatives aim to address these challenges.
National Health Plan
In August 2019, the Hon. Greg Hunt, MP, Minister for Health, announced the Government’s Long Term National Health Plan. The plan aims to build a ‘mentally and physically healthy Australia’, with mental health being rated equally alongside physical health. The plan also aims to facilitate better support to manage and prevent conditions such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and mental illness.
Priorities for primary health care include implementing a 10-year primary health care plan and supporting more flexible care models to improve preventive care and management of chronic issues (Department of Health 2019b).
Health Care Homes
The intent of the Health Care Homes (HCH) program is to deliver coordinated, team-based care for the management of an eligible patient’s chronic conditions. The program bases care on the needs and goals of the patient, to facilitate a partnership between the patient, their families and carers, their treating general practitioner and health care team.
Stage 1 of the HCH trial began on 1 October 2017. In December 2018, the Australian Government announced the extension of the program for an additional 18 months to 30 June 2021.
Some of the data captured during the trial will be collected specifically for a program evaluation. The evaluation stream data will be provided to the HCH program evaluators, Health Policy Analysis, by patients, HCHs, Primary Health Networks, the Department of Human Services, the Department of Health, the AIHW and state and territory governments (Department of Health 2019e).
Practice Incentives Program Quality Improvement
The Practice Incentives Program (PIP) provides incentives for general practices to carry out continuous improvement and quality care activities, enhance capacity and improve access and health outcomes for patients. From 1 August 2019, there are 8 incentives under the PIP including teaching; eHealth; Indigenous health; after hours; aged care access; the procedural general practitioner payment; rural loading and a new PIP Quality Improvement (QI) incentive.
General practices enrolled in the PIP QI Incentive commit to implementing continuous quality improvement activities that support them in their role of managing their patients’ health. They also commit to electronically submitting the PIP Eligible Data Set to their local PHN quarterly (Department of Health 2019c).
The incentives program builds on the 68% of general practices that already voluntarily share their practice data with PHNs for quality improvement and population health purposes (Department of Health 2019d).
Primary health care is a vital component of Australia’s health care system, encompassing a broad range of professions and services. Despite this, the availability of primary health care system data is limited. This limits the ability to assess the positive impact of this sector on the health of Australians and/or identify where improvements are needed. The AIHW is working to improve primary health care data, through the development of the National Primary Health Care Data Asset.
For more information on primary health care, see:
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References
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ABS 2015. Patient experiences in Australia: summary of findings, 2014–15. ABS cat. no. 4839.0. Canberra: ABS.
ABS 2016. Patient experiences in Australia: summary of findings, 2015–16. ABS cat. no. 4839.0. Canberra: ABS.
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AHPA 2020a. What is allied health? Viewed 14 February 2020.
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