Minister for Health and Ageing Nicola Roxon recently released a plan detailing the path for Australia's national health reform implementation. According to Roxon, the plan addresses the role of health reform in hospitals, general practice and primary care, aged care, mental health, national standards and performance, workforce, prevention and eHealth.
Key achievements in Australia's implementation of health reform to date include:
- The first group of Medicare Locals, which aim to improve primary health care services by working with general practitioners (GPs), nurses, allied health professionals, indigenous health organizations, Local Hospital Networks, and other stakeholders to identify and respond to gaps in local health services.
- A new after-hours GP helpline.
- The creation of four Local Hospital Networks (groups of local public hospitals that collaborate to deliver patient care, manage finances, and report on performance).
- Two new national bodies—one to monitor and report on the performance of hospitals and primary health care services and the other to determine a national price for services provided in public hospitals.
- The implementation of Telehealth, a program providing Medicare rebates for online consultations with specialists for people in remote, regional and outer metropolitan areas.
- The launch of 32 of 64 GP Super Clinics offering multidisciplinary, team-based approach, coordinated care.
- An agreement to post hospital infection rates on the federally supported MyHospitals Web site.
To support national health reform, the federal government has committed $66.6 billion in new health spending measures since 2007.
Sources:
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/ministers/publishing.nsf/Content/mr-yr11-nr-nr173.htm
http://www.yourhealth.gov.au/internet/yourhealth/publishing.nsf/Content/nhr-progress-delivery