Category Archives:Health Reform

How to Increase the number of hospital admissions

How to Increase the number of hospital admissions

A 2014 systematic review by Tessa van Loenen and her team investigated which characteristics of primary care organization influence avoidable hospitalization for chronic Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions. Organizational aspects of primary care related to avoidable hospitalization: a systematic review. van Loenen T, van den Berg MJ, Westert GP, Faber MJ https://academic.oup.com/fampra/article/31/5/502/539081 The conclusion? Access to primary […]

The cost of one admission to hospital is more than 15 years worth of GP consultations

Should we be discouraging people from seeing their general practitioner? Calculating from federal government figures: The cost of one admission to a public hospital is more than the government would spend on 15 years worth of GP consultations It is cheaper to pay for someone to see their GP every week for a year than […]

The GP as CEO – Private Health Insurance, Accountable Care Organisations and GP Federations

The GP as CEO – Private Health Insurance, Accountable Care Organisations and GP Federations

An increasing number of primary care physicians are using physician lead ‘accountable care organisations’ as a powerful opportunity to retain their autonomy and make a positive difference for their patients — as well as their practices’ bottom lines

Australian Primary Health Care Reform and the Medical Home

Australian Primary Health Care Reform and the Medical Home

This month, The Australian Governments (state and federal) released a report that details components of a National Primary Health Care Strategy. Element 4 of this strategy details how a medical home can contribute to a system that is ‘Well-integrated, coordinated, and providing continuity of care, particularly for those with multiple, ongoing, and complex conditions’ An […]

What about me? Patient-Centred Outcomes Research

What about me? Patient-Centred Outcomes Research

Patient-Centred Outcomes Research aims to answer the ‘real world’ questions our patients ask.

How Do We Fix Medicine?

How Do We Fix Medicine?

“How Do We Fix Medicine?” was the question asked by Atul Gawande at a recent TED talk. He points out that the challenge facing medicine has changed. The challenge is not about improving the ‘components’ of health care, but about building better systems for the delivery of care. “We are obsessed in Medicine by having […]

The Good News in American Medicine

There are many astounding things about the US Health System The United States is the only industrialized democracy that doesn’t provide health care for all its citizens, despite spending considerably more per person than any other country. “It’s generally agreed,” says Dr. Elliott Fisher, of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy,” that about 30 percent […]

Connecting Care – Managing Transitions

Managing Transitions In and Between Primary and Acute Services – A GP Perspective (pdf download) (Alternative Title – ‘Zen and the Art of Chronic Disease Management’) was presented to the Connecting Care Conference, Sydney, November 17th 2010.  

A Day in the Life of the CEO of a Medicare Local : 2013

July 2013: CEO’s report to the community 1st July 2011 seems like only yesterday. That was the day that North Coast Medicare Local was established, one of the first tranch of new regional Primary Health Care Organisations. These were formed by the federal government in response to the 2009 National Hospital and Health Reform Commission. […]

Postcard from UK – GP Commissioning

Hein Le Roux and his wife Emma and family have recently returned from a stint in Grafton to work as GPs in the England. While here, Hein was a collaborative star, presenting his change ideas at a number of workshops. In the UK, as well as general practice, he will also be doing ‘stuff’ with […]