Extra funding to GPs from lifting the Medicare Rebate freeze should be used to buy better data, so that future reform can be based on sound evidence.
- Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne
A Grattan Institute report released today, Cutting a better drug deal, calls for a major shake-up of pharmacies and pharmaceutical pricing.
Measurement matters, especially when it comes to health care and how well we are treated if we get sick or have to go to hospital.
The latest Productivity Commission health report reveals some serious problems with out-of-pocket health expenses as well as disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous health.
Headlines pointed to the privatisation of hospital, end-of-life and dental services, but the Productivity Commission’s report is actually a lot less radical.
Obesity imposes enormous costs on the community, through higher taxes to fund extra government spending on health and from foregone tax revenue because obese people are more likely to be unemployed.
Australians are living longer than ever but with higher rates of chronic disease, the latest national report card shows.
People ending up in hospital for diabetes, tooth decay, or other conditions that should be treatable or manageable out of hospital is a warning sign of system failure.
The ageing population is only a relatively small contributor to the growth in hospital admissions.
Health policy was an important factor in the election outcome, but one of the most important issues in the health sector – the impact of out-of-pocket costs – was mostly ignored.
What are the key policy challenges facing the new Turnbull government in terms of economic growth and budgets, cities, transport, energy, school education, higher education and health?
The greater threats to our national public health system lie in the increasing role of consumer co-payments and the power of vested interests that stifle policy innovation in health.
The AMA has campaigned heavily on the Medicare rebate freeze, pointing out its potential impact on patient access if out-of-pocket costs were to increase.
The cancer screening registry contract won by Telstra Health is only the first of the potential outsourcing of health programs. It creates a precedent that needs to be right.
This is a steady-as-she goes budget, mostly just confirming pre-announcements with only the expected unpleasant decisions, such as the continuation of the Medicare rebate freeze.
The Commonwealth wants to partially reverse the cuts it made to public hospital funding in the 2014 budget. But the deal has some unwelcome strings attached.
In a time of growing populations, hospitals must guarantee access, ensure quality, minimise the chances of anything going wrong, and do it all within the available budget. So they need to change.
Better primary care could have prevented more than a quarter-of-a-million hospital admissions for health problems such as diabetes each year.
Industry consolidation and technological advances have completely reshaped the pathology industry over recent decades. But the way governments pay for pathology services hasn’t kept up.
We start 2016 with big challenges for the health system and uncertainty as to how governments will meet them.
Seven babies died unnecessarily at Bacchus Marsh hospital between 2013 and 2014. The My Hospitals website and other reporting mechanisms gave no sign of any problems.
The experts’ take on Scott Morrison’s first mid-year economic update.
The Coalition tried to justify its failed GP co-payment as an attempt to rein in consumers, who were driving the increase in Medicare costs. Turns out government policy was mostly to blame.
The private health insurance is complicated and difficult to navigate. Here’s what we need to do to better protect consumers.
If Australia’s new prime minister wishes to lead a successful 21st-century government, he must tackle the rise in chronic disease and use data to constantly improve the system.
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